Rachel (Varney) Vinson (abt. 1631 - 1707)

Born about 1631 in England

Wife of Thomas Cooke — married before 1649 in England [uncertain]

Wife of William Vinson — married 10 Oct 1661 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 15 Feb 1707 at about age 76 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts

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Biography

Rachel (Varney) Vinson was accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials

Rachel Varney is an ancestor of President Millard Fillmore.^[1] He and comedienne Lucille Ball are among her descendants.

Birth

Rachel Varney was born sometime around 1631^[2] to William and Bridget (probably Deverell) Varney. There have been suggestions that Rachel's maiden name was Parsons,^[3][4] rather than Varney, based on the disproven^[5] assumption that her mother was the widow of James Parsons.

Rachel most likely was born in England. Suggestions that she was born in Barbados seem, again, to be based on the assumption that her mother Bridget was a widow of Jeffrey Parsons, and there is no evidence to suggest than anyone in the family was ever in Barbados. Nor could Rachel have been born in New England, as her family did not arrive there until about 1649. Both Rachel's father, William Varney, and her first husband, Thomas Cooke, were given "liberty" to reside in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts on 13 November 1649.^[6]

Marriages

Thomas Cooke is generally accepted as the first husband of Rachel Varney.^[7] They were probably married in England. Unfortunately, Thomas had a problem. The same day that he was given permission to live in Ipswich, he also appeared in court for drinking and partying late at night, and, more importantly, from making negative remarks about the minister.^[8] Shortly thereafter, he and Rachel moved to Lynn, where presumably Thomas was employed at the first iron works in the Village of Hammersmith. The move, however, did not stop his drinking, and he died soon after, leaving Rachel with a young son (John Cooke).^{[9][10][11][12][13]}

Rachel apparently returned to Ipswich after the death of Thomas. There, sometime before 1 July 1652, she married Joseph Langton (or Lancton).^[14][15][16] Rachel's choice of a second husband was only marginally better than her first choice. On 1 July 1652, Joseph appeared in court on charges of "evil usage" of Rachel's child by her first husband. The courts, in their concern for the well-being of young John Cooke, placed him in the care of his grandparents, William and Bridget Varney, at least on a temporary basis.^[17] Despite their problems, Rachel and Joseph did manage to have two children, Rachel and Mary Langton. Sometime, possibly not long after the birth of their second daughter, Joseph apparently deserted Rachel, leaving her now with three young children to raise.^[18]

Eventually, Rachel petitioned the courts for a divorce, probably on the grounds of desertion and infidelity.^[19] Her petition was granted.^[20]

Almost immediately, on 10 Oct 1661, in Gloucester, Rachel married for the third and last time.^[21][22] Her third husband, William Vinson of Gloucester, was the antithesis of her first two husbands, older and known for being sanctimonious. He was prosperous and presumably provided a good home for Rachel and the two children she had with him (Thomas and Abigail Vinson). He also apparently accepted her children by previous marriages, as they are mentioned either directly or indirectly in his will.^[23] And he apparently was trusted by Rachel’s mother, who mentioned him in her will and entrusted him with Rachel’s inheritance.^[24]

Later Years

Rachel was approaching sixty years of age when William died in 1690. Her children were all grown and married. William had been one of the more prosperous residents of Glouscester, and Rachel's widowhood should have been quiet and comfortable. It wasn't. Sometime in the fall of 1692, Rachel, along with Phoebe Day (wife of Timothy) and Mary Rowe (2nd wife of Hugh) was accused of witchcraft and arrested.^[25] They and seven other accused women from Gloucester were held in the Ipswich jail. Conditions in the jail were grim. In a "Petition to the Honourable Governer and Councell and Generall Assembly", they stated:

. . . some of us have Lyen in the prison many monthes, and some of us many weekes, who are charged with witchcraft, . . .; we hope you will put on the bowells of compassion soe far as to concider of our suffering condicion in the present state we are in, being like to perish with cold in lying longer in prison in this cold season of the yeare, some of us being aged either about or nere four score some though younger yet being with Child, and one giving suck to a child not ten weekes old yet, and all of us weake and infirme at the best, and one fettered with irons this halfe yeare and all most distroyed with soe long an Imprisonment: Thus hoping you will grant us a releas at the present that we be not left to perish in this miserable condicion we shall alwayes pray &c.^[26][27]

Fortunately, they were released for the winter and the public hysteria died down.^[28] As far as is known, the remaining years of Rachel’s life were uneventful.

She passed away 15 Feb 1707 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts.^[29]

