Bridget PLAYFER

- 1692

• Name	Bridget PLAYFER
  Birth	England
  Gender	Female
  Death	10 Jun 1692	Salem, Essex County, MA
  	Cause: Hanging for alleged witchcraft
  Notes	(1) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Edward Bishop (Salem) . . . Edward Bishop was involved in the witchcraft hysteria of 1692. Four men named Edward Bishop lived in Salem at the time of the trials. Most of the early genealogical works, such as those by Savage and Pope, were confused; and some stated as much. . . . Edward Bishop, the sawyer, was perhaps not closely related to the other [three] Edward Bishops. Edward Bishop, the sawyer, married Bridget Bishop. Bridget Bishop lived on Conant Street in Salem Town. Bridget's maiden name was Playfer, and she married Samuel Wasselbe on April 13, 1660 at St. Mary-in-the-Marsh in Norwich. Samuel Wasselbe and Bridget had two children: A son named Benjamin, Norwich parish registers list as baptized on October 6, and daughter Mary born in Boston, MA. In the listing for Boston births for 1665, there is a listing for "Mary, of Samuel dec. and Bridget Wesselbee late of Norwich England born Jan.10". It is unknown if Samuel died in England or accompanied Bridget to New England and died there, but her second marriage to Thomas Oliver (also from Norwich England) on July 26, 1666 was a troubled one. She had one child with Thomas, a daughter named Christian. After his death she was accused of bewitching her husband to death. Bridget Bishop was again accused of witchcraft in April 1692 and hanged in June of that year. That second arrest warrant still exists, referring to as "wife of Edward Bishop, the sawyer". After the death of his wife Bridget, Edward Bishop, the sawyer, married Elizabeth Cash on 9 March 1693. (2) Greene, David L., "Salem Witches I: Bridget Bishop," The American Genealogist, Vol. 57, No. 3 (July 1981), pp. 129-138: When Bridget Bishop was hanged in Salem, Mass., 10 June 1692, she became the first to die of the twenty alleged witches ultimately executed in the Salem witchcraft delusion. Unfortunately scholars, at least since 1867, when Charles W. Upham published his Salem Witchcraft (Boston 1867, repr. New York, Ungar, n.d.), have misidentified her husband, Edward Bishop, sawyer; incorrectly concluded that she ran an illegal inn; and erroneously placed her at Salem village, now Danvers. It is unusual that those mistaken interpretations grew out of errors in contemporary records. This paper will correct those errors and attempt to provide a reliable, though incomplete, account of Bridget Bishop's family connections. We first meet Bridget Bishop in Salem on 26 July 1666, when, as Bridget Wasselbe, widow, she married Thomas1 Oliver. No evidence has as yet been found about her previous history or about the identity of her presumably-first husband, _____ Wasselbe. The index of 18th century Essex County deeds indicates that Wasselbe was a variant of Asselbie but an excellent account by Frances Davis McTeer and Frederick C. Warner of the Aslebees or Asletts of Andover (TAG 40:231-37) suggests no obvious connection between Bridget and that family. Thomas1 Oliver of Salem had three children by his first wife, Mary _____: Thomas, b. England before 1637; John, b. England before 1637; and Mary, who married (1) at Salem, 1 April 1661, Job Hilliard; (2) at Salem, 30 Aug. 1672, William West (Sidney Perley, History of Salem 1:443; 2:216). By his second wife, Bridget (_____) Wasselbe, the future alleged witch, Oliver had a daughter Christian, b. Salem, 8 May 1667, identified not only by her birth record but also by other contemporary records cited below. Since no record has as yet been found suggesting that Bridget had other children, we are entitled to speculate that Christian was her only child. The fact that she had no other recorded children by Oliver - and certainly no others were surviving when his estate was before the court in 1679 - may indicate that she was at the end of her child-bearing' period. There are, however, other possibilities; we should note especially that the marriage was unhappy, and incompatibility can be an effective contraceptive, though it is hardly to be recommended. Bridget began her run-ins with the Essex County Courts through her second marriage. At Salem Quarterly Court, January 1669[70], Thomas Oliver and his wife were fined, or sentenced to be whipped ten stripes, for fighting each other. Mary Ropes, aged about 50, testified that each had called her several times to complain about the other; that Goodwife Olyver's face was bloody at one time and black and blue at other times, and that Ollyver complained that his