William Trowbridge*

Notes:

Margaret Lewen*

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If it be thy pleasure"- Thus prayed the old divine- "To bury our friends in the ocean, Take them, for they are thine

" But Master Lamberton muttered, And under his breath said he, "This ship is so crank and walty I fear our grave she will be

" And the ships that came from England, When the winter months were gone, Brought no tiding of this vessel

Nor of Master Lamberton. This put the people to praying That the Lord would let them hear What in his greater wisdom He had done to friends so dear. And at last our prayers were answered: It was in the month of June An hour before sunset Of a windy afternoon. When, steadily steering landward, A ship was seen below, And they knew it was Lamberton, Master, Who sailed so long ago. On she came with a cloud of canvas, Right against the wind that blew, Until the eye could distinguish The faces of the crew. Then fell her straining top mast, Hanging tangled in the shrouds, And her sails were loosened and lifted, And blown away like clouds. And the masts, with all their rigging, Fell slowly, one by one, And the hulk dialated and vanished, As a sea-mist in the sun

And the people who saw thus marvel Each said unto his friend, That this was the mould of their vessel, and thus her tragic end. And the pastor of the villiage Gave thanks to God in Prayer, That, to quiet their troubled spirits, He had sent a Ship of Air. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the dignity of the persons involved no other case is comparable tothe Goody Knapp case of Fairfield except that of Elizabeth Godman of NewHaven. There were present, remember, at the Ludlow libel suit, TheophilusEaton, governor of New Haven, wh ere the case was tried, Mr. StephenGoodyear, deputy governor, Francis Newman, another friend of Eaton's,William Fowler, and William Leete, the three magistrates, that is,senators, besides the array of notable witnesses. So in the case ofElizabet h Godman the governor and his deputy presided, with a similargroup of magistrates. At the trial in Hartford of John Carrington in 1662the governor and his deputy were present, but so far as I know nodignitaries were personally interested in the ca se. In this last case thelist of jurymen has been preserved; among them is at least one notablename, Mr. Tailecoat (Talcott), none less than the future major of theIndian war, father of the governor. But to return to the case ofElizabeth Godman : The case was tried in 1655; she was acquitted andreleased from prison with a reprimand in September of that year. Whatgives particular interest to the case is the way in which the Goodyearfamily was involved. Elizabeth Godman must have been a se rvant, employedapparently in different places, but often at Mr. Goodyear's. A sermon ofJohn Davenport seems to have precipitated matters; he had said that"froward discontented frame of spirit was a subject fit for ye Devill,"and some of his listen ers fitted the description to Elizabeth, whopromptly took the matter up by bringing her accusers into court,complaining that Mrs. Goodyear, Mr. Hooke, Mrs. Hooke, Mrs. Bishop, Mrs.Atwater, Hannah and Elizabeth Lamberton suspected her of bein g a witchand asking for the evidence. The chief testimony appears to have beenoffered by Hannah Lamberton, evidence of a character it would be beneatha child to offer or to consider. That was in 1653; Elizabeth was dismissed, but in 1655 was again brought up. Thistime the chief testimony was by no less a man than the deputy governorhimself; there is nothing, however, to show that he himself was active inbringing the suit; we may thin k him somewhat reluctant to do so. Thechief features of his story may be transcribed. Perhaps it should be recalled that he himself was a wealthymerchant adventurer, that on the loss of his wife in the phantom ship of1646 he had found consolation in the relict of the captain of the fatedvessel, Master Lamberton. Hence th e Lamberton daughters are hisstep-children. Hannah Goodyear was his own daughter, a little later wifeto the Rev. Samuel Wakeman of Fairfield. Goodyear's story is substantially as follows: His daghter Sellevant (Eliza Lamberton), Hanah Goodyeare, andDesire Lamberton lying together in the chamber under Eliza: Godman; afterthey were in bed heard her walke up and downe and talk aloude; . . . theyfell asleep but were awakened wi th a great jumbling at the chamber doreand something came into the chamber wch jumbled at the other end of theroome and aboutte the trunke and amonge the shooes and at the beds head;it cam nearer the bed and Hanah was afraid and called father, bu t heheard not wch made her more afraide; then clothes were pulled off theirbed by something two or three times; they held and something pulled, wchfrightened them soe that Hanah Goodyeare called her father so loude aswas thought might be hear d to the meeting house; . . . after a while Mr.Goodyeare came and found them in great fright; they lighted a candle andhe went to Eliza: Godmans Chamber . . . being asked why she went downestaires . . . she said to light a candle to looke for tw o grapes she hadlost in the flore and feared the mice would play with them in the nightand disturbe ye family, wch reason in the Courts apprehension renders hermore suspitious. When the case was disposed of in October, "she did engage beforethe court fifty pound of her estate that is in Mr. Goodyeers hand, forher good behavior, wch is further to be cleered next court, when Mr.Goodyeare is at home," Mr. Goodyea r in the meanwhile having sailed forLondon whence he never returned to America. Elizabeth Godman died 9 October, 1660. It perhaps should havebeen pointed out that Betty Brewster, Mrs. Pell's daughter, gave evidencein this case also; she seemed to have a penchant for witches. It wassomething of a craze. Note this as evidence of the credulity of the time, solemnlyattested by Jonathan Burr and Nathan Gold, assistants, that is, senators: Sd hugh [Hugh Crotia, under date of Feb. 15, 1692] asked whetherhe did not say hee had made a Contract with ye devell five years sencwith his heart and signed to ye devells book and then sealed it with hisbloud . . . he saith he did sa y so . . . and that he had ever since beenpractising Eivel against every man.1 Yet the grand jury brought in its decision, Ignoramus. Crotia wasgranted a jail delivery. 1 Witchcraft in Connecticut. Powers-Banks Ancestry, p. 271-273.

Thomas Trowbridge*

Notes:

Elizabeth Marshall*

Notes:

William Trowbridge

Seth Trowbridge, Rev.War

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I am the only Trowbridge living in the two towns; all have passed away, or wandered off th the Far West. Grandfather Seth was a strong, enterprising Yankee. Most of the seven sons were six-footers, and the six daughters were as fine-looking girl s as could be found round about."

Samuel Trowbridge Rev.War

Notes:

Elizabeth Trowbridge

John Trowbridge

Notes:

Thomas Trowbridge

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