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HARTFORD, Conn. — The 82-year-old relative of a convicted "witch" is leading a campaign to clear the names of 11 people similarly convicted in Connecticut during the religious fervor of the 1600s.
Bernice Mable Graham Telian told the Religion News Service she was doing genealogy when she found that her seventh grandmother, Mary Barnes, was convicted of witchcraft and sent to the gallows in 1663.
"You won't find Mary's grave," she said. "She and all these people who were hanged were dumped in a hole. Their graves aren't marked. They wanted them to be forgotten."
Barnes is one of 11 people who were tried, convicted and hanged for witchcraft in the colony of Connecticut. Another was Mary Sanford.
Debra Lynne and her daughter, Addie Avery, are descendants of Sanford and told KSEE they have been trying to get the 11 names cleared for years.
- Alice Young
- John Carrington
- Joan Carrington
- Goodwife Bassett
- Goodwife Knapp
- Rebecca Greensmith
- Nathanial Greensmith
- Mary Sanford
- Mary Barnes
- Mary Johnson
- Lydia Gilbert
"(Sanford) was actually persecuted for familiarity with Satan," Lynne said. "The common term would be witch."
Lynne and Telian are a part of a protracted campaign to get Connecticut to acknowledge the witch trials of the mid-17th century. There have been efforts to get the victims pardoned, but the Connecticut Board of Pardons and Paroles does not grant posthumous pardons, according to a 2006 research report.
More recently, a proclamation was drafted by Tony Grieco, a retired New Haven police sergeant, to be signed by Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy. WTNH said Malloy "appreciates how passionate the people are, but he will not be issuing a proclamation because the governor doesn't have authority under the state constitution or state statutes to exonerate or clear individuals of their past conduct. He says it's up to the legislature to do that."
Connecticut is the only state that has not acknowledged those sent to the gallows. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Virginia have all acknowledged the victims or even pardoned them posthumously.
Exact numbers on how many American colonists were accused of witchcraft during the witch hunts and subsequently hanged are unavailable. It is estimated that between the British Isles and North America, about 5,000 were accused and 1,500–2,000 were executed between the 15th and 18th centuries. North American executions likely amount to about 50.