wife had given him "several blows" (Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Mass. 4:90, hereafter cited as R&F). Matters were no better eight years later when on 29 11m 1677[/8] a court held at Salem presented "Bridget, wife of Thomas Olliver, . . . for calling her husband many opprobrious names, as old rogue and old devil, on Lord's days; [she] was ordered to stand with her husband, back to back, on a lecture day in the public market place, both gagged for about an hour with a paper fastened to each of their foreheads, upon which their offence should be fairly written. Upon request of Mary West, daughter of said Thomas, who paid 20s., he was released" (R&F 6L386 f.). There is no indication that Mary arranged to have her stepmother released as well. Bridget's next legal problem was a forerunner of the 1892 persecution. On 25 12m 1679[/80], Bridget Oliver was presented before Salem Quarterly Court for suspicion of witch craft (R&F 7:329 f.). The case was to be brought before the next Court of Assistants in Boston, but there is no reference to it in the published records of that court. In the meantime, Thomas Oliver had died intestate, administration being granted 24 4m 1679 to Bridget, his wife. On 28 9m 1679, the court placed the estate "for the use of the widow, she paying the two sons of her husband, 20s. each, and her daughter Christian 20s and also the debts. . . ." (Probate Records of Essex County 3:310; R&F 7:237, 319). The estate was not settled until after Bridget's execution. A bond of administration was signed on 8 July 1693 by Job Hilliard of Boston, "Shoomaker, grandson to Thomas Olliver." He presented an account on 11 Aug. 1693 asking for distribution, and on the same date, the court ordered that £9 go to Edward Bishop "for disbursements on ye house," £9 to Elinor Jones alias 01.1 Ivor of Nevis lea lied granddaughter in Hilliard's request for distribution], £9 to Job Hilliard and and Abigail Hooper [listed together and sharing in the amount], and £9 to Christian Mason (Essex Co. Probate No. 20009 and 303:183 f.). Edward Bishop was the widower of Bridget Oliver. Perley (loc. cit.) suggests that Ellinor (sic) was the daughter of Thomas Oliver's son John. Job Hilliard and Abigail Hooper represent the interest of the daughter, Mary (Oliver) (Hilliard) West. Since Susan Mason, who was a daughter of Christian (Oliver) Mason, was listed instead of her mother in Hilliard's request for distribution and since Hilliard surely knew his grandfather's heirs, it is likely that Christian was dead at the time of the settlement and that the court order naming her was in error. On 11 April 1694, Edward Bishop of Salem was appointed guardian of his step-granddaughter, Susannah Mason, minor (Essex Co. Probate No. 17974), and he gave receipts to Job Hilliard and Susannah Mason on 21 Jan. 1694/5 (Essex Co. Deeds 10:112). The date of Bridget's marriage to Edward Bishop has not been found. Upham (Salem Witchcraft 1:143) states that it occurred before 1680, and Upham is apparently the source of similar statements in Perley's Edward Bishop genealogy (Essex Antiquarian 8:122); in his History of Salem 2:181; and in Nora E. Snow and Myrtle H. Jillson's Snow-Estes Ancestry (Hilburn, NY, 1939) 2:138. Upham's conclusion probably comes from testirnony against Bridget in 1692: William Stacy mentioned "That about fourteene years agone . . . then Bridget Bishop did give him a visitt . . ." and Samuel Shattuck in a deposition used the words "in the year 1680 Bridget Oliver formerly wife to old Goodman Oliver: now wife to Edward Bishop . . ." (Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds., Salem Witchcraft Papers (New York: Da Capo, 1977), [hereafter cited as SWP], 1:92, 97). Despite Stacy's testimony, Bridget was surely not a Bishop in 1678, for she was called Oliver in her husband's 1679 estate records, as well as on 26 Jan. 1679/80, when she sold to John Blevin land that had been Thomas Oliver's (Essex Co. Deeds 5:59), and on 25 Feb, 1679/80, when she was first charged with witchcraft. It should be obvious that Stacy and Shattuck called her Bridget Bishop because that was her name when they were testifying. In Salem Possessed (Cambridge; Harvard Un. Pr. 1974), p. 192, Boyer and Nissenbaum state that in "1685 Bridget Oliver of Salem Town married her third husband - old Edward Bishop, one of the founders of the Beverly Church - and moved from the center of town to his house on the Ipswich Road in Salem Village." This statement, as we shall see, cannot be entirely correct, but the date may be right, although I have not seen evidence for it. In any event, she married