Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Henry TRUE "of Salem"

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Descendants of Henry TRUE "of Salem"

Generation No. 2

2. Henry TRUE "of² Salisbury" (Henry TRUE "of¹ Salem") was born March 08, 1644/45, and died September 08, 1735. He married Jane BRADBURY March 15, 1667/68, daughter of Thomas BRADBURY and Mary PERKINS. She was born May 11, 1645, and died January 24, 1728/29.

Notes for Henry TRUE "of Salisbury":
Referred to as "Henry True of Salisbury" (resided in Salisbury, MA). Also listed as "Captain Henry True." "Henry True was captain in the Militia from1696 to 1722. Records of Salisbury (?) note, "May13, 1695, Henry True was chosen Representative to serve at 1st session of ye grate and general Cort to be holden at Boston in town house May 27, 1695."

Birthdate is apparently listed as Jan. 18, 1644 in "Founders of Massachusetts Bay Colony", by Sarah Saunders Smith , Pittsfield, Mass., Press of the Sun Printing Co., 1897. Something doesn't add up, however. If Henry True of Salem arrived in this country in 1644 and didn't meet Israel Pike until then (she is said to have immigrated with her family in 1635), it would seem that a birthdate of 1645 is more likely. However, If the immigrant Henry arrived in this country in 1630, then there is no real problem with the 1644 date.

SOURCE: Chart, "Geneaology of the Family of True, in America", compiled by H. A. True, M. D., Marion, OH, January, 1864.

Notes for Jane BRADBURY:
NOTES for her mother, Mary Perkins Bradbury:

Amongst the records of my father, Oscar True Babcock, is the following handwritten note, with a heading of "Interesting things", then the words "Wills - lists", the meaning of which is unclear. My father's note provides a tantalizing bit of evidence connecting the family -- in a way -- with the infamous Salem Witch Trials! His note reads:

"1680 - John Carr in love with Jemima True -- Broken off by his father on account of his youth -- He became melancholy and insane and died." (This must have been Henry of Salisbury's younger sister Jemima, who had married Capt. John March in 1679, and not Henry's daughter Jemima, as 1680 is the year of her birth and such a passionate infatuation as this is not usually directed at a new-born babe. -- B.B.) The handwritten note continues:

"1692 (12 years later) Mary Perkins Bradbury, age 70, arrested, charged with bewitching John Carr so that he became insane and prematurely died. 'The deposition of William Carr who testifieth and saith that about 13 years ago, presently after some differences that happened to be between my honored father, Mr. George Carr and Mrs. Bradbury, the prisoner at the bar, upon a Sabbath at noon, as we were riding home by the house of Capt. Thomas Bradbury, I saw Mrs. Bradbury go into her gate, turn the corner and immediately there darted out of her gate a blue boar, and darted at my father's horses legs which made him stumble, but I saw it no more. And my father said, "Boys, What did you see?, and we both said, "A Blue Boar." ' " End of quote from the deposition, but my father adds a postscript, "She was convicted (as a witch - B. B.) with 4 others who were executed Sept. 1692. She escaped hanging."

Imagine convicting someone of a hanging offense on the basis of evidence like this! Someone from a family with whom you've had a history of "some differences", accuses you of being a witch since he says he thinks you changed yourself into a "Blue Boar" and frightened his father's horse. And on the basis of this testimony, you're convicted and condemned to hang! Of course we don't know if William Carr's testimony was the only evidence presented. Did others also think they witnessed Mary Bradbury in an act of changing herself into a dangerous beast, perhaps a purple chipmunk, or a pink elephant? And, how did she escape hanging in the face of such overwhelming evidence, when the 4 others condemned with her were hanged? And what happened to her? Did she serve a prison term, or just have her head shaved and her ears notched? Was the motivation a 12 year old belief that she had bewitched the unhappy John Carr, even though it was the aggrieved father who opposed the relationship?

(It boggles the mind. And some politicians urge us to return to the "good old days." Perhaps the days of Sen. Joe McCarthy in the 1950's when scores of academics, writers and the like were black-listed and had careers ruined on the basis of similar evidence? Not quite the same as hanging, but the same idea.)

Fortunately, the answers to most of those questions can be found in Marion L. Starkey's book, "The Devil in Massachusetts," 1949, an inquiry into that sordid and disturbing piece of American history. In Chapter XVII, "Eight Firebrands of Hell," Starkey writes:

"The wheels of justice (sic) now turned at full speed. On September 9 the judges tried and condemned six witches (sic), and on September 17 nine more. Of the total of 15, eight were hanged on September 22. All but one of the seven who escaped hanging could be judicially accounted for. Five were... condemned but reprieved. The sixth... got a stay of execution by pleading pregnancy. Only with the seventh was there any irregularity. Mary Bradbury of Salisbury 'escaped' or if escaped is too strong a word, she being too feeble to do anything for herself, at least her friends had in some obscure way managed to hide her from authority...."