Sources

1. ↑ Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents
2. ↑ Her actual date and place of birth are unknown. Barber and Delory give her an estimated birth date of 1630, but if she was under age at the time of her father's death, as suggested by his will, her birth date is probably closer to 1631.
3. ↑ Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents
4. ↑ Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700. (1963). See Family:Joseph Langton and Rachel Varney (6), WeRelate.org for an extended discussion of the confusion over Rachel's last name, and why she is Rachel Varney, not Rachel Parsons.
5. ↑ Willis S. Parsons. “Jeffery Parsons of Loddiswell, Devonshire and Gloucester, Massachusetts”. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 142:(July 1988)
6. ↑ Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975), Vol 1, p. 179
7. ↑ There is no known record of the marriage. However her father, William Varney stood bond for Thomas when he first appeared before the court for drunkeness; Rachel Cooke is named in court records as Thomas's widow after his death; William Varney helped Rachel Cooke inventory her husband's estate; Thomas and Rachel's son John Cooke; and John Cooke was mentioned in the will of Rachel's third husband, William Vinson.
8. ↑ Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975), Vol 1, p. 178.
9. ↑ On 29 Feb 1649/50 Thomas was in court in Salem for "being overtaken with drink". See Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975), Vol 1, p. 186.
10. ↑ On 23 May 1650, Rachel, as widow of Thomas, was in court in Salem to petition for remission of the fine for Thomas' drunkness because she could not afford to pay. See Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, ed., Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 5 vols in 6. Boston 1853-54. Vol. 3, p. 194.
11. ↑ On 17 Sep 1650 Joseph Armitage of Lynnn fined for allowing Thomas Cook to be so drunk he fell. See Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975), Vol 1, p. 194
12. ↑ Also on 17 Sep 1650 Rachel presented the inventory of her deceased husband's estate to the courts. See: Massachusetts, Probate Court (Essex County). The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1916, 1917, 1920), Vol 1, p. 119-120
13. ↑ On 16 Dec 1650 Rachel was finally able to collect the wages owing to Thomas before he died. See Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975), Vol 1, p. 204
14. ↑ Barber and Delory
15. ↑ Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700
16. ↑ Roberts, Ancestors of American Presidents
17. ↑ Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975), Vol 1, p. 258
18. ↑ There is speculation that Joseph was in Newtown, Long Island by 1856, four years after his daughter Mary was born. See Anderson, Robert Charles; George F. Sanborn; and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635. (NEHGS, 1999-2011), Vol IV, p. 229. See also, Gale Ion Harris, "The Wives and Children of James2 Bradish of Newtown, Long Island, New York: With Notes on His Sister Hannah2 Bradish, Companion of Joseph Langton", The American Geneologist 78 (2003):96-102.
19. ↑ A husband's infidelity was accepted ground for divorce at the time. See: Sheila McIntyre, “The Correspondence of John Cotton, Jr. (1640-1699)”, American Ancestors 11:2 (Spring 2010), pp. 39-42.
20. ↑ Shurtleff, Nathaniel B. (Nathaniel Bradstreet). Records of the governor and company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England: printed by order of the legislature. (Boston, Massachusetts: W. White, 1853-1854), Vol. 4, Part II, p. 8, 22 May 1661. Also cited by Barber and Delorey.
21. ↑ Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts, United States. Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. (Salem, Massachusetts.: Essex Institute, 1917), Marriages, p. 145. Rachel married as Rachel Cooke, apparently taking back the name of her first husband after her divorce.
22. ↑ Babson, John J. History of the town of Gloucester, Cape Ann: including the town of Rockport. (Gloucester Mass.: Procter Bros., 1860).
23. ↑ Barber and Delorey; Davis, Walter Goodwin. The ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800: wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine. (Boston, Mass.: Stanhope Press, 1916)
24. ↑ Massachusetts (Colony). Quarterly Courts (Essex County). Records and files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts. (Salem, Massachusetts: The Essex Institute, 1911-1925, 1975), Vol. 5, p. 119.
25. ↑ Drolet, Jedediah, "The Geography and Genealogy of Gloucester Witchcraft". Paper presented to the Berkshire Conference, June 2005. According to Drolet, "There is no record of their accusation and examination extant . . . . nor is there any evidence of these women's cases to consider." He notes that the women were nearly all related through marriage or descent within the Rowe and Day families, including 15 year old Abigail Rowe, daughter of Hugh and Mary and step-granddaughter of Rachel.
26. ↑ John Davis Batchelder Autograph Collection, Petition for bail from accused witches, ca. 1692.
27. ↑ Petition of Ten Prisoners at Ipswich. The Salem witchcraft papers, Volume 3: edited by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum (1977) / revised, corrected, and augmented by Benjamin C. Ray and Tara S. Wood (2010)
28. ↑ On 1693, May, 2d Tuesday, It appears that the first Supreme Court, which sat in Ipswich, now convenes here to try persons charged with witchcraft, all of whom are cleared. (Oyer and Terminer Court Records).^{[citation needed]} Rachel's brother Thomas was less fortunate. Thomas was married to Abigail Proctor, sister of John Proctor, the hero of Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible," who was hanged on Aug 19, 1692.
29. ↑ Vital records of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849 Page 314

• Barber, Kathleen Canney, and Janet Ireland Delorey. William Varney of Ipswich and Gloucester, Massachusetts. The American Genealogist. (Jul 2006)

• Davis, Walter Goodwin, and Gary Boyd Roberts Introduction. Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis (1885-1966): A Reprinting, in Alphabetical Order by Surname, of the Sixteen Multi-Ancestor Compendia (plus Thomas Haley of Winter Harbor and His Descendants). (Baltimore, Maryland, United States: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1996).

• Roberts, Gary Boyd; Ancestors of American Presidents. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009.

• Person:Rachel Varney (2), WeRelate.org

• http://www.wainwrightfamily.org/varneyfhr.html

• Harris, Gale Ion, "The Wives and Children of James2 Bradish of Newtown, Long Island, New York: With Notes on His Sister Hannah2 Bradish, Companion of Joseph Langton", The American Geneologist 78 (2003):96-102.]

• Roberts, Gary Boyd. "Ancestry of Millard Fillmore", The American Genealogist" Vol 68 (1988), pp. 46-55.

• Torrey, Clarence Almon. New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (CD-ROM). Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001.

Acknowledgments

• Thanks to Cliff Cobb for starting this profile.
• This person was created on 16 November 2010 through the import of Morton Family Tree.ged.
• WikiTree profile Varney-103 created through the import of mike_walton_2011.ged on Aug 20, 2011 by Mike Walton. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Mike and others.
• WikiTree profile Varney-150 created through the import of Perry Family Tree.ged on Dec 19, 2011 by Glen Perry. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Glen and others.