Bishop by or in August 1687, a date which comes from testimony in another of Bridget's, encounters with the law. In December 1687, Bridgett, wife of Edward Bishop, was arrested for stealing a piece of brass "last summer" from Thomas Stacy. Stacy swore on 6 March 1687/8 that in August "last past" he had met Bridget at Edward Bishop's house. On the same date, Bridget denied stealing the brass and in the state[ment] mentioned "her daughter Christian Mason." Other testimony indicated that she had sent the brass by Christian to Mr. Dalbert of Salem (Essex Co. Court Papers 47:99-101). Bridget Bishop was arrested on a charge of witchcraft on 13 April 1692. All the surviving documents are printed in SWP, primarily 1:83-109. The documents suggest that she had been at odds with certain of her neighbors for some time, as indeed does the fact that she had previously been accused of witchcraft in 1679/80. Apparently, she drove difficult financial bargains, and, since two of the depositions against her mention her finery, we can assume that she dressed above her social position. Interestingly, she is frequently called Oliver in the records, even though she had been married to Edward Bishop for some five years or more. None of the trial records for the accused witches survives, but the records of her preliminary hearing on 19 April show that Bridget denied the charges (SWP 1:83-37). The torments of the "afflicted girls" at the hearing weighed heavily against her, as did the testimony of some who had harbored suspicions about her for years. In addition, a physical examination on 2 June revealed "apreternathurall Excrescence of flesh" (ibid. 1:106 f.), which was interpreted as a "witch's teat" used to suckle a familiar as well as the devil himself. After all this, there was, in Cotton Mather's words, "little Occasion to prove the Witchcraft, it being Evident and Notorious to all Beholders" (Wonders of the Invisible World [Boston 1653], excerpted in George Lincoln Burr, ed., Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases [New York: Scribner's, 1914], p. 223. Burr's collection, will be cited hereafter as Narratives). Bridget Bishop was hanged on Gallows Hill, Salem, 10 June 1692. Although the General Court granted compensation in 1710-12 to many of the surviving victims or to relatives of those who had died, Bridget's heirs made no claim. All major commentators from Upham to Boyer-Nissenbaum conclude that Bridget Bishop lived in Salem Village; that she was suspect in the village because she ran an Illegal inn; and that her husband was Edward Bishop Sr. of Beverly. As a basis of analysing these conclusions, brief summaries are provided here of the three 17th-century Edward Bishops identified in the published account of these Bishops cited above. Questionable conclusions are excluded. • EDWARD1 BISHOP, b. ca. 1618, m. Hannah _____; appeared about 1639 in what became Beverly; was still living in 1693 and is usually identified as Bridget's husband. • EDWARD2 BISHOP (Edward1), b. ca. 1646-48, bapt. Salem, 23 2m. 1648, d. Rehoboth, 13 May 1711; m. Sarah2 Wildes (John1 of Topsfield). They lived in Salem Village near the border with Beverly, and both were charged with witchcraft in 1692. • EDWARD3 BISHOP (Edward2, Edward1), m. in or by 1692, Susanna3 Putnam (John2, John1). At the time of the witch trials, they were of Salem Village but moved to Ipswich in 1711 and to Newbury in 1727. The main evidence for the conclusion that Bridget lived in Salem Village and that she ran an illegal inn is a deposition made on 20 May 1692 by the Rev. John Hale, minister of the Beverly Church: ["]John Hale of Beverly aged about 56 yeares [torn] & saith that 5 or 6 years agoe Christian the wife of John Trask (living In Salem bounds bordering on the abovesaid Beverly) beeing in full comunion in o'r Church came to at to [de]sier that Goodwife Bishop her Neighb'r wife of Edw: Bishop Jun' r might not be permitted to receive the Lords Supper in our church till she had given her the said Trask satisfaction for some offences that were against her, viz because the said Bishop did entertaine people in her house at unseasonable houres in the night to keep drinking and playing at shovel-board whereby discord did arise in other families & young people were in danger to bee corrupted & that the s'd Trask knew these things & had gon into the house & fynding some at shovel-board had taken the peices they played with & thrown them into the fyre . . . .