Starkey's account goes on to describe Mary Bradbury as "one of the best loved members of her community" and that ninety-three neighbors presented the court with a statement that "in half a century they had never known her to make any trouble." Others, including Reverend James Allen (Allin), testified to her "charity and piety." The book continues: "Her husband, Thomas, to whom she had been married fifty years and borne eleven children, said that she was 'of a cheerful spirit, liberal and charitable,' but now that she was old, 'weak and grieved under her affliction, may not be able to speak for herself, not being so free of speech as others may be.'"

"Such testimony came from the circle of Mrs. Bradbury's affectionate acquaintance. Not everyone is Salisbury belonged to it; at its outer edges were people who took the view that her seeming goodness was a false front behind which she concealed abominations. The elder Ann Putnam... not having moved in Mrs. Bradbury's social set, knew all about the abominations. Her kinsman, Richard Carr, had as good as seen the woman turn herself into a 'blue boar;' anyway he saw the boar rush out of a gate which Mrs. Bradbury had just entered and dash at the feet of his father's horse. Neither he nor another witness doubted that the boar was Mrs. Bradbury, and apparently neither did judges or jury when the story was duly relayed to them." (The "elder Ann Putnam" was the mother of a 12 year old daughter - also named Ann - who was one of the group of teen and pre-teenage girls who had, with their wild accusations, triggered the hysteria about witches that swept through Salem and the surrounding communities.)

There was also testimony that she had even "haunted" ships at sea. A man named Samuel Endicott told the court that his captain had bought "two firkins of butter" from Mary Bradbury prior to a sea voyage and that these had spoiled. (Not too surprising, Starkey notes, since the ship was bound for the Barbados and was not equipped with any refridgeration!) Starkey continues, "The spoiling of the butter was, however, only the beginning of Mrs. Bradbury's display of malefic powers. Soon after the Barbados the ship ran into a storm, lost a mainmast and sprang a leak which ruined several tons of salt. At this point, Mrs. Bradbury gloating over her accomplishment, could not resist the temptation to show off. On a bright moonlit night, Endicott looked up and there she sat on the windlass, neat and composed in her white cap and neckcloth as she had ever been at Meeting at Salisbury. There could be no plainer evidence than that. Mrs. Bradbury was sentenced to hang -- yet did not. Her friends found means of spiriting her away and concealing her...."

In the notes at the end of the book is the following: "Though extensive testimony both for and against Mary Bradbury remains in the records (see Woodward, W. Elliot, Vol. II, "Records of the Salem Witchcraft," printed in Roxbury, 1864, two volumes), the circumstances of her trial are mysterious. First complained on May 26, she was indicted July 26. Her survivors claimed in 1710 that she had been imprisoned six months, but since notation in the court records (Essex Coounty Archives, "Salem Witchcraft," Vol. II, pp 34-40) explicitly says that she escaped, their statement is obviously erroneous; maybe they meant six weeks."

(The whole story of this sordid chapter in our history is fascinating and well worth looking into. I recommend not only the book quoted here, but if you have a chance to read or, better yet, see the stage play, "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller, don't miss it! It's one of the most powerful stage plays ever written. -- Bryce Babcock)

SOURCES: O.T. Babcock, handrritten notes; Starkey, Marion L., "The Devil In Massachusetts: A Modern Inquiry Into the Salem Witch Trials," Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1949. -- Bryce Babcock

My son, Taavi Kirk Babcock, found this account of Mary Perkins Bradbury and the full depositions of her husband and others on a Family Tree Maker site, the Bradbury-Perkins Homepage. It is pretty much in agreement with the information in the book quoted above, "The Devil In Massachusetts" although there are some minor differences (the statement signed by 117 Salisbury men and women who knew her, as opposed to 93, for example). I have not been able to access the Bradbury-Perkins Homepage myself. -- Bryce Babcock

Excerpts from The Perkins Family In America (pp. 15 -16 ) concerning the
trial of Mary Perkins Bradbury.

Mary (Perkins) Bradbury was one of those unfortunate people who, in the dark days of witchcraft delusion, was among the accused. She was also convicted, but by the efforts of her friends her execution was delayed, the horrid delusion passed away, and she was discharged. The papers connected with her trial, as well as those of the others, who were, some of them, more unfortunate, have been preserved, and are to be seen on the files in the Clerk of Courts Office in Salem, Mass.

