Elizabeth (Colson) Hart (1676 - bef. 1725)

Born 9 Oct 1676 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Ancestors

Wife of Adam Hart — married about 1704 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Descendants

Died before 29 Sep 1725 before age 48 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Biography

Elizabeth (Colson) Hart was accused of witchcraft in witch trials

Elizabeth Colson was born on 9 Oct 1676 in Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, the daughter of Adam "Colston."^[1][2]

Salem Witch Trails

Elizabeth (Colson) Hart was a witchcraft accuser in the Salem Witch Trials

Her family was caught up in the Salem Witch Trials; she, along with her grandmother, mother, and aunt, was accused of witchcraft. On 14 May, 1692 the first of three warrants were issued for her arrest, but the sheriff reported her concealed at "Bostone" or "Charlstowne." However, the jail keeper, Israel Cheever, at Cambridge Jail eventually reported her imprisonment on multiple occasions from 14 Sep 1692 until her final release on 2 Mar 1693.^[3]

Massachusetts Remediation

1. 17 October 1710, Convictions Reversed, The General Court of Massachusetts Bay, An act, the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby are, reversed, and declared to be null and void.^[4]
2. 17 Dec 1711, Compensation to Survivors, Governor Dudley, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, approved compensation to such persons as are living, and to those that legally represent them that are dead
3. 28 Aug 1957, No Disgrace to Descendants, General Court of Massachusetts, ...such proceedings, were and are shocking, and the result of a wave of popular hysterical fear of the Devil in the community, and further declares that, as all the laws under which said proceedings...have been long since abandoned and superseded by our more civilized laws, no disgrace or cause for distress attaches to the said descendants or any of them by reason of said proceedings.^[5]
4. 31 Oct 2001, Additional Victims Included, Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives in General Court, AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE WITCHCRAFT TRIAL OF 1692, chapter 145 is hereby further amended by adding Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and Wilmot Redd.^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ Thomas W. Baldwin, Vital Records of Reading Massachusetts, Boston, Mass., 1912; vol. 1, p. 54
2. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FC9M-G21 : 3 November 2017), Elizabeth Collson, 09 Aug 1676; citing Birth, Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States, , town clerk offices, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 892,249.
3. ↑ “Case Files Referencing Elizabeth Colson.” Case files referencing Elizabeth Colson - New Salem - Pelican. Accessed July 9, 2020. http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/tag/colson_elizabeth.html.
4. ↑ “Salem Witchcraft : with an Account of Salem Village, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects : Upham, Charles Wentworth, 1802-1875, Author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, January 1, 1970. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17845/17845-h/salem2-htm.html#Page_ii.480.
5. ↑ https://www.mass.gov/doc/resolves-of-1957-chapter-145/download
6. ↑ https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2001/Chapter122

See also:

• Hart, James M., Genealogical History of Hart. 1903
• "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHJ6-ZZD : 10 February 2018), Elizabeth in entry for Thomas Hart, 22 Aug 1707; citing Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts, ; FHL microfilm 890,236.
• Essex Institute Historical Collections (Salem, Massachusetts); vol. 2, p. 53, vol 2, p. 263, vol. 3 p. 119
• https://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cobeem&id=I1711