["] (SWP 1:95). Hale goes on to say that Christian Trask became distracted, then recovered and thought that she had been bewitched by "Goody Bishop." Shortly thereafter, she became distracted again, with intervals of lucidity in which she regretted throwing the shovel-pieces into the fire, and then, after about a month of ''distraction (or bewitching)," she cut her throat with a pair of "cissars." The minister thought the wounds so gaping that it was impossible for her "to mangle her selfe so without some extraordinary work of the devill or witchcraft" (ibid. 1:95-97). This event did not happen "5 or 6 years agoe," but only three years previously, when, according to the published Beverly vital records, Christian Trask, wife of John of Salem, on 3 June 1689, "being violently asalted by the temtations of Satan, cut her owne throte with a paire of sisers to the astonishment and greif of all, expesialy her most near relations." Edward Bishop Jr. had been accused earlier of selling drink - specif ically "'strong beer, cider and rum" - without a license. In July 1685, he was presented at Salem Quarterly Court "for selling drink contrary to law and for his children and servants prophaning the sabbath and abusing swine," Jeremy Wats, witness. A similar presentment was made that November, with a warrant for his arrest (R&F 9: S15-17, 565, 570 f.). Although the Beverly minister does not name the wife of Edward Bishop Jr., the deposition is among the Bridget Bishop papers. "The ''afflicted girls" were frequently brought out to confirm accusations brought by others, and at least two of them believed that the Hale charges were against Bridget. Susannah Sheldon said in an undated deposition that "goody olliver told mee that she had kiled four women two of them wear the fosters wifes and john trasks wife and did not name the other. . . ." (SWP 1:106), and on 10 June 1692, the day of Bridget's execution, Sarah Churchill enlarged the accusation: "Goody Bishop als Olliver appeared to the Examinant & told her she had kiled John Trask's Child. . . ." (ibid. 3:702). After such testimony, it would ordinarily be, at least, a case of special pleading to suggest that it was not Bridget Bishop who was suspected by the Rev. John Hale of bewitching Christian Trask to death. A careful examination of the evidence, however, shows that it was Edward2 Bishop and his wife, Sarah Wildes, who ran the unlicensed inn and that it was Sarah whom Christian Trask had confronted and whom Hale suspected of witchcraft. It is likely that it was Edward2 Bishop who signed a Salem Village endorsement on 3 March 1678 (Massachusetts Archives 10:114A), since Edward1 Bishop was of Beverly at earlier and later dates, Edward2 was certainly of Salem Village when he was so identified in the 22 April and 12 May 1692 mittimuses placing him and his wife Sarah in custody on a charge of witchcraft, along with many others, including in the mittimus of 12 May, "[Torn] Bushop Alias Olliver" (Robert Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World [London 1700], exerpted in Narratives, p. 347; SWP 2:474). For the discussion that follows, we need to note that Edward2 Bishop's wife was Sarah Wild or Wildes from at least 22 June 1677 when, as Sarah Bishop, she witnessed a codicil to the will of her brother, John Wild [Jr.] (Essex Co, Probate No. 29826, cited in Walter Goodwin Davis, The Ancestry of Dudley Wildes [Portland ME, Anthoensen, 1959], p. 12), until at least 14 Dec. 1685, when Edward and Sarah were among the heirs of John Wild, Jr., named in the following deed: Edward Bishop and Sarah his wife of Salem, Henry Lake of Topsfield and Priscilla his wife, Benjamin Jones of Gloucester and his wife "Eliz.,'' Timothy Day of Gloucester and his wife Phoebe, and Ephraim Wild of Topsfield (Edward Bishop having purchased the share of "his sister" Martha Wild), as children of John Wild [Sr.], confirm a sale of land by John Wild [Jr.], deceased, to John Harris, the land having been left to John Wild [Jr], by William Wild, brother of John Wild [Sr.] (Essex Co. Deeds 15:119). An undated 1892 deposition shows that Edward's wife Sarah in 1692 was the same Sarah Wildes to whom he was married in 1685: Elizabeth Balch deposed about an argument that occurred "on the very Day Cap't Georg Curwin was buried," between "Edward Bishop & his wife . . . who are both now in prison under suspition of witchcraft. . . ." (SWP 1:111 f.). Curwin died on 3 Jan. 1684/5. Establishing that Edward Bishop's wife was Sarah Wildes throughout this period is important in discussing the references to him in the records of the First Church in Beverly, of which the Rev. John Hale was minister and of which Edward1 Bishop was a founding member. In 1667, Edward Bishopp Jur was dismissed from the Salem Church, as a member not In full