Sarah Cloyes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Cloyce

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Towne-70

Sarah Clayes formerly Towne aka Bridges, Cloyce, Cloyes

Born about 1642 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts

Daughter of William Towne and Joanna (Blessing) Towne

Sister of Rebecca (Towne) Nurse, John Towne, Susannah Towne, Edmund Towne, Jacob Towne I, Mary (Towne) Estey and Joseph Towne

Wife of Edmund Bridges Jr — married 11 Jan 1659 in Topsfield, Essex Co., MA

Wife of Peter Cloyes — married about 1681

Mother of Edmund Bridges, Elizabeth (Bridges) Edmunds, Benjamin Bridges, Mary (Bridges) Andrews, Hannah (Bridges) Barton, Caleb Bridges I, Alice (Bridges) Howe and John Bridges

Died before 1704 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts

Profile last modified 17 Dec 2018 | Created 21 Sep 2010 This page has been accessed 2,334 times.
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Sarah (Towne) Cloyes was involved in the Salem Witch Trials. Join: Witch Trials Project Discuss: WITCH_TRIALS Biography

The sister of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty, both of whom were convicted of witchcraft and hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Sarah was accused herself and condemned and jailed. [1]

Sarah's parents, William and Joanna Towne, were married in St. Nicholas' church. "In this church, founded in A.D. 1123, dedicated to St. Nicholas, in 1251, and still retaining the name were married, March 25, 1620, William Towne and Joanna Blessing, and here their six first children were baptised." [2]William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne emigrated to Salem, Massachusetts in 1635.[3] They had two more children in Salem.

Birth/Baptism: 3 day, 7 month, 1648 (3 Sept, their calendar began in March)[4] [2]

Sarah Towne first married Edmund Bridges, son of Edmund and Alice Bridges, at Salem, Massachusetts, on 11 Jan 1659/60.[2] He died by 1682, and Sarah married second Peter Cloyes, son of John and Abigail Cloyes.[2]

On April 4, 1692, a conspiracy complaint (No 6) was filed against Sarah Cloyce. On April 11, 1692, she was arrested. She was examined before Thomas Danforth (the deputy governor), Issac Addington (the secretary of the province), John Hawthorne, Major Samuel Appleton, James Russell, Captain Samuel Sewall, and Jonathan Corwin. The last five were Assistants to the Governor and were members of the upper legislative chamber. She refused to confess. In response to testimony by John Indian, she said: "Oh! You are a grievous liar." She was imprisoned at Salem and was later moved to Boston.

Sarah's sister, Rebecca (Towne) Nurse, was executed for witchcraft by the government on July 19, 1692 at Salem.[5] Sarah's sister Mary (Towne) Esty (or Eastey) was hanged on September 22, 1692, with seven others accused of witchcraft.[6] Sarah defended her sisters, and was accused herself of witchcraft but was never indicted. On January 3, 1693, the Superior Court of Judicature at Salem dismissed the charges against her. Her husband paid the prison fees. They left Salem and moved to Marlborough, Massachusetts. The later moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts. Years later, after the mania had passed, the preachers involved asked forgiveness, and the government made restitution to the families.

Death: 1703, Framingham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts [2]

Notes

Editor's Note: In almost all Towne biographies and records on the children of William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne, it has always been stated that Joseph Towne, born in 1639, was their youngest child. Now TFA's outstanding genealogist Lois Payne Hoover, has established that Sarah Towne was born circa 1642. "The History of Topsfield, Massachusetts" by George Francis Dow published by the Topsfield Historical Society, 1940, reprinted 1999, pp. 324 has the following: "Sarah joined the village church in 1690, then being about 48 years of age." In the "Essex County Quarterly Court" records (Vol. 7:250) there is an entry where she deposed 3 June 1679 and states she was age thirty-seven. Lois also says, "This year of birth in 1642 makes her child bearing years more reasonable also." We are indebted to our genealogist for establishing a more correct age for Sarah." At some point I found a birthdate for Sarah but am now unable to locate the source for that information - the date I had recorded was; born January 11, 1636/37 in Salem, Essex Co., Massachusetts.

As one of the accused and condemned "witches" in Salem, Sarah's story is found in many histories and genealogies. I used "Witchcraft at Salem," by Chadwick Hansen. published in 1969, by George Braziller, Inc., New York, N.Y., and "The Devil in Massachusetts," by Marion L. Starkey, published in 1940, by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, N.Y., as well as My Heritage and Ancestry sources and several Internet sites.

