BRADSTREET, Dudley
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Name BRADSTREET, Dudley [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] Birth 1648 Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA [4]
Gender Male Differentiator Son of Governor Simon Bradstreet, Dudley was a respected citizen of Andover, but that didn't stop the accusations of witchcraft against both he and his wife Residence 1674 Massachusetts, USA [7]
Public Service 1692 Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA Justice of the Peace during the Salem Witch Hysteria Witch Trials Connection 1692 Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA Dudley was a respected citizen of Andover, but that didn't stop the accusations of witchcraft against both he and his wife Death 13 Nov 1702 Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA [3, 4, 5]
Burial North Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA [3, 4]
Patriarch & Matriarch BRADSTREET, Simon, b. 1580, Horbling, Lincolnshire, Englandd. 9 Feb 1621, Horbling, Lincolnshire, England
(Age 41 years) (Grandfather)
FAIRFIELD, Katherine Mary, b. 1550, Cotton End, Northamptonshire, Englandd. 21 Jun 1633, Northamptonshire, England
(Age 83 years) (Great Grandmother)
Person ID I2127 My Genealogy Last Modified 15 Jul 2024
Father BRADSTREET, Simon, b. 18 Mar 1603, Horbling, Lincolnshire, England d. 27 Mar 1697, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
(Age 94 years)
Relationship natural Mother DUDLEY, Anne, b. 20 Mar 1612, Northampton, Northamptonshire, England d. 16 Sep 1672, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
(Age 60 years)
Relationship natural Marriage 1628 Horbling, Lincolnshire, England Family ID F361 Group Sheet | Family Chart
Family WOOD, Anne, b. 1647, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA d. 1707, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
(Age 60 years)
Marriage 12 Nov 1673 Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA [1, 2, 6]
Children 1. BRADSTREET, Dudley, b. 27 Apr 1678, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA d. 16 May 1714, Middlesex, England
(Age 36 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural]
2. BRADSTREET, Margaret, b. 19 Feb 1674, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA d. 1736, Rowley, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
(Age 61 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural]
3. BRADSTREET, Anne, b. 5 Nov 1681, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA d. 12 Nov 1681, Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, USA
(Age 0 years) [Father: natural] [Mother: natural]
Photos The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, 1847-2011 Family ID F1254 Group Sheet | Family Chart Last Modified 15 Jul 2024
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Event Map = Link to Google Earth
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Photos
Documents Historical_Sketches_of_Andover_comprisin Petition that helped end witch trials
Albums Living
(At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.)
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Notes - Sources: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-witches-b.html
Historical Sketches of Andover, Massachusetts by Sarah Loring Bailey, published by Houghton Mifflin in 1880
Colonel Dudley Bradstreet was serving as the Justice of Peace in Andover during the witch hysteria. Though he didn't believe the witchcraft delusion, his duties required him to issue almost 50 arrest warrants before he finally refused to issue any more. Afterwards, both Dudley and his wife, Ann were also accused. They temporarily fled the area, evading arrest.
Dudley's father, Simon would serve as the Colonial Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1670 to 1686. After Simon's wife Anne died, he moved back to Salem and Dudley moved into his father's residence in Andover, as well as taking over his father's leadership role in the town. Dudley was an attorney, a colonel in the militia, schoolteacher, and served as a selectman and town clerk in Andover. He would also serve as a Deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts and later, was a member of the Governor's Council. Though he opposed the entire witchcraft delusion, he found himself in the unenviable position of Justice of the Peace in Andover during the hysteria. In the eight weeks from July 15, 1692 until the "touch test" on September 7th, Bradstreet granted out arrest warrants against, and committed, some 30 Andover persons to prisons for supposed witchcrafts. On September 7th, after the ludicrous "touch test," he dutifully wrote out an additional 18 warrants. However, after he had issued those warrants, he refused to grant any more. Not long afterwards, both he and his wife Ann Wood (widow of Theodore Price), were themselves, accused of witchcraft, with the "afflicted" claiming that they had killed at least nine people. In response, Colonel Bradstreet and his wife fled the area. However, he later returned to Andover and his name appears first on the petition written in late December. The petition, presented to the Superior Court of Judicature at Salem at its opening session on January 3, 1693. It was signed not only by Colonel Bradstreet, but also the Reverend Francis Dane, Reverend Thomas Barnard, 38 other men, and 12 women. The petition was on behalf of Mary Clement Osgood, Eunice Potter Frye, Deliverance Haseltine Dane, Sarah Lord Wilson and Abigail Wheeler Barker, who were all church members who had been arrested together at the Andover touch test. He died in Andover, Massachusetts in 1706.
- Sources: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-witches-b.html
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