Sarah (Churchill) Andrews (abt. 1667 - aft. 1731)

Born about 1667 in Saco, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

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Biography

Sarah (Churchill) Andrews was a witchcraft accuser in the Salem Witch Trials

Sarah (Churchill) Andrews was accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials

Sarah Churchill (or Churchwell) was the daughter of Eleanor Bonython^[1]; her year of birth was likely around 20 Sep 1667 when her mother, refusing to name the father, was punished for "bastardy"in Saco, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony (now Maine).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} and grand-daughter of John Bonython of Saco.

On 17 Feb 1676, her mother, Eleanor Bonython, was described with last name, “Churchwell,” in the will of her grandfather, John Bonython, as one of his “two daughters which were marryed.”^[7]

“Like so many of the afflicted girls, Sarah Churchill (spelled Churchwell in some documents) was baptized in the terrors of Indian warfare. Her grandfather, John Bonython, was a prominent property owner in Saco, Maine. When Indians attacked in 1680, the family abandoned their impressive home over the Saco River and fled to Major William Phillips's garrison house on the opposite shore. Sarah, who was eight, was one of about fifty mostly women and children who took refuge inside. The next morning, the Indians sacked and burned the houses on the opposite bank, including her grandfather's. Then they set fire to Phillips's mills, hoping to lure the garrison's defenders out. When that failed, they attempted to torch the garrison itself. Several were wounded in the gunfire, including Sarah's grandfather, though no one was killed. In the morning, the Indians withdrew. Sarah fled with her parents, Arthur and Eleanor Churchill, to Marblehead, Massachusetts…”^[1]

At about age 20, she was working in the Salem household of George Jacobs, Jr..^[8] She was also related to Mary Walcott.

Sarah was both an accuser^{[9][10][5][11]}, showing symptoms of "affliction", and became one of the accused. Foulds says that Sarah admitted that she had faked her seizures.^[1] But once she did, she was accused of "signing the Devil's Book" by the other afflicted girls. She then accused Jacobs and his granddaughter Margaret of forcing her to sign the Devil's Book. She went on to implicate several other people as part of the trials. ^[5]

In 1692, her mother married Arthur Churchwell in Kittery, York, Massachusetts Bay Colony.^[12]

She married weaver Edward Andrews in 1709.^[13][14] he was found guilty of “fornication.” ^[15] The last record of her is in 1731.^[5]

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.^[16]
• 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
• 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.^[17]
• 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.^[18]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Diane E. Foulds. Death in Salem: The Private Lives behind the 1692 Witch Hunt (Kindle Locations 115-120). Kindle Edition.
2. ↑ Collections of the Maine Historical Society. Portland: Portland, The Society [etc.], 1831. p. 377.
3. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11683/55/241820506
4. ↑ The Essex Genealogist. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2018.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB396/i/12782/177/144163599
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Witches of Massachusetts, Legends of America website
6. ↑ "Sarah Churchill, Accuser at Salem Witch Trials." Geni_family_tree. June 02, 2020. Accessed June 26, 2020. https://www.geni.com/people/Sarah-Churchill-Accuser-at-Salem-Witch-Trials/6000000072729141891
7. ↑ The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) https://www.americanancestors.org/DB202/i/11705/99/241731074
8. ↑ “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/4. pps. 4,166, 169.
9. ↑ The Salem Witchcraft Papers (Scholars' Lab, University of Virginia Library, 2018) SWP No. 030.
10. ↑ Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil's Snare . Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
11. ↑ “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/166/mode/1up?q=Sarah+Churchill.
12. ↑ New England Marriages to 1700. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2015. https://www.americanancestors.org/DB1568/rd/21174/316/426880675
13. ↑ “Old Kittery and Her Families : Stackpole, Everett Schermerhorn, 1850-1927 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive. Lewiston, Me. : Press of Lewiston Journal Company, January 1, 1970. https://archive.org/details/oldkitteryherfam00stac/page/281/mode/1up.
14. ↑ Recorded in the Journal of Rev'd John Pike, who was pastor of Dover in what's now New Hampshire; Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 1875-1876; page 152.
15. ↑ Maine Court Records, 1696-1854, citing Andrews, Edward et AL, York Court of Sessions, Apr 1710, FORNICATION, 6-349-621-YORK Online at: Ancestry.com
16. ↑ “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. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17845/17845-h/salem2-htm.html#Page_ii.480.
17. ↑ https://www.mass.gov/doc/resolves-of-1957-chapter-145/download
18. ↑ https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2001/Chapter122