Sources

Vital records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, database online at InternetArchive.org, by Salem (Mass.), Topics Registers of births, etc. -- Salem, Mass. Publisher Salem, Mass., The Essex institute, Year 1916 'The Towne Family Memorial: Compiled from the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Towne Manuscripts, Public and Family Records; for A.N. Towne Esq., San Francisco, Cal. By Edwin Hubbard. Chicago, Illinois. Fergus Printing Company. 1880. Claire Dietz, Title: gedcom file found on Rootsweb.com posted by Claire Dietz on March 26, 2001 U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, Author: Yates Publishing, Publication Media: Internet: Towne Family - Rootsweb Publication https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49981410/sarah-clayes Towne genealogy posting on Rootsweb Towne mailing list Jill (O'Neall) Ching ↑ Witches of Massachusetts, Legends of America website ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The ancestry of Lieut. Amos Towne, 1737-1793, of Arundel (Kennebunkport, Maine, database online at Ancestry.com, Author: Walter Goodwin Davis, (1927), page 6 ↑ Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s ↑ Vital records of Salem, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849, page 356 ↑ Wikipedia contributors, Rebecca Nurse, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed September 18, 2013). Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ↑ Wikipedia contributors, Mary Eastey, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, (accessed March 11, 2017), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

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From the Wikipedia page on Sarah Cloyce:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Cloyce

Sarah Cloyce (née Towne) was the sister of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty.

She was accused of witchcraft but never indicted by a grand jury in the Salem Witch Trials.

In fiction

In the short story entitled Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne which is a social criticism of Puritan

culture, a character named Goody Cloyse addresses the devil, confessing to practicing witchcraft.

It is a shock to the protagonist as she taught him his catechism in youth.

She makes a reference to "...that unhanged witch, Goody Cory..." {Hawthorne 3], a very possible reference to Martha Corey. [2]

References

1. Timeline of the Salem Witch Trials

http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/timeline.html

2. "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

http://www.online-literature.com/hawthorne/158/

Categories: Salem witch trials

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Sarah Towne - born circa 1642, in Salem, MA. She married (1) Edmund Bridges (2) Peter Cloyes. Sarah Cloyes was accused of witchcraft, in 1692 [at age 53], and put into prison, and later released. She pressed charges for her unlawful arrest and the killing of her sisters. She received three gold sovereigns for each of them. The movie, "Three Sovereigns For Sister Sarah" is about this event. Her daughter was Hepzibah Cloyce, married Ebenezer Harrington.

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Sarah was never brought to trial when the Colonial Courts recognized their grave error in the execution of innocent people. Her story was documented by the Mobil Oil Co. Production of "Three Sovereigns For Sarah," starring Vanessa Redgrave as Sarah Cloyes. The movie was made in 1985 and is available on DVD.

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In 1692 she was accused and imprisoned for witchcraft. She was not hanged. After the witch hysteria, they relocated to Framingham. Her sisters, Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty were executed.

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http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&d...

Thanks to Ken Smith for this biography: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=49981410 "Sarah was the fourth child of William Towne and Joanna Blessing of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, and Topsfield, Massachusetts. She was their first born in New England, on January 11, 1638, in Salem, Massachusetts, and baptised there on September 3, 1648, along with some siblings. Later, the family moved to Topsfield, Massachusetts, where Sarah married, on January 11, 1659/60, Edmund Bridges, Jr., the son of Edmund Bridges and his wife, Elizabeth. Edmund was born about 1637. Sarah and Edmund had three children in Topsfield by 1667, then moved to Salem, Massachusetts, before 1669, where they had two more children, including Hannah. Edmund died about 1682 in Salem. After the death of Edmund, Sarah married Peter Cloyes of Salem Village, and apparently had 2 children, Benoni, baptised September 2, 1683, and Hepzibah, who married February 3, 1708, Ebenezer Harrington. In 1692, Sarah, along with her sisters Rebecca Nurse and Mary Esty, were accused in the Salem Witch trials. Rebecca and Mary were hanged, but Sarah, who had also been condemned, escaped from the jail in Ipswich. In the spring of 1693, members of the Towne, Bridges, Barton, Cloyes and Elliott families moved away from Salem, no doubt because of the witch trials, and settled in the new community of Framingham, Massachusetts, where Sarah died about 1703. Information for this biography from the privately published book, The Bartons, by Ray Barton Jr.; NEHGR, v. 84, 'The Bartons of Oxford, Massachusetts'; New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Torrey; Genealogical Dictionary of New England, by Savage; Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts (1933), by Blodgett & Jewett, pg 42; the vital records of Ipswich, Topsfield, Salem and Framingham, Massachusetts."

http://capecodhistory.us/genealogy/Nauset/i4001.htm#i13544

http://www.gulbangi.com/5families-o/p424.htm

• **Sarah Towne, daughter of William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne, was baptized 3 Sep 1648 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts and died about 1703 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts. She married (1) Edmund Bridges on 11 Jan 1659/60 in Topsfield, Essex, Massachusetts. He was born about 1637 in Rowley, Essex, Massachusetts and died 24 Jun 1682 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts. She married (2) Peter Cloyes about 1682 as his second wife. He was born 27 May 1640 in Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts and died 18 Jul 1708 in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts. Peter Cloyes had married as his first wife to Hannah Littlefield of Wells, York, Maine.