communion, to the new church. On 14 6m 1681, "Edward Bishop junr owned ye Covenant of God & solemnly subjected himselfe to ye watch of this church & had his childe baptized." Between these two dates, Edward had married and become the father of the following children for whom birth and baptismal records have not been found: Edward (probably b. 1670 or earlier), Samuel, William and Jonathan. The others were: • Priscilla, bapt. Beverly, 14 Aug. 1681, "daughter of Edward Bishop junr." • Joseph, bapt. Beverly, 8 Apr. 1683, "son of Edward Bishop jur." • Sarah, bapt. Beverly, 24 May 1685, "Daughter of Edward Bishop." • Benjamin, bapt. Beverly, 17 July 1687, "son of Edward Bishop jur. by Mary his wife." • John, bapt. Beverly, 27 9m 1689, ''son of Edward Bishop jur. & Mary his wife. " • David [baptism not found.] • Ebenezer, bapt. Beverly, 12 May 1695, "son of Edward & Sarah Bishop." (For these Beverly records, see William P. Upham, Records of the first church in Beverly, Mass. [Salem: Essex Inst. 1905], pp. 3, 23, 97 f., 100, 106, 113.) Since the wife of Edward2 Bishop was Sarah Wildes throughout this period, it is clear that the reference to "Mary his wife" in two of the baptisms is an error on the part of the Rev. John Hale who kept the records. According to Walter Goodwin Davis, Ancestry of Dudley Wildes, p. 15, eight of the eleven children, as well as the wife Sarah, are mentioned in the will of Edward2 Bishop in Bristol County. The Beverly church records show that it was Edward2 Bishop whom Hale would have called "Edw: Bishop Jun' r" when he accused Bishop's wife, who usually received communion at his church, of causing the death of Christian Trask. Bridget Bishop could not have been the wife of Edward2 when Christian Trask committed suicide in 1689. Despite the fact that the Hale charges were picked up by two of the "afflicted girls" and applied to Bridget, we can make certain the presumption that Hale had intended to accuse Sarah Wildes, wife of Edward2 Bishop. Following Hale's signature on the deposition is a list of those who "can wittness" about the "s'd Goody Bishop," including James Kettle, and Kettle certainly did so. In an undated deposition, James Kettle, aged 27 or thereabout, testified explicitly against Sarah Bishop (SWP 1:111). Not all witchcraft depositions survive, but in this case, we can safely assume that Kettle did not testify against Bridget Bishop as well. The Bridget Bishop case is one of the five that Cotton Mather includes in his Wonders of the Invisible World, and Mather summarizes all the depositions against Bridget except those of the '"afflicted girls" and, significantly, that of his fellow minister, John Hale, against "Goody Bishop." Mather includes no Kettle deposition. Thus, we conclude that Hale did not know the first name of Edward2 Bishop's wife since he called her Mary in two baptismal records and simply "Goody Bishop" when, he deposed against her, and that his deposition was erroneously placed with the Bridget Bishop papers, possibly because Susannah Sheldon and Sarah Churchill applied his charges to Bridget. And we must assume that these two "afflicted girls" were as confused by the Salem-Beverly Bishops as modern scholars have shown themselves to be. The demonstration that Edward2 and Sarah (WiIdes) Bishop, rather than Bridget Bishop, ran the illegal inn disproves the main reason suggested by scholars from Upham (1867) to Boyer and Nissenbaum (1974) for community enmity against the first executed witch. Genealogically it is significant, for Hale's deposition is apparently the only reason that they have Identified her husband as Edward1 Bishop. The witchcraft papers call Bridget's husband "Edward Bishop of Salem in the County of Essex Sawyer" (see the indictments against Bridget, SWP 1:87-91). Upham thought the sawyer was the father of Edward2 Bishop, and in his map of Salem Village prefacing the first volume of Salem Witchcraft, he placed the sawyer next to Edward2, probably because, according to the Hale petition, "Goody Bishop" - assumed to be Bridget - was a neighbor of John Trask. Edward2 Bishop received the land which made him John Trask's neighbor from his father on 8 Oct. 1673 (Essex Co. Deeds, 6:115; see also Perley's map in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. [hereafter cited as EIHC], 55:48). After reaching the erroneous conclusion that Hale's "Goody Bishop" was Bridget, Upham had to place her husband, the sawyer, on the same land occupied by Edward and Sarah (Wildes) Bishop. Given this assumption, Upham concluded that the two Edward Bishops were closely related, and that meant that the sawyer must have