Mary (Prince) Elwell (1658 - 1723)

Born 19 Jul 1658 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Wife of Hugh Rowe — married 16 Sep 1674 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts

Wife of Isaac Elwell — married 28 Sep 1699 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died 3 Mar 1723 at age 64 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Mary (Prince) Elwell was accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials

Birth
Mary Prince, daughter of Thomas Prince ^{[1] [2]} and Margaret Skillings. ^[3] was born in Gloucester, Essex county, Massachusetts on 19 Jul 1658.^{[4] [5]}

Marriages and Children
Mary married first Hugh Rowe ^[1][2] on 16 Sep 1674 in Gloucester, Massachusetts^[4] as his second wife. Mary and Hugh had nine children.^[6]

Margaret Rowe, b. 25 Sep 1675, Gloucester, MA. ^[5] ; d. 2 Dec 1675, Gloucester

Abigail Rowe, b. 19 Dec 1677, Gloucester, MA. ^{[5] [7]}

1. Abraham Rowe, b. 26 Apr 1680, Gloucester, MA. ^[5] ; m. 17 Jan 1705, Bethiah Elwell, Gloucester, MA. ; d. 8 Jul 1706, Gloucester
2. Isaac Rowe, b, 13 Oct 1682, Gloucester, MA. ^[5] ; d. 23 Feb 1723, age abt. 40 yrs. ^[3]
3. Jacob Rowe, b. 19 Jun 1685, Gloucester, MA. ^[5] ; m. Mary Curney, 7 Jan 1712, Gloucester, MA.
4. Joseph Rowe, b. 19 May 1687, Gloucester, MA. ^[5] ; m. 19 Jul 1712, Abigail Smith, Ipswich, MA. ; d. 13 Jun 1757, Gloucester, MA.
5. Benjamin Rowe, b. 9 Nov 1690, Gloucester, MA. ^[5] ; d. intestate 16 Dec 1745, Gloucester
6. Martha Rowe, b. 18 Jun 1695, Gloucester, MA. ^[5]

Husband Hugh Rowe died 11 December 1696 ^[5] and Mary married second to Isaac Elwell on 28 September 1699 at Gloucester. ^[8]

Death
Mary (Prince, Rowe) Elwell died on 3 Mar 1722/23 ^[2] in Gloucester, Massachusetts, aged about 65 years.^[4] On 19 May 1723, the children and heirs of Hugh Rowe divided the part of his estate that was set off as their mother's dower^[1]

Salem Witch Trials
During the Salem witch trials in the fall of 1692, Mary Prince Rowe was accused of witchcraft along with two other Gloucester women, Phoebe Day and Rachel Vinson, and they were held in the Ipswich jail. There is no record of Mary going to trial and she was eventually freed from jail.^[6][9]

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.^[10]

1. 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
2. 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.^[11]
3. 31 Oct 2001, Additional Victims Included, Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives in General Court, AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE WITCHCRAFT TRIAL OF 1692, chapter 145 is hereby further amended by adding Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and Wilmot Redd.^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Anderson, Robert Charles, et al. The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume II, C-F, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001. Accessed online at AmericanAncestors.org (requires subscription). Pages 429-430.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Elwell, Rev. Jacob Thomas. "The Elwell Family in America: A Genealogy of Robert Elwell of Dorchester and Gloucester, Massachusetts." (Boston MA: Charles H Pope, 1899). Accessed online at Archive.org or see attached images. Page 8. (NOTE: The first 10 pages (2 generations) of this book were reprinted in NEHGR 53:25-32, Jan 1899).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Babson, John James. "History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport," Samuel Chandler, Proctor Brothers, 1860. Accessed online at Archive.org. P.129.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} "Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. Volume I; p. 561 "Prince, Mary, d. Thomas and Margaret Prince, born July 19, 1658." ; Volume II; Page 439 "Prince, Mary, d. Thomas Prince, Sr., and Hugh Rowe, married Sept. 16, 1674." ; "Elwell, Mary (Prince), wid., Mar 3, 1722-3, a. abt. 65 y." Volume III; Page 128
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9} Babson, John James "Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts, 1640-1728: Transcripts of Births, Deaths and Marriages [from the] 1st & 2nd Books" Copied by order of the City Council, 1874. Reprinted (subscription online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 3 Mar 2022.

   p.241 Hugh Rowe's marriages; Children by 1st wf & children by 2nd wife; Death dates of both wives. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/27617098?h=c2d412

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Witches of Massachusetts, Legends of America website
7. ↑ “A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register : Savage, James, 1784-1873 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive. Boston, Little, Brown and company. Accessed May 18, 2020. https://archive.org/details/genealogicaldic03savarich/page/580/mode/1up/search/Hugh Rowe.
8. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon "New England Marriages Prior to 1700" Baltimore, MD., USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 2004. p.250. Reprinted (subscription online db) Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 3 Mar 2022. https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/27606592?h=166a60
9. ↑ Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice, and Rebecca Beatrice Brooks. “The Accused Witches of Gloucester.” History of Massachusetts Blog, May 11, 2019. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-accused-witches-of-gloucester/.
10. ↑ “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.”
11. ↑ https://www.mass.gov/doc/resolves-of-1957-chapter-145/download
12. ↑ “Chapter 122.” Session Law - Acts of 2001 Chapter 122. Accessed February 29, 2020. https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2001/Chapter122.

See Also:

• The Salem Witchcraft Papers, SWP No. 167: Petitions from Relatives of Prisoners and Others (October 1692 - January 1693)* Davis, Walter Goodwin. "The Ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800: Wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine." Boston, MA: Stanhope Press, 1916. Pages 69-70.
• Savage, James. "A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692." Boston. 1861. 3:488. https://archive.org/details/historytownglou00changoog/page/n161/mode/1up/search/Hugh Rowe.
• Arthaud, John Bradley. Decendants of Richard Langsford of Gloucester, Massachusetts, The New England Historical & Genealogical Register (NEHGS, Boston, Mass., 2002) Vol. 156, Page 246.