Martha
Corey
formerly [surname unknown] aka Rich
Born [date unknown] [location unknown]
Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of
Henry Rich
— married
[date unknown] [location unknown]
Wife of
Giles Corey Jr
— married
1684 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Mother of
Benoni Unknown and Thomas Rich
Died
in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay
Profile last modified
| Created 28 Jun 2013
This page has been accessed 1,604 times.
WARNING: DO NOT CONFLATE WITH Martha Pennoyer, who also married a Henry Rich (see this discussion)
Contents |
Biography
Martha (Unknown) Corey was accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials
Unknown parents, DOB c.1620.[1] NOTE: this estimated DOB makes her 57 years old when she had her first child and age 64 when she married. Research is needed.
In 1677, Martha had an illegitimate, mixed race son named Benoni. She married first to Henry Rich. They had a second son named Thomas Rich.[1] (NOTE: her husband was not the Henry Rich who married Martha Pennoyer).
After the death of her first husband, she married wealthy farmer Giles Corey about 1684, his third wife.[2]
Martha (Unknown) Corey was executed for witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials
Both Giles and Martha had controversial pasts that contributed to their deaths in the Salem Witch Trials.
Hanged as a witch, she died on 22 September 1692 at Proctor's Ledge, Gallows Hill, Salem, Massachusetts Bay.[3][4]
Cotton Mather would later write of September 22nd, 1692, the deadliest day of the Salem witch trials, that Deacon Nicholas Noyes had said out loud "what a sad thing it was to see eight firebrands of Hell hanging there."[5]
Her son, Thomas was later paid 50 pounds for the illegal hanging of his mother in about 1723. Martha was buried in a unmarked grave near Gallows Hill in Salem with some of the other people that were hung with her.
Massachusetts Remediation
- 17 October 1710, Convictions Reversed, The General Court of Massachusetts Bay, An act, the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby are, reversed, and declared to be null and void.[6]
- 17 Dec 1711, Compensation to Survivors, Governor Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, approved compensation to such persons as are living, and to those that legally represent them that are dead: [For Giles Corey and wife, £21][6]
- 28 Aug 1957, No Disgrace to Descendants, General Court of Massachusetts, ...such proceedings, were and are shocking, and the result of a wave of popular hysterical fear of the Devil in the community, and further declares that, as all the laws under which said proceedings...have been long since abandoned and superseded by our more civilized laws, no disgrace or cause for distress attaches to the said descendants or any of them by reason of said proceedings.[7]
Research Notes
LNAB Penoyer (or Penoir)
- See profile of Martha Pennoyer Rich - these could possibly be the same person, but more research is needed. The two Marthas have been conflated over the years in records such as the following:
- "Henry Rich, aged 22 years, deposed at Salem 17, 1 mo. 1676, and married at Stamford, Conn., in December 1680, Martha Penoyer (or Penoir), who later married Giles Corey."[8]
Sources
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wikipedia: Martha Corey.
- ↑ U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Online($) at Ancestry.com
- ↑ “Salem Witchcraft : with an Account of Salem Village, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects : Upham, Charles Wentworth, 1802-1875, Author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, January 1, 1970. https://archive.org/details/salemwitchcraftw02upha_0/page/324.
- ↑ Godbeer, Richard, comp. The Devil's Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England: Appendices A & B. [Information taken from Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds. The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak. 3 vols. New York, NY: 1977.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Online($) at Ancestry.com.
- ↑ The Salem Witch Hunt: A Captivating Guide to the Hunt and Trials of People Accused of Witchcraft in Colonial Massachusetts, http://a.co/egS9SMD
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Upham, Charles Wentworth, "Salem Witchcraft : with an Account of Salem Village, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects". Vol. 2, Online at HathiTrust page 480.
- ↑ https://www.mass.gov/doc/resolves-of-1957-chapter-145/download
- ↑ Genealogies of Mayflower Families, Vol. III. Online($) at Ancestry.com.
See also:
- Find A Grave: Memorial #8300
- Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Biography of Martha Corey, Last Woman Hung in the Salem Witch Trials." Thought Co. https://www.thoughtco.com/martha-corey-biography-3530323 (accessed January 12, 2020).
- The Salem Witchcraft Papers (Scholars' Lab, University of Virginia Library, 2018) SWP No. 038: Martha Corey Executed, September 22, 1692.
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[Do you know Martha's family name?] | C > Corey > Martha (Unknown) Corey
Categories: Salem, Massachusetts | Salem Witch Trials | Accused Witches of New England | Executed | Death by Hanging | United States, Death by Hanging | Salem Witch Trials Memorial, Salem, Massachusetts
"My first knowledge of the name in America occurs in the following Salem notice: "Obadiah Rich married Bethiah Williams, 1667." In 1668 he was a signer of the petition against imports as an inhabitant of Salem. In Judge Sewell's interleaved almanac diary, March 31, 1675, occurs: "No lecture, because Mr. Rich from home." Perhaps the sa Obadiah In 1678, his widow Bethiah administrated on a large estate. In 1684, Henry Rich m. Martha Panon. This is the celebrated Martha Corey, alias Martha Rich imortalized by Longfellow. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044010692952
A more complete analysis of why accused witch Martha Corey (or Kory) was not Penoyer can be read here: https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.pennoyer/49 Other sources noted in there that Martha was "an English woman"
edited by Karen (Maher) Fuller