been Edward2 Bishop's father or son. The son was already provided with a wife, Susanna Putnam, and that left Edward1 Bishop. Upham's conclusions have been followed by others, including Perley, who places the sawyer next to Edward2 Bishop without his usual citation to Salem Town Records or Essex County deeds (ibid. 55:69). It is possible that boundaries in a non-Bishop deed will place Edward Bishop, sawyer, in Salem Village or, indeed, anywhere else in Salem, but the only evidence found thus far for the frequent statement that he and Bridget were of Salem Village is the Hale deposition. Once we eliminate that deposition, we are left with evidence that consistently points to Salem Town, not Village, as their residence. The estate of Thomas Oliver shows that Edward Bishop kept the Oliver house in repair, and if Edward and Bridget were of the town, that is presumably where they lived. In Bridget's witchcraft papers, Edward Bishop is consistently called "of Salem," even though others are identified as "of Salem Village." Most telling are the four indictments against Bridget, one in the name of each of the four "afflicted girls" who originally accused her: in each indictment, she is called "Bridgett Bishop als Olliver the wife of Edward Bishop of Salem . . . Sawyer," while the accuser named in each is called "of Salem Village" (SWP 1:87-90). Robert Calef, whose More Wonders of the Invisible World was written in 1697 but not published until 1700, also identifies Bridget with Salem (Narratives p. 356), although he identifies others with the Village (e.g. Martha Cory, ibid. p. 366). Finally, when Bridget was examined at the Salem Village Meeting House on 19 April 1692, she said "I never was in this place before" and "I know no man woman or child here" (SWP 1:83, 86). We must now say something about the distinguishing of persons who bear the same name as it was practiced in New England in the colonial period. Experienced readers will be aware that the common system was to designate the eldest person bearing a name as "Sr.," the second eldest as "Jr." and if there are more of the same present in a given town, younger men become "Tertius," "Quartus," and so on, and when "Sr." dies or moves away, "Jr." takes his place and "Tertius'' or "3rd' becomes "Jr." and so or. Generally speaking, however, the system thus described is confined to a given town and persons of the same name in nearby towns are completely ignored from this numbering system. It appears, however, that in the case of Salem Town and Salem Village now Danvers, there was no such rigidity of nomenclature and that those who recorded persons of the same name in those two towns sometimes observed the distinctions stated above and others did not. This causes a modern writer especial difficulty in distinguishing between the various holders of the same name. The experienced genealogist working with a problem like this involving a town where the general procedure was followed can usually keep his thinking straight by noting when the various holders of the name in question died. In the present instance, however, though it is sometimes hard to assign a given item of evidence to the person to whom it properly belongs, there is no fundamental doubt as to whom Bridget Bishop was married aftor the death of her second husband. He was Edward Bishop, sawyer, a shadowy figure. It would seem probable that he was in some way related to the three men of the same name mentioned above. If we were to be successful in discovering anything concerning the English origin of this family, we might as a byproduct get also the origin of Bridget's husband. As it is, we have been more successful in demonstrating who he is not than who he is. Since he married Bridget (_____) (Wasselbe) Oliver in August 1687 or earlier and was still living on 21 Jan. 1694/5 when he gave receipts to Job Hilliard and Susanna Mason, he could not have been any of the three Edward Bishops described above. Like Edward1 Bishop, with whom he is usually identified, he signed by mark, but his mark was an "X," instead of Edward1' s mark "EB.'' Edward2 Bishop was called "senior" and "of Salem" in a receipt signed by George Corwin, sheriff, on 7 Oct. 1692, and if Corwin took Salem as a whole in identifying the man to whom he receipted, then it is probable that the sawyer was younger than Edward2. To have been married in 1687 or earlier, the sawyer must have been older than Edward3, and is, I think, implicitly given the rank of "junior" in the deed of 1694 to Edward Tertius. Presumably, the sawyer was dead or had left Salem by 22 Sept, 1702, when a deed of Edward2 Bishop was