Person:Elizabeth Doughty (10)

Note of Caution:Is the William Cole, husband of Elizabeth Doughty the same as the William Cole who married Eunice aka "Goody Cole", the Hampton Witch? Records in review. Analysis welcome.

No! See GDMNH, pp. 157-58

--jaques1724 01:10, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15} Elizabeth Doughty in Will of Francis Doughty, in Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. (Boston, Massachusetts: The Society, 1895-1951)
   Vol 10.

   p 261 - ... 2 The will of Alderman Doughty mentions, besides son Francis and daughter Elizabeth, ...
   
   p 262 -... the leasehold farm was left to his son Francis; and his daughter, Elizabeth, then unmarried, was left sole executrix. This daughter Elizabeth afterwards said that her brother was " in his fathers displeasure " and that she had induced her father to make his will as he did at the solicitation of her brother, who promised that thus it should turn out more to her advantage. [Lechford's Note-Book, p. 110.]
   
   p 263 - ... he was in serious trouble nevertheless, for his sister Elizabeth, executrix of his father's estate, having in the meantime been married to William Cole of Sutton, Che??-Magna, Somersetshire, came here also, with her husband, and entered suit for a considerable amount, which she claimed her brother owed her, in equity, if not in law, from the settlement of her father's estate. [Lechford's Note-Book, p. 110.] Mr. Lechford took up her cause as advocate with a rather indiscreet zeal which got him into serious trouble with the magistrates, who disciplined him for approaching the jury out of court in his client's behalf. The details of the case are known only from Mr. Lechford's Note-Book and are not easy to understand, but fortunately it is not necessary for us to retry the case. Throughout the protracted litigation concerning Mrs. Cole's claims against her brother, the officials of the Colony seem to have been scrupulously anxious to be both just and merciful. In the complaint of the Coles is the following request:
   
   And because the said Complts have not such exact proofe of the premises as the Law requires therefore they humbly pray that the said Francis [Doughty] may be enjoyned to answer the premises and every parte thereof iu writing upon his oath. [Lechford's Note-Book, p. 173.]
   
   p 264 - Whether the court complied does not appear. This case was tried before a jury, at the quarter court, September, 1639. On 3 September of the next year, 1640, was tried another suit of the Coles against Francis Doughty, concerning a deed of trust made between the Coles, before marriage, and Francis and Bridget Doughty. [" The Answers & Complaint" of Mrs. Cole, " Boston] The jury found for the defendant, and Doughty was given £10 costs. Doughty then, at the same session of the court, sued the Coles "for unjust molestation," asking to have the before- mentioned deed of trust delivered into the court and cancelled; the jury found for Doughty with costs, and "thereupon ye judgment of ye Co'te was accordingly yt ye said deed indented should be cancelled;" but as Mrs. Cole, who was chiefly interested in the deed and had procured "ye said Doughty to be arested," was not present with her husband at the trial, the court respited the cancelling of the bond for eight months, to give the Coles opportunity, if they wished, to show cause why the indenture should not be cancelled. As they did not appear, the deed was cancelled by order of the court in May, 1641.]
   
   p 270 - ... Meantime trouble arose again from Mrs. Cole. She and her husband seem to have gone to Wheelwright's settlement at Exeter, New Hampshire, but in 1644 they were again in Boston, petitioning the General Court to reopen their case, and on 29 May, William Cole her husband having lately died, Mrs. Cole so far prevailed that she was " alowed a bill of reveiw in the action . . . whereby her deede that was cancelled may be made good, as before
   
   p 271 - the cancelling thereof." [ Massachusetts Colony Records, ii. 74. •] Then she seems to have given the Colony a rest for three years; but in the spring of 1647 she obtained from the General Court an order for the Secretary to write and send by special messenger to Doughty a letter saying that —
   though nothing was shewed, in ye 6 months limited by ye Co'te of Assistants, why ye deede should not be canceled, nor nothing since wch may cause us to question ye formr verdict & iudgmt, yet, etc., [Massachusetts Colony Records, ii. 191; iii. 138, 139.]
   
   and desiring Mr. Doughty to come himself or to send the Court an authentic copy of the deed of release, or other instruments or evidences which in court he formerly produced, that the court may review the case, and saying further that if he does not come within six months the court is resolved to proceed as best they may in the matter. He did not appear; and in November, out of consideration for the widowhood and poverty of this persistent woman, the General Court, asserting that the Court of Assistants had done her no injustice and had followed the law of England and the laws and custom of the Colony, nevertheless annulled the cancellation of the before-mentioned deed so far as the power and credit of the General Court may prevail and further provided that "ye order shal be exemplified und' the scale of this colony, if y petitioner shall so desire." [Massachusetts Colony Records, ii. 205-207.]
   
   Mrs. Cole still pursued the Court: which, though manifestly losing patience, on 18 October, 1648, agreed [Massachusetts Colony Records, ii. 257.] to endeavor to procure Mr. Doughty's return to Boston to answer if Mrs. Cole would put up good security to pay charges and possible damages. In May, 1649, [Massachusetts Colony Records, ii. 272.] she petitioned the Court again in the same matter. Finally, in May, 1650, the Court answered that they had done what they conceive is fully just under which the petitioner " ought to rest herself satisfied nor can they further act therein." [Massachusetts Colony Records, ii. 190. Mrs. Cole's name appears again on these records three times. On 16 October, 1650, " being visited with longe & sore sicknes, & haning spent all her estate," she petitions for help and is granted £20 (Massachusetts Colony Records, iii. 217). On 14 October, 1651, John Lewes petitions for fifty shillings expended for her " mayntenauce " and it is granted, " it beinge the last the p 282 - country is like to pay for her, whose extremity was such as deserned pitty " (Massachusetts Colony Records, iii. 250). And last there is in May, 1652, a grant to pay a final physician's bill (Massachusetts Colony Records, iii. 276).]
   -----
   [Identifies Elizabeth as a daughter of Francis Doughty.]

2. ↑ 36 William Cole, in Noyes, Sybil; Charles Thornton Libby; and Walter Goodwin Davis. Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire. (Portland, Maine: Southworth Press, 1928-1939)
   157-58.

   "… After her est. was spent Mass. Colony cared for [William Cole's] wife, terming her 'the gentlewoman Mistres Elizabeth Cole.' She bothered them much and brought suits in our Me. Ct. She and her br. Rev. Francis, who came over, and their sis. Bridget, who didn't, were ch. of Francis Doughty, a Bristol merchant. In Oct. 1651 the Gen. Ct. voted her 50s., 'not likely to live long,' but she lived on."