Individual Details
Mary Foster
(9 Jul 1652 - 18 Jun 1702)
Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. (1652-1707) - Born to Andrew Foster and Ann Alcock Foster in Andover,Massachusetts, on July 9, 1652, Mary would grow up to marry Lawrence Lacey on August 5, 1673. The couple would have two children. In 1692, when a woman named Elizabeth Ballard came down with a fever that baffled doctors, witchcraft was suspected, and a search for the responsible witch began. Two of the "afflicted girls" from Salem Village -- Ann Putnam Jr. and Mary Walcott, were taken to Andover to seek out the witch, and fell into fits at the sight of Ann Alcock Foster, Mary's mother. Ann Alcock Foster was soon arrested and it wouldn't be long before Mary Lacey and her 18 year-old daughter would also be accused. The complaint was filed on July 19, 1692 by Joseph Ballard of Andover, alleging that both Mary Foster Lacey, and her daughter were responsible for afflicting his wife, Elizabeth Ballard. When Mary was examined, she confessed to being a witch and also accused her mother, saying that they had both ridden upon a pole to a witch meeting in Salem Village. She also stated that several years previous she had seen Mary Perkins Bradbury, Elizabeth Jackson Howe, and Rebecca Towne Nurse being baptized by the old Serpent at Newbury Falls. In addition to these women, she also implicated Richard Carrier and Andrew Carrier, and confessed that she, herself, had afflicted Timothy Swan and Elizabeth Ballard.
Though her mother, Ann Alcock Foster, tried desperately to take all the blame to shield her daughter and granddaughter, ironically, those who confessed to being witches were not executed; but, many of those who denied having anything to do with the devil were hanged. Both Mary Foster Lacey and Ann Alcock Foster were tried on September 17, 1692, both were found guilty, and both were sentenced to execution. Though there were several others who were also tried that day and their executions carried out on September 22, 1692, the Foster women were not among them. All three were imprisoned. Mary Lacey, Jr. was released on bond in October, 1692 and later found not guilty. Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. would be released in 1693 after the trials were discredited and ended. But, for Ann Alcock Foster, it was too late. After spending 21 weeks in prison, she died there on December 3, 1692. Mary Foster Lacey, Sr. would continue to live in Andover until her death on June 18, 1707.
In 1711 an act by the court of Massachusetts Bay held in Boston on October 17th reversed the conviction of twenty-two people convicted of witchcraft, among them Anne Foster and Mary Lacey (Roach, 384).
Events
| Birth | 9 Jul 1652 | Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, British America |  | ||
| Marriage | 5 Aug 1673 | Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, British America - Lawrence Lacey | | ||
| Death | 18 Jun 1702 | |
Families
| Spouse | Lawrence Lacey ( - ) |
| Child | Mary Lacey Jr (1674 - ) |
| Father | Andrew Foster (1579 - 1685) |
| Mother | Anne Alcock (1617 - 1692) |
| Sibling | Andrew Foster Jr. (1640 - 1697) |
| Sibling | Hannah Foster (1643 - 1689) |
| Sibling | Sarah Foster (1642 - 1697) |
| Sibling | Abraham Foster (1648 - 1723) |
Endnotes
1. Pierce, Frederick Clifton,, Foster genealogy : being the record of the posterity of Reginald Foster, an early inhabitant of Ipswich, in New England, whose genealogy is traced back to Anacher, great forrester of Flanders, who died in 837 A.D. ... (Chicago: F.C. Pierce, 1899, 1085 pgs.), p 1037.
2. Pierce, Frederick Clifton,, Foster genealogy : being the record of the posterity of Reginald Foster, an early inhabitant of Ipswich, in New England, whose genealogy is traced back to Anacher, great forrester of Flanders, who died in 837 A.D. ... (Chicago: F.C. Pierce, 1899, 1085 pgs.), p 1037.
3. Pierce, Frederick Clifton,, Foster genealogy : being the record of the posterity of Reginald Foster, an early inhabitant of Ipswich, in New England, whose genealogy is traced back to Anacher, great forrester of Flanders, who died in 837 A.D. ... (Chicago: F.C. Pierce, 1899, 1085 pgs.), p 1037.