Her defence in answer to the accusations of her persecutors, the testimony of her husband with that of Rev. James Allin and John Pike, her ministers, and the united testimonial of over one hundred of her neighbors and towns-people were all of no avail. These papers show her to have been a most estimable, pious and good woman, and should be recorded in her praise. We copy them from the original:

"The answer of Mary Bradbury to the charge of witchcraft or familiarity with the Devil.--1 do plead not guilty. --I am wholly innocent of such wickedness through the goodness of God that hath kept me hitherto. I am the servant of Jesus Christ and have given myself up to him as my only Lord and Saviour, and to the diligent attendance upon him in all holy ordinances, in utter contempt and defiance of the Devil & all his works as horrid and detestable; and have endeavored accordingly to frame my life & conversation according to the rules of his holy word, and in that faith and practice resolve, by the help and assistance of God, to continue to my life's end. For the truth of what I say as to matter of practice, I humbly refer myself to my brethren and neighbors that know me, and to the searcher of all hearts for the truth & uprightness of my heart therein, human frailties & unavoidable infirmaties excepted, of which I bitterly complain every day. -- Mary Bradbury. "

"July 28: 1692.--Concerning my beloved wife, Mary Bradbury, this is what I have to say: We have been named fifty-five years, and she hath been a loving and faithful wife to me. Unto this day she hath been wonderfully laborious, diligent and industrious, in her place and employment about the bringing up of our family (which hath been eleven children of our own and four grandchildren) she was both prudent and provident, of a cheerful spirit, liberal and charitable. She
being now very aged and grieved under her affliction, may not be able to speak much for herself, not being so free of speech as some others may be. I hope her life and conversation have been such among her neighbours as gives a better and more real testimony of her than can be expressed by words. -- Tho. Bradbury."

"Being desired to give my testimony concerning the life and conversation of Mrs. Bradbury of Salisbury among us which is as followeth, viz: I have lived nine years at Salisbury in the work of the ministry and now four years in the office of a pastour; to my best notice and observation of Mrs. Bradbury she hath lived according to the gospel among us, was a constant attender upon the ministry of ye word; and all the ordinances of the gospel, full of works of charity and mercy to the sick and poor, neither have I seen or heard anything of her unbecoming the profession of the gospel. -- James Allin. "

"Having lived many years in Salisbury and been much conversant there, according to my best observation and notice of Mrs. Bradbury must needs affirm to what is above written, and give my oath to it if called thereto. -- John Pike."

July 22: 1692. "Concerning Mrs. Bradbury's life and conversation, We the subscribers do testifie that it was such as becometh ye gospel, she was a lover of ye ministry in all appearance and a
diligent attender upon Gods holy ordinances being of a curteous and peaceable disposition and carriage, neither did any of us (some of whom have lived in ye towne with her fifty yeare) ever heare or know that she ever had any difference or falling oute with any of her neighbors, man, woman, or child --but was alwayes readie and willing to doe for them what lay in her power night and day, though with hazard to her health or other danger. -- more might be spoken in her comendation but this for the prsent. "
-- The above was signed by 117 men and women of Salisbury.

Mary (Perkins) Bradbury died in Amesbury in 1700, at the age of eighty years.

Children of Henry Salisbury" and Jane BRADBURY are:

	9	i.	Mary³ True, born May 30, 1668. She married Ephriam Eaton February 05, 1688/89; born February 12, 1662/63; died June 08, 1723.
+	10	ii.	William TRUE, Lieutenant, born June 1670; died March 18, 1732/33.
	11	iii.	Henry True, born January 06, 1672/73; died November 01, 1722. He married Abigail French December 20, 1699; died August 05, 1736.
	12	iv.	Jane True, born December 05, 1676. She married Edward French June 16, 1702; born July 20, 1672.
+	13	v.	John True, born February 23, 1677/78.
	14	vi.	Jemina True, born May 16, 1680. She married Thomas Bradbury October 30, 1700.
	15	vii.	Jabez True, born February 19, 1681/82.

Notes for Jabez True:
"Probably died young." -- O. T. Babcock, notes

viii.

Jabez True, born October 1685; died May 22, 1749.

6. Joseph² True (Henry TRUE "of¹ Salem") died December 22, 1718. He married Ruth Whittier April 20, 1675. She died December 16, 1719.

Children of Joseph True and Ruth Whittier are:

Joseph³ True, born January 09, 1674/75.

Notes for Joseph True:
"Died young." -- O.T. Babcock, notes

	18	ii.	John True, born August 18, 1677; died December 13, 1677.
+	19	iii.	Joseph True, born March 04, 1678/79.
	20	iv.	Ruth True, born October 05, 1683. She married John Giles, Capt. "of Casco" October 26, 1703.
	21	v.	Israel True, born December 14, 1687.
+	22	vi.	Benjamin True, born March 05, 1690/91; died July 04, 1748.

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