Katharine (Unknown) Palmer (abt. 1624 - aft. 1663)

Wife of Henry Palmer — married about 1642 in Wethersfield, Connecticut [uncertain]

Descendants

Died after 1663 after about age 39 in Newport, Rhode Island [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ellen Smith [send private message]

Biography

Katherine (Unknown) Palmer was accused of witchcraft in Connecticut

Catherine's maiden name is not known. She was married to Henry Palmer by 1642, likely in Wethersfield, Connecticut.^[1]

Four children of the marriage were recorded at Wethersfield, Connecticut. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records reports their mother's name as Ruth,^[2] but the index entry on AmericanAncestors.org states that in the original manuscript the name Ruth was crossed out and "Katharine" was handwritten at the end of the entry.

Children of Henry (called Henery in some records) and Katherine Palmer are identified from Wethersfield land records and from John Winthrop's journal of medical treatments administered at Hartford, Connecticut. Their known children are:

1. Deborah, born at Wethersfield on 5 February 1642^[3][4]
2. Han(n)ah, born at Wethersfield, 14 August 1645.^[3][4]
3. Ephr(a)im, born at Wethersfield on about 25 April 1648.^[3][4]
4. Dorcas, born at Wethersfield 7 April 1650.^[3][4] She may have died before 3 July 1757, when an entry in John Winthrop's medical records shows prescriptions for four children of Henry Palmer who are identified by age, but do not include a child whose age matches Dorcas. ^[5]
5. Henry, born about 1653 (age 3-1/2 on 3 July 1657 and age 5 on 17 December 1658).^[6]
6. Jonathan, born in Wethersfield about 1657 (age 1 on 22 April 1658 and 2-1/2 on 24 November 1659).^[7]
7. Joseph, born in Wethersfield about 1662 (2 years old on 8 January 1663/4 when John Winthrop supplied the family with a treatment for his "wormes").^[6]
8. Benjamin, birthdate not known, may have been born in Wethersfield or in Newport, Rhode Island; was married by 1695.^[6]

On multiple occasions, Katherine Palmer was accused of witchcraft in Wethersfield. In October 1648, John Rob(b)ins filed a legal complaint accusing her of tormenting his wife through witchcraft. Henry Palmer posted a "good behavior" bond on his wife's behalf, and on December the charges against Katherine were dismissed by the Particular Court at Hartford, with a warning to Katherine.^[8] Demos states that in 1659 and 1660 members of the same family charged that Goody Palmer (Katherine) had caused the illnesses and deaths of three family members;^[9] In 1662, a woman named Rebecca Greensmith was accused of witchcraft. At trial on 8 January 1663, she testified that she cavorted with the Devil and that she met periodically with other Hartford-area witches, including "Henry Palmer's wife of Wethersfield," at a spot "under a tree in the green" where they "danced and had a bottle of sack."^[10][11] Rebecca Greensmith and two other accused witches were hanged. Henry and Katherine Palmer disappear from the Wethersfield records after 1663, and Henry Palmer appears in records in Newport, Rhode Island, suggesting that the family had left Wethersfield for Katherine's safety.^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700, vol. 3, page 1130. Torrey suggests both Watertown, Massachusetts and Wethersfield, Connecticut, as possible marriage locations. There is no record of their marriage in Watertown.
2. ↑ Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, Wethersfield, page 205
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} "Wethersfield Vital Records, 1635-1665, in Land Records Vol. 1," The American Genealogist 9 (1932-33):28
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records, (Wethersfield, page 205.
5. ↑ Harris, pages 184-185.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2} Harris, page 185.
7. ↑ Harris, pages 177 and 185
8. ↑ Tomlinson, 1978. page 4
9. ↑ Demos, Page 352.
10. ↑ Demos, Page 352.
11. ↑ Tomlinson, 1978. page 35
12. ↑ Demos, pages 352-353

• Boynton, Cynthia Wolfe. Connecticut Witch Trials: The First Panic in the New World. The History Press. 2014. https://books.google.com/books/about/Connecticut_Witch_Trials.html?id=Ov92CQAAQBAJ
• Demos, John Putnam. Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. Oxford University Press, 2004.
• Harris, Gale Ion. "Henry and Katherine Palmer of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and Newport, Rhode Island." The Genealogist, Fall 2003, Volume 17, No. 2, pp. 175-185.
• Tomlinson, Richard G. Witchcraft Trials of Connecticut: The First Comprehensive, Documented History of Witchcraft Trials in Colonial Connecticut. 1978.

Acknowledgments

• WikiTree profile Palmer-1645 created through the import of The Sammons Family Tree.ged on Jun 9, 2011 by Steve Sammons. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Steve and others.