The Naughty Wife - 52 Ancestors #49

Frances, the wife of immigrant William Hilton, had a fiery streak. She appeared in court in a number of times. Her relationships with her husbands and her neighbors seem especially tumultuous.

Frances first shows up in court in October 1649 when she was admonished for fighting and abusing her neighbors with her tongue. William Hilton was also in trouble for violating the Sabbath by carrying wood from the woods and also for failing to have food and drink on hand for strangers and inhabitants.

June 28, 1655: Frances was found guilty of "railing at her husband and saying he went with John his bastard to his three halfe penny whores and that he carried a cloak of profession for his knavery." Her accusation and language resulted in her sentence to be whipped - "twenty lashes upon the bare skin." This would be set aside if she remained on good behavior until the next country court and no more complaints were brought against her. However, if she had other complaints against her, the authorities would carry out the original sentence. Her husband died within the next year.

After William Hilton died, Frances married Richard White. Richard was the administrator of the estate of William Hilton. Richard and Frances had some conflict with Rice Jones. In 1656, Richard sued Jones for slandering Frances. Jones countersued Frances White for "causelessly abusing" the wife of Rice Jones with "opprobrious and disgraceful speeches." In 1657, Joan Andrews was presented for "threatening Goody White (Frances) at York in a profane manner saying that she would swear herself to the devil but she would be avenged of her."

This might have to do with the accusations of adultery leveled against Frances. Magdalene (Hilton) Wiggin was presented to the court for saying that she saw "William Moore and her mother Frances White" in an act of adultery. Magdalene was either the oldest daughter of Frances or perhaps the youngest daughter of William Hilton and his first wife.




In 1658, Richard & Frances White were back in court because they were fighting with one another. Then in 1660, they were in trouble for allowing men to be drunk in their home on the Sabbath and for not attending public meeting. They were also accused of "common lying and backbiting of their neighbors and slandering them and for their great disorder in falling out and fighting one with another and for beating company in their house and for beating Mistress Gunnison and Joseph Davesse, his servants and Richard White for being drunk several times." Richard White paid a fine for this case and they seem to stay out of court records for a long time. In 1675, they were once again in trouble for not attending public meeting.

William & Frances Hilton
William Hilton, Jr. - two lines from him

Mainwaring Hilton - brother of Hannah (below)
Ebenezer Hilton
Ebenezer Hilton, Jr.
Samuel Hilton
Catherine (Hilton) Churchill
Loann (Churchill) Rowe
Anna (Rowe) Hayes
Eva D. (Hayes) Yates
Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Hannah (Hilton) Shepard - sister of Mainwaring (above)
Thomas Shepard
Robert Shepard
David Shepard
Sarah (Shepard) Emmons
Laura (Emmons) Yates
Estes G. Yates
Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Murder In Agamenticus

Catherine Cornish and possibly Thomas Footman and/or John Hull, Jr. murdered Richard Cornish, Catherine's husband. He was found in the river with a head wound and a pole stuck in his side. His canoe had been filled with clay and sunk. He bled to death. My 12th great-grandfather, Roger Garde, presided over he trial. Thomas Footman is my 10th great-grandfather and her suspected lover. (See disclaimers below)

Catherine was indicted, tried, and hanged for her husband's murder. Catherine had been in trouble with the law before this incident. In 1634 she was brought before the court and then in 1638, she was charged with "incontinency." That's indulging in lust or having an uncontrolled sexual appetite. Catherine accused two men of committing adultery with her. The first, Edward Johnson, confessed. The second, Roger Garde, was a the mayor of Agamenticus (Old York, Maine) and she accused him after he presided over her trial and found her guilty. He denied it although John Winthrop still suspected him.

563-4 (10/4/1644):  "One Cornishe dwelling sometyme in weymouthe removed to Accomenticus, for more outward accommodation, & in the month last was taken up in the river, his head brused & a pole stickinge in his side, & his Canoe laden with Claye fonde sunke: his wife (beinge a leud woman & suspected to have fellowshippe with one Footman) comminge to her husbande, he bledd abundantly, & so he did also, when footman was brought to him: but no evidence could be fonde against him: then somethinge was discovered against the sone of mr Hull their minister & the woman was arrayned before the maior mr Roger Garde, & other of the Province of maine, & stronge presumptions came in against her whereupon she was condemned & executed:  she persisted in the denyall of the murder to the deathe, but confessed to have lived in Adulterye with diverse, she charged 2: specially: the said Gard the maior, & one Ed: Johnson [had been licensed by JW as an Indian trader in Aug. 1632, had lived in York since the early 1630s] , who confessed it openly at the type of her execution: but the maior denyed it: & it gave some likelyhood, that he was not guilty, because he had carried himselfe very zealously & impartially in discovery of the murder, but there might be skill in that, & he was but a Carnall man, & had no wife in the Contrye: & some wittnesse came in against him, of his acknowledgment to the woman &c:  (JW is John Winthrop)

Part of the evidence of her guilt is based on an old superstition that if the body of a murder victim was visited by the murderer, it would bleed profusely. 

The book, The Early Background of the Gard Family in America, says that the last days of Roger Gard's life "were made intolerable by the slanderous statements of his enemies." He died not long after the trial but "in despair" and suffering from a "broken heart." 

Old York Gaol - this one wasn't built until 1719 but no images of the original gaol exist and this one can still be visited if you're into old historical buildings like I am.

My preliminary research indicates that Roger Garde is my 12th great-grandfather. But it's a good story even if the documentation doesn't hold up to closer scrutiny in the future. 

Mary Garde & Arthur Bragdon

Arthur Bragdon, Jr & Lydia Twisden

Lydia Bragdon & Philip Babb

Joshua Babb & Deborah Bickford

Alice Babb & John Waterhouse

Lydia Waterhouse & Richard Garland

Alice Garland & Isaac Hayes

Richard Hayes & Rebecca ? 

Sydney Hayes & Aphia Delphina Cole

George H. Hayes & Anna Rowe

Eva Delphinia Hayes & Estes Yates

Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Thomas Footman - also based on preliminary research

Abigail Footman & Benjamin York

Elizabeth York & Job Judkins

Josiah Judkins & Hannah Huntoon

Philip Judkins & Miram Hunt

Moses Judkins & Aphia Perry

Betsy Judkins & Calvin Cole

Aphia Delphina Cole - see above for the rest of the line