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Elizabeth Phelps
d.27 Jul 1692 Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, United States
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m. Bef 1646
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m. 28 Feb 1665
Facts and Events
VICTIM OF WITCHCRAFT? · · The Salem / Andover Witch Hysteria · · The 'Salem Witch Trials' were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in the American colony of Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693. The preliminary hearings, in 1692, were conducted in a variety of towns across the province of Massachusetts, including the city of Salem and the city of Andover. · · Elizabeth (Phelps) Ballard, daughter of Edward and Elizabeth (Adams) Phelps, and wife of Joseph Ballard, had a severe fever, from which she later died. After ordinary care proved insufficient to cure her, Joseph decided that she must be bewitched. · · This was not an uncommon conclusion in an era in which the devil was thought to be the cause of everything bad and God was given attribution to everything good. Scientific knowledge or an understanding of rational medical analysis were not part of Puritan religious philosophy. · · Joseph Ballard, not being aware of the presence of witches in the city of Andover, traveled to nearby Salem to request that the witchcraft victims there come to Andover in order to identify who might be bewitching Elizabeth. Joseph helped precipitate the witch trials in Andover by claiming that his terminally ill wife Elizabeth's condition was caused by Mary Lacey, Sr. and Mary Lacey, Jr. Both, he claimed, were witches. He testified against them on 19 Jul 1692. They were arrested a day later. · · The Andover witch trials eventially resulted in fifty Andover residents being accused of witchcraft, many of which were jailed, with several of the accused later being hanged. Pehlps - Elizabeth 1646 Witchcraft 1/6/2020 6:01:55 PM Bernadine Henley Bernadine Henley originally shared this to Ancestry.com on 06 Jan 2020 Linked To Elizabeth Phelps References
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