Mary Williams

Notes:

Mary Hale was a widow, age seventy-four in 1680 who ran a rooming house/ infirmary, taking in many destitute people, for whose care she was paid by the city. Her granddaughter Joanna Benham, age nineteen, acted as her assistant. Mary was accused of poisoning a young man who had once courted Joanna and now was paying attention to another young girl. She was judged not guilty (Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County and Records of the Court of Assistants).

Family/Spouse: John King. John and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Misc: 25 Jul 1692, Connecticut, British Colonial America; was accused of witchcraft and acquited
• Misc: 31 Aug 1697, Connecticut, British Colonial America; accused of witchcraft and indicted
• Misc: 7 Oct 1697, Hartford, Connecticut, British Colonial America; tried for witchcraft: The grand jury returned the verdict "Ignoramus," (not proven) and they were free to go home

Notes:

Winifred, the Witch of Wallingford
Winifred King was married to Joseph Benham of New Haven on January 15, 1657, in Boston. The couple had fourteen children. The youngest child Winifred, at age thirteen, was accused with her mother of witchcraft and was tried in New haven and Harttford, and finally acquitted. Winifred King's mother is probably Mary Hale of Boston, wife of John. Mary Hale was a widow who ran a boarding house/nursing home in Boston, accused in 1680 of poisoning a young man, a former boarder, who had rejected her granddaughter and was about to marry another. The granddaughter's name was Johanna Benham, and she was "aged 19 or thereabouts" when she testified at the trial, just the age of Winifred's daughter Johanna, who is said to have died young. At the trial, Johanna called Mary Hale her grandmother, and Mary was said to have called Johanna, "my granddaughter, a hump-backed jade!" Mary was acquitted. There are records of Mary Hale in Boston from 1663 when she was paid 5 pounds for taking care of an indigent but nothing has yet been found about her before or after that. No further record has been found of Johanna.
Joseph and Winifred Benham lived in New Haven until they moved to Wallingford in 1670 as one of the the thirty-seven founding families. Winifred was the only "foreign" wife, the only one among these families who had not been locally brought up and that, of course, made her particularly vulnerable to local malice. In Wallingford Joseph was allotted a six acre home lot on the main street, then called the 'Long Highway'. This was situated in the very center of the village, directly across from the site set aside for the ministry. In 1950 the First Congregational Church celebrated its 175th anniversary. For more than ten years, Joseph and Winifred Benham lived quietly. Sometime before 1680, their oldest daughter, Johanna, must have gone to Boston to live with her grandmother, and perhaps pick up some knowledge of nursing, as her mother had probably done. In 1682, their child, Joseph, was married to a widow, Hannah Merriman Ives, who was eight years older than he. Socially, this was a step up for Joseph because of the three classes in Wallingford, the Merrimans were in class 1 (paying the highest taxes and holding the most prominent positions), the Ives in class 2 (the great middle class of taxpayers and office holders), while the Benhams were in the lowest class 3 (with little money and no important jobs).
Since no more is ever heard of the second Mary and her brother Samuel, we assume they died by 1680. This left Joseph and Winifred with only four of their many children left at home; two girls, Anna age 13, Sara age 6; and two boys, John age 11, and James age 3. They were, no doubt, very surprised to have Winifred in 1684, a year after their first grandchild was born.
Rumors calling Winifred a witch must have been circulating for some years before Joseph finally lost his temper. Hannah Parker, wife of John Parker had even come to his house and suggested to Winifred that she was associated with the devil. Maybe she taunted her with having a child so late in life, (the baby Winifred had been born when she was 45, after a lapse of four years - unusual then) and suggested she had conjured up the baby! Or maybe she had asked about her "witch" mother, Mary Hale. Joseph pulled out his gun and threatened to shoot Hannah if the woman did not stop harassing his wife.
Joseph's threat so infuriated the righteous Parkers that they separately and publicly accused both Benhams before the county court at New Haven on July 25, 1692, he of threatening to shoot Hannah and she of witchcraft. Joseph Benham was cited in court and fined. Winifred had to appear again in November when she was cleared but warned "solemnly reflect upon ye case and grounds of suspicion given in and alleged against her." And told if further grounds or evidence should appear against her she might "justly feare and exspect to be brought to her tryall for it." Joseph was required to post 20 pounds to ensure her further appearance.
The fact that it took five years to find people to testify against Winifred, speaks very well for her character, and also shows that she must have had many friends in Wallingford. Outstanding among the friends are two very different families; the Dutch Johnson (or Jansens), originally from what is now Brooklyn, and the Eliasaph Prestons, the other deacon of the church. Not only was Preston a deacon but he was also one of the best educated men in Wallingford; he was the schoolteacher, and came from a line of educated men. Just as important was the fact that his wife, Elizabeth Beach, had a brother who had married the daughter of a very famous "witch" Mary Staples, of Fairfield. In 1653 Mary's husband had sued her accuser (the deputy governor of New Haven) for slander, and won. Among Mary's stated crimes was the fact that she had told a friend she did not believe in witches! In 1692 she was again accused (with a daughter and granddaughter) and again acquitted. Deacon Preston would have stood behind Winifred. Also his daughter Esther married Winifred's son James in 1703.
