Mary Brooks

Mary Burt b. April 13, 1635 in Harberton, Devonshire, England and d. Sept 29, 1720 in Deerfield. MA.

• Parents: Henry Burt b. c 1595, d. 30 Apr 1662 & Ulalia Marche b. c 1600, d. 29 Aug 1690
• from http://www.tributaries.us/secondsite/founders2-o/p43.htm#i429

Mary Burt married, 18 Oct 1654 at Springfield, MA, William Brooks. At the time of her marriage she was recently (Jan-Feb?) delivered of an illegitimate child by another man; 10 months after the marriage she presented William with a son of his own, the first of their 16 children.3,4

Charged by Mary as the father of her first child, Sgt. Samuel Wright Jr. requested a jury trial, held 24 Mar 1654. The verdict of the Jury:

Wee fynd Samuel Wright Junior guilty of committinge wickedness with Mary Burt in having the use of her body 3 severall tymes, whereby wee fynd him to be the father of the said child ...and Mary Burt for her great wickedness was ordered and adjudged to be whipped on the naked body with 12 lashes well laid on as also to keep her said child: And whereas shee hath been found guilty of Comitting wickedness with Joseph Bonde Shee was adjudged to be well whipped a Second tyme with 10 lashes about a month after the first whippinge, according as shee shal be called forth, except shee doe before pay into the Constable as a fyne to redeeme her Second whippinge the Sum of Thirty shillings.

The records do not state whether the child had been born at the time of the trial, but the chronology of events across multiple households makes this almost certain (cf. footnote 6).5,6 The trials of Abigail and Mary Burt constitute two of only three fornication trials on record during the Pynchon magistracy at Springfield

Citations

• 3. [S31] Smith, Joseph H., ed. Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts (1639–1702): The Pynchon Court Record, An Original Judges' Diary of the Administration of Justice in the Springfield Courts in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961. Photocopies: Lynn E. Brooks. [S31] 104 (summary), 230–31 (transcript).

Links

• http://www.tributaries.us/secondsite/founders2-o/p3606.htm
• http://reocities.com/PicketFence/garden/4972/burt1.html
• http://www.themorrisclan.com/GENEALOGY/WRIGHT%20Samuel%20F1124.html
• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 26 2017, 22:31:55 UTC