Sarah Towne

Notes:

Sarah was a victim and survivor of the Salem witchcraft hysteria of 1692. Her name may be indexed as Sarah Towne, Sarah Bridges, Sarah Clayes, Sarah Cloyce, Clayce, Cloys, etc. She is called Sarah Cloyce in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story "Young Goodman Brown."

A note about Sarah's surname. Before Sarah was tried for witchcraft, the surname was spelled as Cloyes, Cloyce, etc. After Sarah escaped a near-certain execution, she and her husband moved to Danforth's Farms, where they were known as Peter and Sarah Clayes. The Sarah Clayes house still stands in Framingham. This memorial honors the name the couple chose for themselves: Clayes.

Sarah's date of birth is sometimes given as 11 Jan 1637, but a primary source has not been identified, and the year of birth might be 1636. She was baptized at Salem on 3 Sep 1648. Her exact date of death is unknown, and her grave is not marked.

Witchcraft Allegations

"Then Sarah Cloyse asked for water, and sat down as one seized with a dying fainting fit, and several of the afflicted fell into fits, and some of them cried out, 'Oh! Her spirit is gone to prison to her sister Nurse!'"
—"The Witchcraft delusion of 1692," NEHGR v 24, p 396

Sarah Towne, wife of Peter Clayes, was wrongly accused of witchcraft at Salem in 1692, and imprisoned. She escaped execution and moved to Danforth's Farms (incorporated in 1700 as Framingham). Her sisters, Rebecca Towne Nurse and Mary Towne Estey, were wrongly convicted of witchcraft, and were hanged.

In 1692, Danforth's Farms was owned by Thomas Danforth, one of the magistrates who imprisoned Sarah and deputy governor under Simon Bradstreet. Some historians believe that Thomas Danforth invited Sarah and members of her family to settle on his land as a gesture of reparation.

The third of three indictments against Sarah Clayes (Cloyce):

Essex in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England ss// Anno RR's & Reginae Gulielmi & Mariae Angliae &c Quarto Annoq'e Domini 1692

The Jurors for our Sover' Lord and Lady the King & Queen doe present that Sarah Cloyce Wife of Peter Cloyce of Salem -- In the County of Essex Husbandman -- In & upon the Ninth Day of the Inst September -- In the yeare aforesaid and Divers other Days and times as well before as after Certaine Detestable arts called Witch-craft and Sorceries Wickedly Mallitiously and felloniously hath used practised and Exercised At and in the Towne of Salem in the County of Essex -- aforesaid in upon and against one Rebeckah Towne of Topsfeild in the County of Essex aforesaid Single Woman -- by which said Wicked Acts the said Rebeckah Towne the Day & yeare -- aforesaid and divers other Days and times both before and after was and is Tortured Aflicted Consumed Pined Wasted and Tormented, and also for sundry other acts of Witchcraft by the said Sarah Cloyce -- Comitted and done be fore and Since that time against the Peace of our Sov'rn Lord and Lady the King & Queen theire Crowne and Dignity and the forme of the Stattute In that case made and Provided.

(Reverse)
Ignoramus
*Robert Payne
foreman

(Suffolk Court Records Case No. 2677, p 8)

Sarah married Edmund Bridge on 11 Jan 1659 in Topsfield, Essex County, Massachusetts. Edmund was born in 1636; died on 24 Jun 1682. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Sarah married Peter Clayes about 1683. Peter (son of John Cloyes and Abigail Mournings) was born on 27 May 1639 in Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts; died on 18 Jul 1708 in Framingham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]