About 1667 a Dutchman named Jan Wouters moved to Branford, Connecticut with his wife and three sons. Lambert, born 1660 married Anna Benham, and Wouter (or Walter), born 1666 married Joanna Royce. Jan Wouter's first wife died and he married again, having nine more children. Jacob, born 1672, married Sarah Benham. Walter moved to Wallingford and settled there; even after the death of Joanna in 1688, he brought his second wife to live there. It was probably while visiting that their brother that Lambert and Jacob fell in love with the Benham girls. There is no record of when or where they were married, but it might have been Brooklyn (Flatbush), and since the first child recorded of either couple was baptized on Staten Island in 1696, it is possible they had a double wedding about 1694. This child was named Winifred, which must have brought great comfort and pleasure to her grandmother.
The Dutch did not believe in witch nonsense and were probably anxious to get their women out of the range of malicious gossip as soon as possible. It is likely that John, who would have been 23 in 1694, left home about this time to seek his fortune; the Wallingford land records show no mention of John until 1726. So Joseph, Winifred, their son James and daughter Winifred might well have been alone.
But the hounding wouldn't stop! Winifred was teased, inspected, questioned, watched all the time. Young Winifred was so like her mother, she was suspected, too. Can you hear Hannah Parker saying... "she was an unnatural child to begin with...the devil's spawn." The Benhams liked their home...they had worked hard to make it a good place to lay down roots and didn't want to tear them up. They probably spent more and more time on their farm at Cheshire, hoping against hope that the persecutions would stop
Finally came the break that Hannah Parker was waiting for. Her second daughter, Hannah, who had married Josiah Royce in 1693, was left a widow and married a second time to Ebenzer Clark on December 22, 1696. Ebenezer had a fifteen year old daughter Sarah by his first wife Sarah Peck who had died in May of that year. We can surmise it would not take long for Elizabeth to convince her disconsolate and impressionable step-daughter that most of her troubles and those of her friends were due to the wicked witch Winifred Benham.
Sarah had an orphan friend, Elizabeth, who had lost both her father and mother in the last nine years; Elizabeth Lathrop's father John died in 1688 and her mother Ruth Royce had married again to Abraham Doolittle who already had children. Then about 1694 her mother Ruth had died, her stepfather had married for a third time, and was now starting a new family. She must have felt unwanted and unloved and so was readily convinced she was bewitched. It is quite possible that by then she was living with her aunt, Martha Lathrop Moss, whose son John Moss, age 15, was the third accuser. These three were the witnesses that the Parkers and Deacon Hall had been looking for; they came from very good families and the Parkers would not appear to be involved.
The trial was held at a 'Special County Court by order of Governor, held at New Haven August 31, 1697.' The accused were: Winnifred King Benham, age 58, Wallingford and Winnifred Benham Jr, age 13, Wallingford. They were accused by: Wallingford Children; John Moss 3rd, son of John Moss Jr. and Sarah Lathrop Moss; Elizabeth Lathrop, age 19; and Sarah Clark, age 16. The three teenagers testified that "they were frequently and sorely afflicted in their bodies by the said Benhams, mother and daughter or theire Apparicon and as they strongly suspect by their means or procurance by the Devil in their shapes." The court said that the death of a young child should be inquired into "with what appeared as spots on said child and the like spots on the said Benham quickly vanishing," and this time the court found "clear and sufficient ground of suspicion against them" and bound them over for trial at the next Court of Assistants in October.
Joseph had to post a 40 pound bond to keep his wife and daughter out of jail, and guarantee their appearance. Where he found the money, goodness knows. In June of 1697, he sold 4 acres of land to Thomas Beach for 8 pounds 10 shillings. Maybe he mortgaged the rest of his land for the bond. Under no conditions would he let his family spend any time in prison.
When the two Winifreds appeared before court at Hartford in October 7, 1697, they tried the experiment of casting her into water; "the Superior Court of Connecticut has searched her several times for Tets (witch marks). The grand jury returned the verdict "Ignoramus," (not proven) and they were free to go home. After this she was excommunicated from church by the minister of Wallingford. They could not know that this was the last recorded witchcraft trial in New England. Continued suspicion drove mother and daughter to seed refuge elsewhere; they fled for the less hostile environment of Staten Island in the Colony of New York.
The two Johnson (or Wouters) girls (Anna and Sarah Benham) ended up on Staten Island and raised children. Either or both of them occupied a fine house overlooking the "Narrows" towards Brooklyn. it is now a tourist attraction, one of the oldest on the Island. Eventually both Johnsons moved to New Jersey.
Young Winifred is in the 1706 census of Staten Island, married to Evert Van Namen, who moved there from Brooklyn about that time. Until her marriage she and her parents, while they lived, had probably been with the Johnsons in Brooklyn. Joseph Jr. died in 1702, leaving three children. John turns up just once, in 1726, as a signer of a power of attorney to his brother James and nephew Joseph for the sale of Joseph Sr.'s land, and the division of profits among his heirs. He was at the time living in Kings County, New York, which is Brooklyn. James who stayed in Wallingford, either with his brother Joseph until he died in 1702, or with his friend the Deacon Eliasaph Preston, married Esther Preston in 1704, and had a large family of his own. We do not know when or where Joseph or Winifred died...Joseph had died at least by 1714, when the new land division allotted shares to "the hairs of Joseph Benham, Senor."

