Genealogical notes of Barnstable families - citizen hylbom blog

102 GENEALOGICAL NOTES OF BARNSTABLE FAMILIES.
alone in the woods, seemed in that superstitions age to carry
with it the evidence that she was in league with the devil.
It is unnecessary to add that such reasoning is unconclusive ;
the superstitious never examine facts, or inquire respecting
the soundness of the opinions they adopt.
When Mrs. Blachford was charged with being a witch,
she always took offence, and resented the charge as false and
malicious. Her children would not allow any one with impunity
to tell them that their mother was a witch. Even
her grandson Uriah, who died about fifteen years ago, aged
over eighty, was very sensitive on the subject, and the man
who dared to tell him his grandmother was a witch, he would
never forget or forgive.
The days of witchcraft are now numbered and past,
the few who still believe in it cautiously conceal their opinions.
It is fortunate for the reputation of the Plymouth
Colony that no one therein was ever convicted, condemned,
or punished for that crime. Our rulers had the good sense
to punish the complainant in the first case that arose, instead
of the person complained of. If a different decision had then
been made, a thousand complaints would have arisen and
similar acts to those which disgrace the annals of Salem and
Massachusetts, would now disgrace the history of Plymouth
and Barnstable.
The ashes of Elizal)eth Blachford rest quietly in the
grave-yard near the East Church. No phoenix spirit has
arose therefrom to disturb the equanimity of the living, or
disturb the repose of the dead. Neither ghosts nor hobgoblins
are seen to dance over her grave, or sigh because the
manes of the last witch have fled.
The family of William Blachford and his wife Elizabeth
Lewis, born in Barnstable :
I. Peter, born May 10, 1729.
II. Lydia, April 5, 1734; died young.
III. Benjamin, June 11, 1738, married 1761, Sai-ah Godfrey
of Yarmouth, and had a family.
IV. Kemember, March 3, 1739-40. married Luke Butler
of Nantucket, Oct. 9. 1760.
V. Mercy, April 13, 1742.
VI. David, June 17, 1744, married Elizabeth Ellis of
Provincetown, 1765. He died Nov. 16, 1822, ao-ed
78.
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