Children of Sarah Towne and Edmund Bridges:

1. John M. Bridges, who married (1) Martha Cressly and (2) Huldah (

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). There is a question as to whether or not this John was a son of Sarah Towne. 2. Edmund Bridges, b. 4 Oct 1660 in Topsfield. He married Elizabeth Croade. 3. Elizabeth Bridges, b. 1662. She married Samuel Edmunds. 4. Benjamin Bridges, b. 2 Jan 1664/65 in Topsfield and died in Aug 1725. He married Elizabeth (

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). 5. Mary Bridges, b. 15 Apr 1667. She married Samuel Read/Reed. 6. Hannah Bridges, b. 9 Jun 1669 in Salem and d. 13 Mar 1716/17 in Oxford, Worcester, MA. She married Samuel Barton about 1690 in Salem. 7. Sarah M. Bridges, b. 1672. She married (1) Samuel Preston and (2) William Price. 8. Caleb Bridges, b. 3 Jun 1677 in Salem and d. about 1703 in Framingham. He married Sarah Brewer on 26 Nov 1700 in Framingham. 9. Alice Bridges, b. Sep 1680. She married Benjamin Howe.

Children of Sarah Towne and Peter Cloyes: 10. Alice Cloyes?, she is also listed as a child by Edmund Bridges. It is unclear which husband was her father, though based on her birthdate in relation to the death date of Edmund Bridges, it would appear that she more appropriately should be listed as a child by Bridges. 11. Benoni Cloyes, bap. 2 Sep 1683 in Salem. 12. Hepzibah Cloyes, b. abt. 1685 in Salem. She married Ebenezer Harrington 3 Feb 1707/8 in Framingham. 13. Mary Cloyes, b. abt. 1687. She married Daniel Waters.

Sarah Towne Bridges Cloyes, born in 1638, daughter of William and Joanna Bless- ing Towne, who came to New England from Yarmouth, Norfolk county, Eng- land, about 1639. She was the widow of Edmund Bridges, son of Captain Benja- min and his wife Alice. Sarah Towne Cloyes was the sister of Rebecca Towne Nourse. The story of the Salem Witch- craft and that of Rebecca Nourse are both familiar tragedies in colonial history. Possibly the story of her sister Sarah is less known. Rebecca Towne, wife of Francis Nourse, and Sarah Towne Cloyes were among the first victims in Salem to be accused of witchcraft. They were com- mitted to the Boston prison, March 1, 1692. At the first trial of Mrs. Nourse, who was a member of the Salem church and seems to have been a woman of cul- ture, the evidence was so weak that she was not convicted ; at a second trial she was also acquited, but at a third trial she was convicted and sentenced to be hung as a witch, because she had not given the magistrate the proper answer to his ques- tions. It was afterwards learned that owing to deafness she had failed to com- prehend the questions. The sentence was carried out in spite of the forty neighbors who gave their signatures to a declara- tion that "they had known her for many years and had observed her life and con- versation to be according to new profes- sion." She was executed July 19, 1692. Sarah Cloyes was also convicted, received the death sentence, and was committed to the jail in Ipswich to await execution. Her husband, Peter Cloyes, was allowed to visit her, and in some unknown way she managed to make her escape and was concealed by her friends until she came to Framingham in 1693 and settled in the part of the town that has since been known in Framingham history as Salem End. Sarah Towne Cloyes died in 1703. The third wife of Peter Cloyes was Widow Susana Beers, daughter of Robert Harrington, of Watertown, and this mar- riage was also her third, she having mar- ried (first) February 9, 1671-72, John Cutting, of Watertown, (second) Eliezer Beers, of Watertown, (third) Peter Cloyes. There seems to have been no record made of the birth of the children

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/william-richard-cutter/encycl...

Sarah and Edmund's children included: John M. Bridges, Edmund Bridges (1660), Elizabeth Bridges (1662), Benjamin Bridges (1664/65), Mary Bridges (1667), Hannah Bridges (1669), Sarah M. Bridges (1672) Caleb Bridges (1677), and Alice Bridges (1680).

