Mary Blisse

Est 1626 - 1712  (~ 86 years)

• Name	Mary Blisse  [1]
  Birth	Est 1626	Gloucestershire, England
  Gender	Female
  Death	29 Jan 1711/12	Northampton, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts   [2]
  Person ID	I2137	Cooley Miller Sears Barnhouse
  Last Modified	23 Jul 2020

  
  

  Father	Thomas Blisse,   b. Abt 1580-1590, South West England d. Bef Feb 1650/51, Hartford, Connecticut Colony (Age ~ 61 years)
  Mother	Margaret Hulings,   b. Abt 1590-1600, South West England d. 28 Apr 1684, Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony (Age ~ 84 years)
  Marriage	18 Oct 1621	Gloucestershire, England   [3]
  	Married at St. Nicholas Church, Gloucester
  Family ID	F811	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Joseph Parsons,   c. 25 Jun 1620, England d. 9 Oct 1683, Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony (Age ~ 63 years)
  Marriage	26 Nov 1646	Hartford County, Connecticut Colony   [4, 5]
  Family ID	F814	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	2 Jul 2020

  
  

• Notes

  After several years in Springfield, the Joseph Parsons family, which now included three children, moved to Northampton, a brand new settlement some 20 miles up the Connecticut River. Joseph Parsons soon became one of Northampton's leading citizens. A successful merchant, he served as a selectman and on the committee to build the first meetinghouse. Parsons also owned the first tavern in town. Soon after arriving in Northampton, Mary Parsons gave birth to a son, the first English child born in the town. That same month, neighbor Sarah Bridgman had a baby boy. When he died two weeks later, she claimed it was the result of Mary's witchcraft. Rumors began to swirl about the town. Joseph Parsons decided to go on the offensive. He charged James Bridgman with slander for spreading rumors about Mary Parsons's alleged witchcraft. The case was heard at the Magistrates' Court in Cambridge in October 1656; 33 depositions were given. Almost half of Northampton's 32 households sent a witness; a few others came from Springfield. On January 5, 1675, the county magistrates summoned Mary to appear before them. Women searched her body for "witch's teats," unexplained (to seventeenth-century eyes) protrusions where "imps" were said to suck. The record is silent as to what they did or did not find, but in March the Court of Assistants in Boston sent Mary Parsons to prison to await trial. The records from this trial do not survive, but we know that on May 13, 1675, a jury found her not guilty.

  
  

• Sources

  [S627] Torrey, Clarence Almon, Sanborn, Melinde Lutz (supplements), NE Marriages, (Database and images. Ancestry. https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3824, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2012. ), p518 (Reliability: 3). [S592] Holbrook, Jay Mack, MVR, (Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook). ), mrs Mary Parsons the wife of Cornet Joseph Parsons was sick & died Jan. 29. 1711/12 (Reliability: 3). [S692] Gloucestershire Anglican Parish Registers, Gloucester bapts marriages burials, (Ancestry.com. Gloucestershire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1813 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Gloucestershire Anglican Parish Registers. Gloucestershire Archives, Gloucestershire, England. ), Ref P154/15 IN 1/1. St Nicholas, Gloucester. (Reliability: 3). [S592] Holbrook, Jay Mack, MVR, (Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts. Massachusetts Vital and Town Records. Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook). ), Joseph Parsons & mary Blisse were joyned together in mariage 9 mon: 26 day 1646. at Hartforde (Reliability: 3). [S627] Torrey, Clarence Almon, Sanborn, Melinde Lutz (supplements), NE Marriages, (Database and images. Ancestry. https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=3824, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2012. ), Second Torrey Supplement p48 (Reliability: 3).