Voices in the Wind

Voices in the Wind

A bit of background to set the scene:

My dad was military, so we were stationed across the USA from the time I was born until the 8th grade.  I've lived in Colorado, Alaska, Louisiana, and Texas.  Now my dad was born in Minnesota, and his sister has lived there her entire life.

Another thing I should mention is my family was very bad about writing and calling relatives to keep in touch.  Mom would get the birthday cards for family, and then never send it...

Lee Debe standing in a field

So one summer day, we (mom, dad, my aunt, and myself - I was still a child.) were out in the country in Texas, looking at old properties, and "treasure" hunting.  That was dad's thing.  He loved to go arrowhead hunting, and he would go out to the country, and walk and find the best-looking arrowheads, then take them home and make displays out of them.  I long for those days, just walking around with my dad, listening to his tales...he was an amazing storyteller, but I digress...

So we are out in the middle of nowhere, not a soul around, but the 4 of us, and we hear a lady's voice call "LEE.."   "LEE..."  Lee was my dad's name.  So dad hollers to my mom, "what do you want, Jean?" Mom tells hem she didn't call, and I knew better than to call my dad by his first name or he would have "tanned my hide".  So mom hollers to her sister Liz and asks if she was calling my dad.  She stated she didn't call him but heard someone calling him, and thought it was my mom.

The three of them had started back to the car, where I was standing, as the grass had started itching my legs.  They all 3 stopped about 10 feet from the car, as the voice returned "Lee..."  Lee..."  I hollered, OK that's creepy, let's get out of here, as any 10 year old would do.

We all piled in the car and they had a lengthy discussion about what had just happened, while I listened with great interest.


Fast forward to Christmas that year, we drive to Minnesota, to visit dad's family, and we are visiting his sister.  She and my mom and dad are talking and catching up when his sister says,

"You know Lee, we don't write or keep in contact very well, and I worry about you.  So sometimes when I'm overly worried about you, I'll lay on my bed, and I'll call you in my mind... You'll answer back telling me you are fine, and then I can go about my day." 

Well, my aunt would keep a log of when she would "call my dad" and mom had written down the date and time we heard the voice in the wind, and when they compared dates...

Dad's sister "called" my dad from her home in Minnesota,  on the same day the four of us were in Texas, out in the country in the middle of nowhere.


Mystery solved...(cue the Twilight Zone music, please.)

She did WHAT????

She Did What???

I recently posted about Margaret Stephenson Scott, the last witch to be hung in Salem, and I mentioned the other shocking thing I found out about another 10th great grandmother.  Well here's the rest of the story......

After finishing the research on Margaret, and being disappointed about her not being in my line, I moved on to the next line on my tree. 

While on ancestry I use the pedigree view (the horizontal tree icon) which only shows direct lines and it eliminates all the collateral lines for easier viewing. 

The next family in the pedigree view was John Bass and Ruth Alden (John Alden's daughter) so I quickly worked through their tree, and because they are so famous, and there are so many websites with info on them, I didn't feel like spending a lot of time on them at this time.

So off to the next family: the SUTTON/BISHOP family
William Sutton was my 9th great grandfather.  It was his great granddaughter who married into the line that ties back to the Scott family from my prior blog post. 

William married a woman named Damaris Bishop.  Such a pretty name.  She was born in 1646 in the Massachusetts colony to Richard Bishop (b. 1612 England), who arrived to the colonies around 1635, and found a wife in 1644.

2 girls from the 1640s

Richard's wife, Alice Martin was a recent widow with 2 small girls Abigail and Martha, by her first husband George Clark.  About two years into the marriage, Alice provides Richard with a daughter of his own, Damaris, my 9th great grandmother.

Alice is believed to have arrived in the colonies around 1620, and lost both her parents in the first winter, causing her to be orphaned. There is a lot of speculation about her parentage, which will take further research.

In 1646, Alice is around age 30, with 3 girls ages 4, 2, and a newborn.  It had to be very hard on her, but she continues caring for the 3 girls and her husband for 2 more years.  It is here that she snaps and does the unthinkable.

On 22 July 1648, Alice had a neighbor, Rachall Ramsden visiting her, when Alice asked Rachall to go and fetch some buttermilk.  Alice provided Rachall with a kettle to carry it in, so Rachall did as she was asked.  When Rachall returned, she found Alice "sad and dumpish", and she saw blood on the floor, by a ladder that led to a loft type area.  She asked Alice about the blood, and Alice pointed to the chamber area but said nothing.

 Rachall became afraid, and feared that Alice had killed her child.  She left to get help.  Later, several men arrived at the home, to discover Martha Clark, Alice's 4 year old middle child, dead from her throat being cut, and other knife wounds, and the knife was lying nearby.  

Gallows

Alice admitted to killing her daughter, and apologized, but couldn't remember committing the crime.  Alice was tried and convicted of murder, and sentenced to death by hanging.  She was put to death on 4 Oct 1648, less than 3 months after her crime.  She was the first woman hung for a crime, and the 5th person to be hung in the colony.

My hear aches for:

Martha, killed by her own mother, I pray she didn't suffer.

Damaris, losing her mother at the age of 2, she probably never remembered her,

Abigail, also losing her mother at the age of 6.

Questions

Questions about this horrific event are endless:

Where were Abigail and Demaris during this time? 

What ever became of Abigail? 
Richard was her step father, and his land and property were sold to help take care of Abigail, but no mention of help for Demaris.  

We know Demaris grew up and married, but not much else is known about Abigail. 

One "cousin" has found that in 1653 Abigail Clarke registered a branding mark for a half moon in the right ear, as her branding mark on a cow she owned.  

This cousin also speculates Hannah wound up living with John and Hannah Churchill.  John was the one ordered by the courts to sell of Richard's land and property.  

More research is needed....