Sarah and Peter's children included: Benoni Cloyes (1683), Hepzibah Cloyes (1685), and Mary Cloyes (1687).

http://www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com/Towne%20Family/TowneSarahBri...

Hepzibah Cloyes, daughter of Peter & Sarah (Towne) Bridges Cloyes of Framingham. His Will was proved April 8, 1754.  

http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/middlesex/towns/watertown/watertow...

http://www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com/Towne%20Family/TowneSarahBri... http://www.boudillion.com/witchcaves/witchcaves.htm

A genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England, showing three generations of those who came before May, 1692, on the basis of Farmer's Register. By James Savage. Savage, James, 1784-1873., Farmer, John, 1789-1838. http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ABE2564.0001.001?rgn=main;view=full...

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Sarah was a victim and survivor of the Salem witchcraft hysteria of 1692. Her name may be indexed as Sarah Towne, Sarah Bridges, Sarah Clayes, Sarah Cloyce, Clayce, Cloys, etc. She is called Sarah Cloyce in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown."

For very nice bios from Find A Grave contributors DKMac and Ken Smith, please scroll down to the section in italics.

"Then Sarah Cloyse asked for water, and sat down as one seized with a dying fainting fit, and several of the afflicted fell into fits, and some of them cried out, 'Oh! Her spirit is gone to prison to her sister Nurse!'" —"The Witchcraft delusion of 1692," NEHGR v 24, p 396

Sarah Towne, wife of Peter Clayes, was wrongly accused of witchcraft at Salem in 1692, and imprisoned. She escaped execution and moved to Danforth's Farms (incorporated in 1700 as Framingham). Her sisters, Rebecca Towne Nurse and Mary Towne Estey, were wrongly convicted of witchcraft, and were hanged.

After Peter and Sarah moved to Danforth's Farms, they were known as Peter and Sarah Clayes. The Sarah Clayes house still stands in Framingham.

In 1692, Danforth's Farms was owned by Thomas Danforth, one of the magistrates who imprisoned Sarah and deputy governor under Simon Bradstreet. Some historians believe that Thomas Danforth invited Sarah and members of her family to settle on his land as a gesture of reparation.

The third of three indictments against Sarah Clayes (Cloyce):

Essex in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England ss// Anno RR's & Reginae Gulielmi & Mariae Angliae &c Quarto Annoq'e Domini 1692

The Jurors for our Sover' Lord and Lady the King & Queen doe present that Sarah Cloyce Wife of Peter Cloyce of Salem -- In the County of Essex Husbandman -- In & upon the Ninth Day of the Inst September -- In the yeare aforesaid and Divers other Days and times as well before as after Certaine Detestable arts called Witch-craft and Sorceries Wickedly Mallitiously and felloniously hath used practised and Exercised At and in the Towne of Salem in the County of Essex -- aforesaid in upon and against one Rebeckah Towne of Topsfeild in the County of Essex aforesaid Single Woman -- by which said Wicked Acts the said Rebeckah Towne the Day & yeare -- aforesaid and divers other Days and times both before and after was and is Tortured Aflicted Consumed Pined Wasted and Tormented, and also for sundry other acts of Witchcraft by the said Sarah Cloyce -- Comitted and done be fore and Since that time against the Peace of our Sov'rn Lord and Lady the King & Queen theire Crowne and Dignity and the forme of the Stattute In that case made and Provided.

(Reverse) Ignoramus

• Robert Payne foreman

(Suffolk Court Records Case No. 2677, p 8)

Sources:

David Glaeser, The Ancestry of Asahel Chilson, Nov. 2005

The University of Virginia has excellent online records of the trials: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/17docs.html

New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) v 8 pp 163, 252; v 11 pp 131, 134 (Danvers church records); v 21, p 21; v 23, p 24; v 24, pp 394-396; v 29, p 67

Thanks to Find A Grave contributor DKMac for the following:

"In early 1692 Sarah was accused of witchcraft. She was a sister to Rebecca Nurse and Mary Esty, who also had been accused; as well as their mother, Johanna. Her brother-in-law was John Bridges (from her first marriage), whose wife and daughters were also imprisoned for witchcraft. Her step son-in-law, Daniel Elliott, testified against Sarah's sisters, but not her. Daniel had married Peter's daughter Sarah. It was strongly believed that witchcraft ran in families.