witnessed by Edward Bishop Jr.. who can only be Edward3. In Salem on 9 March 1692/3 an Edward Bishop married Elisabeth Cash who is identified by Clarence Almon Torrey in his manuscript New England Marriages Prior to 1706 as Elizabeth (Lambert) Cash, widow of William Cash of Salem. This marriage could belong to Edward1 Bishop of Beverly, but I am inclined to believe that it is a later marriage of the sawyer, who had been a widower since his wife was executed on 10 June 1692. However, Savage s.v. [?] William Cash dates the marriage of William to Elisabeth Lambert in October 1667 and gives them nine children of whom the seventh and last with birth date was Esther born 9 March 1679. He does not know when William Cash died and Pope's Pioneers of Massachusetts has nothing on the Cashes. Roger Joslyn has searched Essex County records in my behalf without finding additional in format ion about Edward or Elizabeth. Until further information is forthcoming, perhaps from records outside Essex County, we have probably gone about as far as we can in straightening out the confusions that have surrounded Bridget Bishop for well over a century. We conclude with what will be central to later articles in this series, a genealogical summary of the executed witch and his or her family. BRIDGET _____, birthdate uncertain, m. (1) _____ Wasselbe, of whom nothing is known; (2) Salem, MA, 26 July 1666, as his second wife, Thomas1 Oliver, who d. by 24 4m (June) 1679; (3) in August 1687 or earlier, Edward Bishop, sawyer, who was living at Salem, 21 Jan. 1694/5. She was hanged for alleged witchcraft, Gallows Hill, Salem, 10 June 1692, the first of the Salem witches to die. Nothing has been seen that suggests that Bridget had Wasselbe offspring, and when she married Edward Bishop, she was probably too old for child-bearing. Despite her three marriages, we have evidence of but one child and of only one grandchild. The child of Thomas and Bridget (_____) (Wasselbe) Oliver was: CHRISTIAN OLIVER, b. Salem, 8 May 1667, daughter of "Thomas and Bridget"; m., say 1886, Thomas1 Mason, on whom see Perley, History of Salem 3:158. She d. before 1 Nov. 1693, when Thomas m. (2) In Salem, Abigail (Curtice) Greenslade, widow of Thomas Greenslade and daughter-in-law of the executed witch, Ann (_____) (Greenslade) Pudeator (Libby-Hoyes-Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire p. 289). On 14 June 1717, Thomas Mason. [Jr.], "saylor," signed a bond as administrator of the estate of his father and mother, Thomas Mason and Abigail Mason, late of Salem (Essex Co. Probate No. 17976), which negates the statement in Perley, loc. cit., that Abigail m. (3) at Salem, 1 July 1717, Thomas Horton. Thomas Mason had only one child by his marriage with Christian Oliver: SUSANNA MASON, b. Salem. 23 Aug. 1687, daughter of "Thomas and Chrestean"; living 1769; m. Salem, 20 Sept. 1711, John3 Becket (William2, John1), b. Salem, 10 Aug. 1684. On 5 Nov. 1720/1 (sic), John Beckit Jr. of Salem, shipwright, and Susannah Becket his wife, one of the daughters of Thomas Mason, late of Salem, fisherman, and Abigail his wife, sold their share in the estate of Thomas and Abigail to Thomas Mason of Salem, mariner (Essex Co. Deeds 37:160). Susanna was, of course, a step-daughter of AbigaiI. John Beckett of Salem in his will dated 6 Jan. 1758 mentions wife Susannah and sons John and William Beckett, and gives daughter Margaret Beckett as much as daughters Mary Collons and Susannah Babbidg have had; probated 29 Dec. 1763, although a "committee to apprize" had already been appointed on the 27th (Essex Co. Probate No. 2240). For descendants of John and Susanna (Mason) Becket, see Essex Antiquarian 8:15 f.
  Person ID	I35171	Frost, Gilchrist and Related Families
  Last Modified	17 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family 1	Samuel WASSELBE,   b. England d. Bef 26 Jul 1666
  Marriage	13 Apr 1660	St. Mary-in-the-Marsh, Norwich, Norfolk, England
  Children	1. Mary WASSELBE   2. Benjamin WASSELBE
  Family ID	F15297	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	17 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family 2	Thomas OLIVER, I,   b. England d. Bef 24 Jun 1679, Salem, Essex County, MA
  Marriage	26 Jul 1666	Salem, Essex County, MA
  Children	1. Christian OLIVER,   b. 8 May 1667, Salem, Essex County, MA d. Bef 1 Nov 1693, Salem, Essex County, MA (Age < 26 years)
  Family ID	F15298	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	17 Apr 2024

  
  

  Family 3	Edward BISHOP
  Marriage	Bef Aug 1687	Salem, Essex County, MA
  Family ID	F15296	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	17 Apr 2024