Isabella Holdridge

Isabella

• Died Jun 1689 in Mast Swamp, Rockingham Co., New Hampshire
• Daughter of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
• Wife of 1) ? Craddock (perhaps) 2) William Holdridge — married about 1640 in Rockingham, Massachusetts
• Holdridge children: Sarah, Mary, Rebecca Morgan, William, Samuel, Sarah, Mehitable Smith, Abigail, & Mary Kelly.

Disambiguation

• Birth seen as “1612 in Effingham, Surrey, England” with no reference.
• Maiden name seen as Hayward / Howard without supporting evidence.
• ”Isabel Craddock, age 30, had sailed on the "Rebecca", John Hodges, master, arriving in Boston on 8 June 1635.” There does not seem to be evidence she was the Isabel who married William Holdridge by 1640.
• Not known to be family of Matthew Cradock or his cousin Matthew Craddock, MP
• Not known to be related to Deacon John Upham or his wife Elizabeth Upham

Family

https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr02/rr02_217.html#P49361

From Old Families of Salisbury & Amesbury:222

William Holdred (or Holdridge) “Tanner” and “planter”, born about 1610; came from the parish of St. Slphage, Cripplegate, London,25 on the Elizabeth in 1635, with John Clough; married Isabella —; was in Ipswich 1639; removed to Salisbury where he had a house lot in 1640 and other land; then about 1649, to Haverhill, and the page bearing his name on the Salisbury record is blank. William and wife Isabel were living in Haverhill in 1667.
Isabel Holdred testified againstJohn Godfrey, tried for witchcraft 1658/9. (See Upham’s History of Witchcraft, vol. 1, pp. 430–1.).
Isabel was murdered in the Mast Swamp at Exeter, NH, early in 1689 by Negro Jack, who was executed in Boston. Her son-in-law Richard Morgan administered her estate, inventory 16 Jun 1689, 20 Feb. 1692/3.

The 10 children of William and Isabel Holdred (Holdridge) were:

1. Sarah Holdridge (Died soon) (26 Dec 1640-1641)
2. Mary Holdridge (Died soon) (22 Apr 1641-31 Jan 1641/2)
3. Rebecca Holdridge (20 Jun 1643-)
4. John Holdridge (ca 1644-1705) [DISPUTED] link to document; his profile is at John Holdridge, of Roxbury
5. William Holdridge (16 Mar 1647/8-ca 1691/2)
6. Sarah Holdridge (Died soon) (26 Dec 1650-4 Jun 1651)
7. Mehitable Holdridge (14 Apr 1652-)
8. Abigail Holdridge (Died young) (12 Nov 1654-13 Jun 1657)
9. Mary Holdridge (24 Dec 1656-)
10. Samuel Holdridge (6 Nov 1659-)

Biography

William Holdridge apprenticed as a tanner in London and arrived in Ipswich, Massachusetts in the ship Elizabeth in 1635. He married young widow Isabella (Howard) Craddock in 1640. He moved several times before finally settling in what is now Exeter, NH , but was then part of Massachusetts.

In 1658 Isabella testified against John Godfrey, accused of witchcraft. Her testimony is included in the famous work Salem Witchcraft by Charles W. Upham, 1867. Isabella, wife of William Holdridge, and mother of the children listed in this profile, is identified as the person in the witchcraft trial by The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts by David W. Hoyt, 1897 (Part 1, p. 203).

Nine pages of Salem Witchcraft are reproduced in a PDF on the Sources tab of this profile, including Isabella's testimony and some background information about the incident.

John Godfrey was an eccentric character who appears to have enjoyed provoking people into believing he was a witch. This trial took place about 35 years before the height of the witchcraft phenomenon. Godfrey was not convicted and went on to accuse some of the witnesses of slander.

Isabella was later murdered by 'Negro Jack,' who was executed by hanging in Boston in 1690.

Notes

http://mels.website/EverWeb/Our%20Family%20Tree/languages/en/person...

