Person:Mary Clements (16)

Salem Witchcraft Trials

Mary Clements is mentioned as "a remarkably pious and good woman," and yet in 1692, she was accused of witchcraft. It is perhaps indicative of the height to which the witchcraft delusion rose that so prominent a woman could be found among the accused. … The legal examination of the Andover victims lasted for several weeks; that of Mary (Clements) Osgood taking place on 8 Sept. 1692. With but one exception, the frenzied and agonized women, Mrs. Osgood among them, confessed that they had been "dipt" by Satan. About the only way to escape conviction and execution was to confess guilt and beg for mercy, so it is not surprising that Captain Osgood urged his wife to confess, in the hope of saving her life. However, in the end, the awfulness of a confession that one had given body and soul to Satan, outweighed in Mrs. Osgood’s mind the desire for life and she recanted … She was discharged the January following with others of the accused.^[1]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Robert¹ Clements, in Clement, Percival Wood; Caroline Clement Brown; Clements Markham; Henry John Beresford Clements; Eléonore Wickham Clements; and Mary Lovering Holman. Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Clements of Leicestershire and Warwickshire, England: First Settler of Haverhill, Massachusetts. (Philadelphia, Pa.: Patterson & White Co., 1927)
   57-63.

   Mary² Clements (Robert¹), born in England in 1637, died at Andover, Mass., 27 Oct. 1710.

2. ↑ Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Andover, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Topsfield, Massachusetts: Topsfield Historical Society, 1912)
   2:515.

   Osgood, Mary, wid. Capt. John, [died] Oct. 27, 1710.