Person:Mary Walcott (2)

Wikipedia Article

The following article from wikipedia (describing her role as a prominent witness in the Salem Witch Trials) as of the date of writing (17 Dec 2010) gives two marriages for Mary, and the sequence of events that is described isn't entirely clear. It sounds like Mary is said to marry Isaac Farrar in 1696, they moved to Townsend, then she married David Harwood in 1701 and they moved to Sutton. However, after checking additional sources, the two marriages are mutually incompatible, and this Mary Walcott only appears to have married one or the other. The details given appear to intermix from the histories of the two families, and it is not clear that either family resided in Townsend.

Case for Isaac Farrar

The primary sources of the Isaac Farrar marriage are cited on Family:Isaac Farrar and Mary Walcott (1) and seem very clear. The births of seven children born to "Isaac and Mary" Farrar are recorded in Woburn VRs from 1699 to 1711, namely, Mary, Isaac, John, Jacob, Ann, Jonathan, Joanna. Source:Walcott, Arthur Stuart. Walcott Book, p. 34, says this family moved to Ashford, CT, about 1713. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records adds Janet, Lucy, Jeduthan, and Samuel while in Ashford, the last in 1719, plus duplicating the first seven to make it clear this is the same family.

Case for David Harwood

Salem VRs gives a marriage of Mary Walcut to "David Harrod" on 15 Jan 1700-1. There is no further identification of either one, so presumably they are both from Salem. The identification of Mary as the daughter of Jonathan comes from Source:Harwood, Watson H. New England Harwood Genealogy, Vol. II (A Genealogical History of the Salem Harwoods), p. 6, which says that David Harwood, m. 15 Jan 1701 Mary Walcott, d/o Jonathan and Mary (Sibley) Walcott of Danvers, and moved to Sutton about 1729. Children are given on p. 10: Mary, Emma, Hannah, David, Elizabeth, Ezra, Alice, Absalom, Solomon. The birth dates are all estimated, spread over the range 1703-1725.

Note: Mary Walcott's deposition in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 claimed that the apparition of Rebecca Nurse (wife of Francis Nurse) told Mary that she, Goody Nurse, had a hand in the death of several people, including David Harwood's father John Harwood in 1690.

Inconclusive

It cannot be the same Mary Walcott that married both. The periods of their childbearing overlap, so the marriages are mutually exclusive. So there seem to be two distinct Mary Walcotts involved. David Harwood was born in 1668, whereas Isaac Farrar was born in 1671, so they are both reasonable matches for Mary b. 1675. But in both families, there are so many children born (11 and 9, through 1719 and 1725, respectively) that neither of the Marys was likely to have been born much before 1675. Jonathan Walcott's will of 1698 only refers to "my Daughter Mary", so offers no clue. Isaac and Mary named a son Jonathan, while David and Mary did not. Some websites suggest that the David Harwood's wife Mary was the daughter of Jonathan's brother Abraham Walcott. Since he is older than Jonathan, and his first recorded marriage is 1682, it is postulated that he had an earlier wife who would have been Mary's mother. But this appears to be simply speculation.

Once it is admitted that there were two Mary Walcotts in Salem, there does not seem to be a whole lot of evidence in favor of either case. Perhaps the naming of the son Jonathan is the strongest argument either way.

The Article

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Mary Walcott (July 5, 1675 – 1752) was one of the "afflicted" girls called as a witness at the Salem witch trials in early 1692-93.

1. ↑ Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records to the End of the year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts: Essex Institute, 1916-1925)
   2:382.

   Walcott, Mary, d. Jonathan and Mary (Sibly), 5 : 5 m : 1675. CT.R.
   [In 1675, the 5th month was July.]