William Holdred married by 1640, Isabel _____. She died before 16 June 1689 (date of inventory), having "met her end in tragedy, being killed in the Mast Swamp, where Stratham, Hampton and Exeter come together, by Negro Jack, who was hanged in Boston in 1690." In a deed of 25 August 1710, James Sinkler sold to James Dudley a piece of land in Exeter "nigh a way that formerly went into the Mast Swamp nigh where Goodwife Holdrig was killed."
They had nine children: Sarah, Mary, Rebecca Morgan, William, Samuel, Sarah, Mehitable Smith, Abigail, & Mary Kelly.
On 5 December 1653, "William Holdred and his wife Isebell testified that about the last of November they were at the house of John Chater of Newbery, by the fireside with said Chater's wife, she having formerly said that she knew something of Daniell Gun. Whereupon the deponents asked her what it was, as they wished to acquaint her husband who then lay in the same room sick in bed. Then Alice, John Chater's wife, went to her husband and confessed to him in an audible voice that when she carried beer or victuals to said Gun, who was sick or lame in bed, he assaulted her." On 27 March 1655, "William Holdred's wife" was presented "for unseemly carriages with John Chator, etc.," which offense was "[p]roved not to be lasciviousness, he being sick and she his only nurse, and her own husband present in the house. She was troubled with fits, and they found no censure on her" [EQC 1:337 (misdated by a year), 388].
In 1659 "Esabell Houldred hearing a voice and being afflicted in her body" was one of those who accused JOHN GODFREY {1634, Newbury} of witchcraft. On 26 June 1660, John Godfrey sued "William Holdridge of Haverhill" for debt for a transaction that took place three years earlier. This pattern of financial litigation and accusation of witchcraft was frequent in the case of John Godfrey.

http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/2017/11/john-godfrey-witch-a...

Strange animals appear in several other witnesses' testimony. Isabelle Holdred and her husband argued with Godfrey over money, and after the argument Holdred was assaulted by a progression of  animals that appeared to her over the course of several nights. Holdred was first attacked by a bumblebee, followed by a bear that growled and asked her if she was afraid. The next night a snake appeared, which frightened Holdred so much she couldn't talk for thirty minutes. A spectral horse also appeared in her bedchamber, as did a large black cat that lay on her as she slept and stroked her face. Holdred was the only one who saw those animals, but her son was with her when a neighbor's ox attacked her after looking at her with "great eyes."

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Death and estate

Isabella was killed in the Mast Swamp on the border of Stratham and Exeter, by Negro Jack who was hanged in Boston on 8 May 1690 “for murthering the widow Isabell Holdredge”. On 25 Aug. 1710 James Sinkler sold a piece of land to James Dudley which was “nigh a way that formerly went into the Mast Swamp nigh where Goodwife Holdrig was killed”.[21]

The inventory of Isabella’s estate is dated 16 June 1689 and amounted to £27 17s 1d and was signed by Jonathan Thing, Peter Folsom and Benjamin Jones and attested before John Hinckes by Richard Morgan 20 Feb. 1692/3 and included “an old house and about thirty acres of land” worth £15. The administration of the estate of Isabel Holdridge, widow of William Holdridge of Exeter, planter, was granted to Richard Morgan of Ipswich, planter “having marryed Elizbeth the eldest daughter of the sd Isabell”… this was Rebecca, not Elizabeth. Richard Morgan Jr. and Edward Dyer were sureties.[22]

”It sounds like this family struggled, moving frequently probably to find work, having lived in London, Ipswich, Salisbury, Haverhill, Exeter, York and Portsmouth, being involved in law suits and William being arrested for an unknown offense… and poor Isabelle ending up being murdered and only owning an old house and other things worth only £28 at her death.“

References

• Probate Records of the Province of New Hampshire- New Hampshire State Papers- Albert Batchellor, Ed., Rumford Printing, Concord, NH, 1907- Vol. XXXI, p. 328 Archive.Org
• Great Migration, Vol 3, G-H Page 368 - 372 AncestryImage “William Holdred”
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hayward-109
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Oct 4 2016, 4:16:05 UTC

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