Priscilla Marshfield

Notes:

Thomas Marshfield has been the subject of many books and articles largely due to his being a disreputable merchant who caused an uproar in the Towne of Windsor for the entire decade of the 1640s. To top it all off, he disappeared leaving his family destitute and his wife the subject of witchcraft rumors that eventually drove her out of town. He emigrated from Exeter, Devonshire, England to Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 on the Regard of Barnstaple. He was accompanied by his unnamed wife, daughters Sara and Mercy, and son Samuel.
He became a freeman 6 May 1635. He was a co-founder of Windsor Connecticut Colony, probably settling in that area of the Connecticut River Valley by 1636, about a year after, the Valley's first settlement, Wethersfield, was founded in 1635. At some point Marshfield, then of Windsor, became a partner with Henry Wolcott and Samuel Wakeman when they chartered two vessels, the Charles of Bristol and the Hopewell of London to be bound for New England. Marshfield borrowed

Thomas married Mercy (Wife of Thomas Marshfield) [?] about 1632 in England. Mercy was born about 1605 in Exeter, Devonshire, England; was buried on 30 Sep 1654 in Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In the late 1630s Mercy's husband had become so embroiled in debt problems he disappeared from Windsor never to be heard from again. In doing so, his family bore the brunt of the towne's ill will. Mercy was shunned by Windsor's society with "much rancor and resentment toward her because of her husband's treachery". By 1649 she had fled to Springfield but all was not well even there. In a "Pynchon Court Record" for 29-30 May 1649 Mary Parsons, herself later convicted of witchcraft by the General Court and sentenced to hang, had reported that Mercy "was suspected to be a witch when she lived in Windsor and it was publikely knowen that the devill followed her house in Windsor". Mercy fought back by bringing a court action against Mary Parsons for making a false accusation. Mercy was in luck, because Mary Parsons's reputation was even worse than hers. Mary was sentenced to be whipped and to pay