Person:Mary Unknown (3202)

"At a court of Magistrates held May 29, 1654(or 1653), the plaintiff,Thomas Staples claimed that Roger Ludlow had defamed his wife in reporting to Mr. and Mrs. Davenport that firstly, she had caused Knapp's wife to be "new searched" after she was hanged, and when she saw her teats, said if they were the marks of a witch then she was one, or that she had such marks; secondly, Mr. Ludlow said Knapp's wife told him that Goodwife Staples was a witch; thirdly, Mr. Ludlow had slandered Goodwife Staples in saying she made a trade of lying. The magistrate present, Theophilus Eaton Esq.,Governor of Connecticut, Mr. Stephen Goodyear, Deputy Governor, together with Francis Newman, William Fowler and William Leete found Goodwife Staples innocent of being a witch and that Ludlow had truly slandered her, ordering him to pay a fine of 10 pounds damages and 5 pounds for trouble caused."

Nearly 40 years later, after Mrs.Staples had been widowed, she found herself accused again. On September 15,1692, in the height of the Salem witch trials, Mary Staples along with four others were arrested and tried in Fairfield Connecticut. While Staples was acquitted, two of the women were subjected to the "Water test". It appears that none of the women suffered capital punishment. As this was a time when the hysteria was winding down and common sense began to take back it's place, possibly reason found its place in Fairfield as well. Mrs. Staples died four years later. Although her age at the time of death is not known, she was likely in her seventies.[Archie.FTW] Parents: Thomas STAPLES and Hannah or Mary STAPLES Salem Witch Trials.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Staples, Thomas, in Jacobus, Donald Lines. History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. (New Haven, Conn.: The Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor Company, 1930-1932)
   1:579-80.

   "In 1653 when Goody Knapp was tried and executed as a witch, (Thomas) Staples' wife placed herself under suspicion, to which her unusual intelligence had already made her liable, by expressing doubt, saying for example 'it was long before she could believe this poor woman was a witch, or that there were any witches, till the word of God convinced her.' Mr. Ludlow reported the suspicions of her to Rev. Mr. Davenport, but Thomas Staples boldly brought the matter to an issue by suing Mr. Ludlow for slander in the New Haven Colony Court, which awarded him damages of £10. In 1692, during the witchcraft epidemic, Mrs. Staples was accused again, together with her dau. Mary Harvey and gr. dau. Hannah Harvey, but no evidence sufficient for indictment was produced.
   
   Will of Mary Staples, 12 Sept. 1696; sons Thomas, John; daus. Mary wife of Josiah Harvey and Hannah wife of John Beach; friend Widow Mary Slawson, as a token of my love, for her kindness to me; gr. child Hannah Harvey; gr. child Mehitabel Fanton; to Nathan Gold, a book by Dr. Preston. [Not recorded; from Files.]"