"Committed to prison 1 March 16928, Sarah had a long imprisonment in Boston. She was tried, found guilty, and then in August moved to Ipswich, to await execution. Sarah's sisters, Mary and Rebecca, were hung for witchcraft. At Ipswich, the doom desired by the preposterous indictment was barely escaped. In some way Sarah escaped and was concealed by friends until the family's removal to Framingham. Jan 24, 1693, her case was declared ‘ignoramus'. No explanation has been found why she escaped the fate of her sisters. However, by fall of 1692, the witchcraft frenzy had abated and then Gov. Danforth stepped in and stopped convictions by the court. Years later all persons accused of witchcraft were cleared and 3 golden crowns were paid to those accused or their surviving families.

"Sarah's grave has never been found. After the move to Framingham, Sarah and Peter spelled their last name Clayes."

Thanks to Ken Smith for this biography:

"Sarah was the fourth child of William Towne and Joanna Blessing of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, and Topsfield, Massachusetts. She was their first born in New England, on January 11, 1638, in Salem, Massachusetts, and baptised there on September 3, 1648, along with some siblings. Later, the family moved to Topsfield, Massachusetts, where Sarah married, on January 11, 1659/60, Edmund Bridges, Jr., the son of Edmund Bridges and his wife, Elizabeth. Edmund was born about 1637. Sarah and Edmund had three children in Topsfield by 1667, then moved to Salem, Massachusetts, before 1669, where they had two more children, including Hannah. Edmund died about 1682 in Salem. After the death of Edmund, Sarah married Peter Cloyes of Salem Village, and apparently had 2 children, Benoni, baptised September 2, 1683, and Hepzibah, who married February 3, 1708, Ebenezer Harrington. In 1692, Sarah, along with her sisters Rebecca Nurse and Mary Esty, were accused in the Salem Witch trials. Rebecca and Mary were hanged, but Sarah, who had also been condemned, escaped from the jail in Ipswich. In the spring of 1693, members of the Towne, Bridges, Barton, Cloyes and Elliott families moved away from Salem, no doubt because of the witch trials, and settled in the new community of Framingham, Massachusetts, where Sarah died about 1703. Information for this biography from the privately published book, The Bartons, by Ray Barton Jr.; NEHGR, v. 84, 'The Bartons of Oxford, Massachusetts'; New England Marriages Prior to 1700, by Torrey; Genealogical Dictionary of New England, by Savage; Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts (1933), by Blodgett & Jewett, pg 42; the vital records of Ipswich, Topsfield, Salem and Framingham, Massachusetts."* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 10 2019, 20:22:05 UTC

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Biography The sister of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty, both of whom were convicted of witchcraft and hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Sarah was accused herself and condemned and jailed. [1] Sarah's parents, William and Joanna Towne, were married in St. Nicholas' church. "In this church, founded in A.D. 1123, dedicated to St. Nicholas, in 1251, and still retaining the name were married, March 25, 1620, William Towne and Joanna Blessing, and here their six first children were baptised." [2]William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne emigrated to Salem, Massachusetts in 1635.[3] They had two more children in Salem. Birth/Baptism: 3 day, 7 month, 1648 (3 Sept, their calendar began in March)[4] [2] Sarah Towne first married Edmund Bridges, son of Edmund and Alice Bridges, at Salem, Massachusetts, on 11 Jan 1659/60.[2] He died by 1682, and Sarah married second Peter Cloyes, son of John and Abigail Cloyes.[2] On April 4, 1692, a conspiracy complaint (No 6) was filed against Sarah Cloyce. On April 11, 1692, she was arrested. She was examined before Thomas Danforth (the deputy governor), Issac Addington (the secretary of the province), John Hawthorne, Major Samuel Appleton, James Russell, Captain Samuel Sewall, and Jonathan Corwin. The last five were Assistants to the Governor and were members of the upper legislative chamber. She refused to confess. In response to testimony by John Indian, she said: "Oh! You are a grievous liar." She was imprisoned at Salem and was later moved to Boston. Sarah's sister, Rebecca (Towne) Nurse, was executed for witchcraft by the government on July 19, 1692 at Salem.[5] Sarah's sister Mary (Towne) Esty (or Eastey) was hanged on September 22, 1692, with seven others accused of witchcraft.[6] Sarah defended her sisters, and was accused herself of witchcraft but was never indicted. On January 3, 1693, the Superior Court of Judicature at Salem dismissed the charges against her. Her husband paid the prison fees. They left Salem and moved to Marlborough, Massachusetts. The later moved to Sudbury, Massachusetts. Years later, after the mania had passed, the preachers involved asked forgiveness, and the government made restitution to the families. Death: 1703, Framingham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts [2]