The last witchcraft trial in Connecticut happened in 1697, where the charges against Wallingford residents Winnifred Benham and her teenage daughter were dismissed. The last recorded accusation of witchcraft in the state is against Colchester resident Sarah Spencer, who was determined by magistrates to be innocent and awarded damages. The trial of Connecticut Colony laws were updated in 1715, at which time witchcraft continued to be listed as a capital crime. The crime of witchcraft disappeared from the list of capital crimes when the laws were next printed in 1750.

Winifred married Joseph Benham on 15 Jan 1657 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. Joseph (son of John Benham and _____ _____) was born in 1623 in Plymouth, Devon, England; died in 1702 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joseph married Hannah Merriman on 17 Aug 1682 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Hannah was born on 16 May 1651 in New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America; died in in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Lambert Johnson. Lambert was born in in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut, United States; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

John Benham was born November 3, 1671 in Wallingford, Connecticut. He married Neeltye, a dutch girl. Her name translated is Eleanor or Nellie. This John Benham is sometimes referred to as John Benham of Long Island or John Benham, Englishman. He settled at Bergen, New Jersey in 1693 at which time he was between 21 and 22 years old. There is much contradiction on his children, but without doubt one of his children was son John, born August 15, 1692.

Family/Spouse: Vulpie Wolfe. Vulpie and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Anna Neeltje Kymber about 1691. Anna was born about 1672 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, British Colonial America; died about 1720. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married Jacob Johnson in 1695 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Jacob was born in in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, United States; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

James was the eleventh of fourteen children of Joseph and Winifred (King) Benham. He was born about 1679, and died in 1745. He lived his entire life in Wallingford, Connecticut. (Source: Lela (Shepherd) Wilkins, "William R. Benham and wife Helen Maria Bingham", (Vol. 1, Cousins Etc., 1994) Chapter 2, pg. 12)

James married Esther Preston on 9 Dec 1702 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Esther was born on 28 Feb 1683; died on 4 Jul 1764. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Evert Van Namen. Evert and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Mary married Thomas Yale on 16 May 1705 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Thomas was born on 20 Mar 1679; died on 26 Sep 1750. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Will: 3 Apr 1754
• Probate: 1 Jun 1754

Notes:

...Inventory of estate: 7216.6.18 In this will he is called Sergeant Joseph. He left to "Mary, my dear and beloved wife" the use of 1/3 of his lands as long as she remained his widow, except for the lands which came to him from his first wife, Hope Cook, and the use of 1/3 of all his household good, which were to go afterward to "my and her three daughters, Mary, Abigail, and Lettice."
...To his eldest son, Joseph, he left 1/9 of the land he had purchased from the Rev. Sam Whittlesey, which descended to me on the right of my first wife and a pair of sleeve buttons that was my fathers.
...He left bequests to Enos, my second son, to John my third son, to daughter Hannah, wife of Sam Beach, to a daughter Thankful, widow of Jonathan Peck, to daughter Phebe, wife of Robert Austin, to daughter Elizabeth, wife of David Merriman, to daughter Lois, wife of Enoch Calver, to Rueuben my fourth son (one half of his dwelling house), to Shadrach my sixth son, to James my youngest son (one half of dwelling house.) Mary Benham was made the guardian of the six youngest children. In Dec 1763 Benjamin Benham was made guardian for James.

