Thomas GILBERT and Lydia
Husband Thomas GILBERT 1
Born: 16 Feb 1611-16 Feb 1612 - Berry, Pomeroy, Devonshire, England Christened: 16 Feb 1612 - Yardley, Worcestershire, England Died: 5 Jun 1662 - Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts Buried: 5 Jun 1662 - Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts AFN: 2ND4-07
Father: Thomas Gilbert (1589-Bef 1659) Mother: Elizabeth Bennett ( -1659)
Marriage:
Other Spouse: Catherine Chapin (Bef 1630-1712) 1 - 31 Jul 1655 - prob Springfield, Massachusetts
Other Spouse: Mary James ( - ) - 17 Sep 1639 - St. James, Bromwich, Staffordshire, England
Wife Lydia
Born: Christened: Died: After 28 Nov 1654 - Windsor, Hartford, Connecticut Buried:
Children
General Notes (Husband)
He is suppsed by The Gilbert Family to have married Lydia who was executed for witchcraft; no record is found of this marriage and she is more likeley to have married his son, Thomas Jr. See Lydia wife of Thomas Jr.
Lydia _____ (no record of this marriage has been found, see details in the text below; The Gilbert Family ... has her as this Thomas's mother, not his wife).
Who Was Lydia Gilbert?
The Gilbert Family ... maintains that Lydia Gilbert was the wife of Thomas [Sr.], the father of this family, based largely on circumstancial evidence. In contrast, The English Origin of Thomas Gilbert ... maintains that Lydia was most likely the second wife of his son, Thomas [Jr.], based of the following items.
Thomas [Sr.] was granted land in 1639/40 in "Mount Wollystone" Massachusetts
Thomas [Jr.] married in England and their first child, Mary, was christened there on December 12, 1641. Therefore, he did not accompany his father and the rest of the family to America in or before 1638. (This information was not known to the authors of The Gilbert Family ....)
Court records show that Thomas [Sr.] was in Braintree, Mass., in 1646.
Therefore, the Thomas Gilbert who arrived in Windsor, Connecticut, and bought land in 1644/45 was not Thomas [Sr.], it was Thomas [Jr.]. There is no evidence that Thomas [Sr.] ever lived in Windsor.
Lydia Gilbert was convicted of witchcraft on November 28, 1654, in Windsor. While there is no record of her hanging, which would have been prompt, there is also no record of anyone at that time escaping the sentence "thou Deservest to Dye", either.
Less than a year later, in 1655, Thomas [Jr.] married Katherine (Chapin) in Windsor.
The wife of Thomas [Sr.] and the mother of his children is known to be Elizabeth Bennett.
Among the debts paid from the estate of Thomas [Sr.], who died on September 5, 1659, in Wethersfield, is "charges of funeralls for him and wife—£9:17:06". Therefore, we can presume that his wife died shortly before him, also in Wethersfield.
Therefore, this author believes that Lydia Gilbert was the second wife of Thomas [Jr.] of Windsor, not the wife of Thomas [Sr.] of Wethersfield. However, convictions for witchcraft were such a shocking and memorable part of America's early history that some of the details of Lydia's fate will be presented here.
Sources:
Brainard, Homer Worthing; Gilbert, Harold Simeon; and Torrey, Clarence Almon; The Gilbert Family—Descendants of Thomas Gilbert, 1582(?)–1659 of Mt. Wollastin (Braintree), Windsor, and Wethersfield, 1953
Richardson, Douglas, English Origin of Thomas Gilbert of Braintree, Massachusetts, and Wethersfield, Connecticut, The American Genealogist, July 1992
Jacobus, Donald Lines, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (reprinted with corrections), Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991 (1930); vol. 1, pp. 216–223
Roberts, Gary Boyd, Ancestors of American Presidents, 1989, p. 221
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Walter Gilbert:
Thomas Gilbert, previously at Windsor, had a grant of land in Springfield Jan 30, 1655, and at Fresh WAter Brook, Enfield, Feb 12 1660. He m in 1655 CAtherine Bliss, widow of Nathaniel Bliss of Springfield. His widow remarried and had four more children.
General Notes (Wife)
Who Was Lydia Gilbert?
The Gilbert Family ... maintains that Lydia Gilbert was the wife of Thomas [Sr.], the father of this family, based largely on circumstancial evidence. In contrast, The English Origin of Thomas Gilbert ... maintains that Lydia was most likely the second wife of his son, Thomas [Jr.], based of the following items.
Thomas [Sr.] was granted land in 1639/40 in "Mount Wollystone" Massachusetts
Thomas [Jr.] married in England and their first child, Mary, was christened there on December 12, 1641. Therefore, he did not accompany his father and the rest of the family to America in or before 1638. (This information was not known to the authors of The Gilbert Family ....)
Court records show that Thomas [Sr.] was in Braintree, Mass., in 1646.
Therefore, the Thomas Gilbert who arrived in Windsor, Connecticut, and bought land in 1644/45 was not Thomas [Sr.], it was Thomas [Jr.]. There is no evidence that Thomas [Sr.] ever lived in Windsor.
Lydia Gilbert was convicted of witchcraft on November 28, 1654, in Windsor. While there is no record of her hanging, which would have been prompt, there is also no record of anyone at that time escaping the sentence "thou Deservest to Dye", either.
