Individual Details
Anne Alcock
(Abt 1617 - 3 Dec 1692)
During the life of her husband Ann no doubt contributed greatly to their estates success. Her husband's generosity to her in his will showed his esteem. At his death, she inherited three cows; twelve sheep; supplies of grain, wood and cider; and a life interest in half the family home whose other half was lived in by their son Abraham and his family (Roach, 199).
Her widowhood only lasted seven years though before she became a victim of the witchcraft craze that ran through Salem village. At first she denied the charges of witchcraft, but Ann did not have friends of influence to give her aid. Her sons spoke of her piety, but her very religion which taught woman of being naturally guilty of almost all sin worked against her. Being weak of mind and body she believed anything suggested and confessed of evil doings. Her stories were confirmed by her daughter Mary Lacey and her granddaughter Mary Lacey, Jr. who were also accused of witchcraft. Ann was examined four times, on July 15, 16, 18, and 21. During questioning Ann said she rode on a stick with Martha Carrier to Salem Village (now Danvers) and how when the stick broke she clung to the neck of Martha. She said they met three hundred witches at Salem Village. Ann confessed that she had bewitched the hog of John Lovejoy, caused the death of one of Andrew Allen's children, and made another child sick, and "hurt" Timothy Swan. She said that she made "poppets", images of the people she hurt, out of rags, and either stuck pins in them, tied knots, or burnt them in the fire. Interestingly, though her daughter accused her mother of bewitching her, Ann would not confess that her daughter was a witch. She was condemned to be hanged but spent twenty-one weeks in prison, dying there before her execution was carried out..
Her son was forced to pay the keeper of the jail sixteen pounds and ten shillings before he could have the dead body of his mother. It wasn't until about 20 years later that this sum was restored to him and further restitution made to his sister by the Salem authorities. Ann Foster's son's petition read:
To the Honorable committee now setting at Salem:
Whereas my mother Ann Foster of Andover suffered imprisonment 21 weeks, and upon her Tryall was condemned for supposed witchcraft upon such evidence as is now Generally thought Insufficient and died in prison, I being well persuaded of my mother's innocency of the crime for which she was condemned, I humbly desire that the attainder may be taken off. The charges and expenses for my mother during her imprisonment is as follows: The money which I was forced to pay the keeper before I could have the dead body of my mother to bury her £12 10S, money and provisions expended while she was in prison, £4. Total expense, £16.10S.
This sum was received by her son and his sister, Mary Lacey, received £18 10S, due to her husband's, Lawrence Lacey's, petition.
In 1711 an act by the court of Massachusetts Bay held in Boston on October 17th reversed twenty-two people convicted of witchcraft, among them Anne Foster and Mary Lacey (Roach, 384).
Her widowhood only lasted seven years though before she became a victim of the witchcraft craze that ran through Salem village. At first she denied the charges of witchcraft, but Ann did not have friends of influence to give her aid. Her sons spoke of her piety, but her very religion which taught woman of being naturally guilty of almost all sin worked against her. Being weak of mind and body she believed anything suggested and confessed of evil doings. Her stories were confirmed by her daughter Mary Lacey and her granddaughter Mary Lacey, Jr. who were also accused of witchcraft. Ann was examined four times, on July 15, 16, 18, and 21. During questioning Ann said she rode on a stick with Martha Carrier to Salem Village (now Danvers) and how when the stick broke she clung to the neck of Martha. She said they met three hundred witches at Salem Village. Ann confessed that she had bewitched the hog of John Lovejoy, caused the death of one of Andrew Allen's children, and made another child sick, and "hurt" Timothy Swan. She said that she made "poppets", images of the people she hurt, out of rags, and either stuck pins in them, tied knots, or burnt them in the fire. Interestingly, though her daughter accused her mother of bewitching her, Ann would not confess that her daughter was a witch. She was condemned to be hanged but spent twenty-one weeks in prison, dying there before her execution was carried out..
Her son was forced to pay the keeper of the jail sixteen pounds and ten shillings before he could have the dead body of his mother. It wasn't until about 20 years later that this sum was restored to him and further restitution made to his sister by the Salem authorities. Ann Foster's son's petition read:
To the Honorable committee now setting at Salem:
Whereas my mother Ann Foster of Andover suffered imprisonment 21 weeks, and upon her Tryall was condemned for supposed witchcraft upon such evidence as is now Generally thought Insufficient and died in prison, I being well persuaded of my mother's innocency of the crime for which she was condemned, I humbly desire that the attainder may be taken off. The charges and expenses for my mother during her imprisonment is as follows: The money which I was forced to pay the keeper before I could have the dead body of my mother to bury her £12 10S, money and provisions expended while she was in prison, £4. Total expense, £16.10S.
This sum was received by her son and his sister, Mary Lacey, received £18 10S, due to her husband's, Lawrence Lacey's, petition.
In 1711 an act by the court of Massachusetts Bay held in Boston on October 17th reversed twenty-two people convicted of witchcraft, among them Anne Foster and Mary Lacey (Roach, 384).
Events
| Birth | Abt 1617 | England | |||
| Marriage | Abt 1637 | England - Andrew Foster |  |  | |
| Death | 3 Dec 1692 | in jail charged with witchcraft - Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, British America | |
Families
| Spouse | Andrew Foster (1579 - 1685) |
| Child | Andrew Foster Jr. (1640 - 1697) |
| Child | Hannah Foster (1643 - 1689) |
| Child | Sarah Foster (1642 - 1697) |
| Child | Abraham Foster (1648 - 1723) |
| Child | Mary Foster (1652 - 1702) |
| Father | George Alcock ( - ) |
| Mother | Anne Hooker ( - ) |
Notes
Marriage
Not much is known about Andrew Foster's life in England. Pierce feels he married Anne before 1639 (1032). It is probably that Ann is his second or later wife as he was in his fifties when he married her.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 1032 (m. in England, Anne UNK, d. 3 Dec 1962).
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 1032.