Joseph married Hope Cook on 18 Dec 1706 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Hope was born on 27 Sep 1686 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America; died on 30 Jan 1731 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America; was buried in Jan 1731 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Joseph married Mary Curtis on 5 Apr 1732 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Mary was born on 18 Mar 1706 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America; died about Aug 1755 in Wallingford, New Haven County, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Abigail married Samuel Durham in Dec 1713 in Guilford, New Haven County, Connecticut, British Colonial America. Samuel was born in 1683; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Will: 7 Aug 1784, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States
• Probate: 20 May 1785, Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States

Notes:

...JOHN BENHAM: The exact date of birth is unknown. In the BENHAM FAMILY OF AMERICA, by Randall it states he was born August 15, 1702/04, and according to Mr. Milford Benhams chart and the Wright papers he was born August 15, 1692.
...In a letter written November 12, 1946 by Mr. Fred R. Benham of Indianapolis, Indiana, to his Uncle Silas Benham, a copy of which was loaned to Mrs. Georgianna Randall, to aid her in writing THE BENHAM FAMILY IN AMERICA, it said: "John Benham (1702-1785) was a man of some importance. His name consistently appears in the records of his country along with his dutch son-in-laws. He left a sizable estate, including slaves and real estate. There are records where he purchased and paid 6.18.5 pounds for a French Psalm book, Alsops Demus, Tutamen, Porthsmouth Dispute, Basarush, and others. The personal inventory of his estate suggest household furnishings of a cultivated and gentle family. His household was furnished with iron and plated cooking utensils, eight books listed by his executors at 15 shillings, and good evidence of his station in life was " 1 bed with curtains." In all his personal property for administrative purposes was valued at 68 pounds. He freed old slave " the old Wench Rose." He gave a slave to each of his daughters, probably for their domestic use. He left nothing in his will to his second son, Peter, our lineal ancestor, who was dead at the time the will was made, but left Peter's eldest son John 5 shillings.
...The books mentioned above were purchased by John Benham in an estate sale in 1729. In NEW JERSEY ARCHIVES 1st SERIES ABSTRACTS OF WILLS, Vol. 16-70 1730, page 440 appears "1729 April 12. Stelle, Ambrose of Monmouth County, Trader. Inventory of the personal Estate of 6.18.5, Incl. A French Psalm book, Alsops Decus and Tutamen, the portsmough Dispute and Basaruah zb.; made by Henry Leonard and Daniel Tillton, sworn to by Jonathan Forman, the Administrator. 1729 November 8 account of the sale at public auction, which has brought for the goods as inventoried 9.3.2, the buyers being Aaron Forman, Samuel Forman, Samuel Barton, Thos. Redford, Benjamin Van Cleaf, William Creag, Lawrence Van Cleaf, Joseph Froman, Steven Aumock, John Forman, and John Benham.
1732 November 1 account by the administrator, who" desireth allowance of a certain debt due by bond to Walter Thong of New York, Merchant and paid by the Administrator 20"
...John Benhams will of August 17, 1784 was probated May 20, 1785 and appears in Monmouth County New Jersey Archives, Vol. VI: 41 of Abstracts of wills of 5401-5408 M. Book 27:133. It says he was sick and weak in body but of perfect mind and memory. It names;
...Grandson John, son of Peter, 5 shillings
...Son Joseph 10 pounds
...Daughter Ann Taylor (negro girl Nan)
...Daughter Handerrickye (same as Hendrics) Van Dike (negro girl named Bett)
...Daughter Catharine Van Horn (negro girl named Rose)
...Daughter Elizabeth Covenhoven (negro boy named Yafe)
...Wife Catharine Benham full use of lands and all remaining goods for her lifetime. After her death it was to be sold and divided among his daughters: the four named above, and his grandchildren who were the children of his deceased daughter, Mary Clayton. He named these children: Robert Clayton, John Clayton, William Van Cleave and said they were to have one share
...He freed old wench Rose, after the death of his wife.

Executors named: Hendricke Smock and Garret Canderveer. Signed by mark in presence of John Van Cleave, Joseph Hilzee, and Hendricke Smock. The inventory amounted to 68.11.3: taken by John Clayton and David Covenhoven, Appraisers and dated May 3, 1785.

Probate:

Extract from the Will of John Benham
Item I give an bequeath unto my well beloved wife Catharine Benham the full use and Benefit of all my Lands and Tenemants, and all the remaining Part of my goods and Chattels movable or immoveable during her natural Life, and after my Wifes Decease It is my Will and desire that all and every part of real and Personal Estate be sold by my Executors and equally divided betwixt my Daughters __?__. I do likewise make & ordain Hendrick Smock & Garret Vanderveer my sole Executors of this my last will and Testament __?__.

John married Geertje Van Dyke about 1717 in Monmouth County, New Jersey, British Colonial America. Geertje (daughter of Charles Van Dyke) was born about 1700; died after 1792. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]