Less than a year later, in 1655, Thomas [Jr.] married Katherine (Chapin) in Windsor.
The wife of Thomas [Sr.] and the mother of his children is known to be Elizabeth Bennett.
Among the debts paid from the estate of Thomas [Sr.], who died on September 5, 1659, in Wethersfield, is "charges of funeralls for him and wife—£9:17:06". Therefore, we can presume that his wife died shortly before him, also in Wethersfield.
Therefore, this author believes that Lydia Gilbert was the second wife of Thomas [Jr.] of Windsor, not the wife of Thomas [Sr.] of Wethersfield. However, convictions for witchcraft were such a shocking and memorable part of America's early history that some of the details of Lydia's fate will be presented here.
We must not ascribe to English law alone the inhuman laws concerning witchcraft. The witchcraft delusion prevailed throughout Christendom from the early days of the Church down to the eighteenth century. The absolute belief in the reality of witchcraft and of its divinely ordained punishment was based upon the Hebrew code and held enthralled all Christian Europe. To deny it was the greatest of heresies. Mr. Taylor, in the monograph already mentioned, treats of this phase of the subject. For more extensive discussions, the reader may consult History of the Warfare between Science and Theology, by Andrew D. White and History of the Inquisition by J. Henry Lea and other works.
Lydia Gilbert's Conviction of Witchcraft
The dismal roll of witch hangings in Connecticut begins with that of Alse Young who was hanged May 26, 1647. No witches were ever burned in New England. Mary Johnson of Wethersfield went the same way in 1648, and on March 6, 1651/2, John Carrington and his wife Joan were convicted., There is a record showing that both were executed. The fifth victim was Lydia, wife of Thomas Gilbert of Windsor. We shall give as full an account as possible of her case.
Who Lydia Gilbert's accusers were is unknown. Whether ignorant gossip or private enmities brought this ghastly charge upon her, it is impossible to say. That the charge of procuring the death of Henry Stiles could be brought against her seems incredible, when everyone of mature age in Windsor must have known that Henry Stiles met his death by the carelessness of Thomas Allyn, three years before. But this charge was brought against her. She was charged with other witchcrafts besides this, and it may be that she was one of those unfortunate women to whom suspicion of witchcraft clung, for reasons which cannot now be stated. The evidence upon which Lydia was convicted, and the names of the witnesses against her, are unknown. The juror's oath, the names of the jury and the names of the magistrates who heard the case are on record, as well as the indictment and the verdict. Six of the magistrates and jurymen were residents of Windsor, five of Hartford, and the rest belonged to Wethersfield. The Court considered the case in a special session beginning November 28, 1654. The jury brought in the indictment and the records seem to show that they brought in the verdict as well. These two functions of a jury are separate in our time, but in 1654 it was not so. This seems repugnant to our ideas of justice. We should like to hope that the Court proceeded after the ancient English manner, receiving the indictment from the jury, hearing the evidence and deciding in accord therewith.
The Juror's Oath
You do sware by the Ever living god that you will diligently enquire & faithfully present to this Court what soe Ever you know to bee a Breach of any Established Law of this Jurisdictyon so far as may conduce to the glory of god and the good of the commonwealth as allso what Oreginall offences you shall Judge meete to be presented, as you expect helpe from god in Jesus Christ.
The Indictment
Lydea Gilburt thou art here indited by that name of Lydea Gilburt that not having the feare of god before thy Eyes thou hast of late years or still dust give Entertainment to Sathan the greate Enemy of god and mankind and by his helpe hast killed the Body of Henry Styles besides other witchcrafts for which according to the law of god and the Established Law of this commonwealth thou Deservest to Dye.
The Verdict
Ye party above mentioned is found guilty of witchcraft by the Jury.
All the authorities upon the witchcraft cases state that she suffered death. An accusation or even the suspicion of witchcraft was so deadly a thing that persons involved fled from the Colony in dread haste if possible. Ten years later, Katherine Harrison of Wethersfield was convicted by a jury, but public opinion had so far changed that the ministers were called in to advise, and although their advice was for technicalities only, the magistrates were divided in opinion and after a year's imprisonment Mrs. Harrison was allowed to go to Westchester in New York jurisdiction. There is no evidence that there was any intervention in behalf of Mrs. Gilbert. The governor of the Colony did not have the power of reprieve or pardon at this time. An appeal to the General Court was possible, but there is no record of such an appeal in this or in any of the witchcraft cases. An appeal to Parliament would have been beyond the means of the defendant, and impossible to obtain on other grounds. England had seen more than seventy executions in one county in the space of one year under the law of 1603. It is doubtful if Lydia Gilbert escaped. She may have suffered the penalty either in the jail yard at Hartford or more probably on the lot at the corner of Albany Avenue and Vine Street in Hartford, where the public gallows is known to have stood a little later. Perhaps the huge, ancient elm tree whose trunk and roots were removed about 1913, when in its vigor, witnessed the sad scene. It is incorrect to say, as does George L. Clark in his History of Connecticut, that the witches were hanged on the rocky ridge where Trinity College now stands. The ridge, however, was a place of execution during the Revolutionary period.
Note that the entry for the Gilbert family on pages 252-3 of volume 3 of the Encyclopedia of Connecticut Biography, History, and Momoir gives a completely incorrect accounting of who this Thomas Gilbert is.
1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (R) (Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998).
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