The Ulrich/Baker Ancestral Lines

“The loss so dear, one cannot make up”    -Ephraim Wildes(7x Great Uncle, Baker line)

In the Baker line,  one married couple (Benjamin and Elizabeth) were children survivors of the religious hysteria of the Salem Witch trials.  They witnessed and experienced the torment, trials and local terrorism of their communities. In one case, the harassment and trials went on for decades. The trials and accusations – both in public and in the courts – were from their own family.  They witnessed the hangings of their own family members, some of them arrested themselves and had to break out of jail. 

Our own family CAUSED much of the trauma of the Salem Witch Trials and our own family also suffered death and dislocation due to the accusations of witchcraft and demonic possession.

Therefore, these two children, pulled together by the similar experience, married and left Massachusetts for Connecticut, thereby beginning our families 110 year trek across the United States, until they settled in Oregon.

8x Grandparents: Family 1 (Wildes-Gould/Averell)

John Wildes Sr & Priscilla (Gould) (FS L18Q-3BR, MQDZ-84P)

Children:

John Jr (1648-1677)

Johnathan (1650-1676) accused of ‘strange behavior”

Sarah Bishop (1651-1725) Arrested, escaped with spouse after 87 days

Elizabeth (1654-1723) Our ancestor

Phoebe Day (1656-1723) Arrested, yet further info not known

Priscilla (1658-1688)

Martha (1660-1685)

Nathan (1662-1663)

Elizabeth (?-1723)

2nd Marriage: John Wildes Sr & Sarah (Averell) HUNG on July 29, 1692 (FS LZV8-2HX)

Ephraim (half-brother)

3rd Marriage: John Wildes & Mary (FS L2VH-TYN) Widow of George Jacobs Sr., hung on August 19, 1692

Priscilla Wildes was from a prestigious and powerful group of families in Salem, the Gould-Putnam families.   

John & Priscilla Wildes had 9 children, 1 died in infancy.   They lived in a neighboring town to Salem, in Topsfield.  There were disputes over boundaries between these two towns and in one occurrence John Wildes Sr testified in a case resulting in favor of a border dispute for Topsfield, not Salem.  He also testified in treason trial against his brother-in-law, Lieutenant John Gould.  It was the wife of this Lieutenant Gould that the first accusation of a witch surfaced against the second wife of John Wildes, who he married soon after Priscilla’s death. The Lieutenant’s wife backed down from the accusation when John Wildes, and Sarah (Averell’s) brother testified in her favor and threatened to sue for slander.  The accuser took the stand and denied the accusation and denied any hard feelings against Sarah (Averell). 

The accusers: Priscilla Wildes’ first cousin had 2 adult children, Thomas and Deacon Edward Putnam and 2 of their children were that main accusers and are regarded as main characters in the accusations, trials and hangings. 

John Wildes Sr was also well-known but not in the same way as the Gould-Putnam family.  He was at times known as “Old Father Wildes” when he took up being preacher for a church for 1 year while they searched for a pastor.  He was active in law enforcement, in legal disputes, etc.  A seemingly good fit with the Gould-Putnam family.  This ended with the death of Priscilla and John’s remarrying 7 months later.  All historical notes of his re-marrying mention the ‘short’ timeframe, yet it should be considered that John had 8 children aged 14 yrs to 1 yrs old, and a ‘mother’ would have been needed.

Historically, all records also clarify that John’s new wife, Sarah (Averell) was known for being a ‘non-conformist in Puritan Massachusetts’, for being ‘glamorous and forward’.  She had previously been flogged for fortification with a single man in 1663 and charged with wearing a silk scarf.  This description would be one-sided if it were not mention that in her trials for being a witch, her family – children – husband all defended her Christian beliefs. 

The Gould children accused Sarah (Averell) Wildes of causing them illnesses, satanic convulsions and visions. Nevertheless, there were plenty of more mundane conflicts that the family had with Sarah prior to these accusations. A very typical 1600 conflict erupted with the two families over the “sharing a plow”, Sarah was said to be abrupt and refused to cede to the wealthy and powerful Gould family. Their dislike of her, and her contentious interactions with them over the years were lengthy.  A point of interpretation of these events could realistically be: Perhaps she was simply a Mother of 8 step children suddenly, plus one of her own (named Ephraim), who was dealing with these responsibilities, as well as a contentious family of John’s of in-laws. 

Sarah’s son, Ephraim, grew up to be the town treasurer and constable and therefore in this time was one of the law enforcers that had to arrest people who were accused of crimes, or ‘social misdeeds’.  It is here that another possible source of contention occurred for Sarah. 

Ephraim arrested Sarah Good, who was also eventually hung as a witch.  She was outspoken and furious for being arrested, she piled onto the Gould’s accusations of Sarah and added new ones against Ephraim’s mother. Clearly an act of – understandable – vengeance, against the wrongs being done to her. 

Another accuser of Sarah (Averell) Wildes was a family who Sarah’s son, Ephraim, had been engaged to marry, but called it off.   In this situation, the mother, the sister, and the grandmother of Ephraim’s jilted fiancée became new accusers. 

On April 21, 1692, Sarah (Averell) Wildes, and step-daughter Sarah Wildes Bishop (our 7x Great Aunt) and her husband were arrested with many others.  Ephraim arrested some of the accused, a Town Marshall arrested Ephraim’s Mother. 

Sarah was transferred for a month to Boston, where she was not feed or cared for, John Wildes and son Ephraim travelled once or twice a week in order to care for her.  It was later that John Wildes referenced this care that Ephraim gave to his mother, that John left all his belongings to Ephraim in his Last Will and Testament.

The trial was held in conjunction with other accused, one being Susannah (North) Martin.  (Who will be covered in the next section).

In the 15 months of accusations, trials, acquittals, then more accusations, and more trials… two more of John Wildes children (who he had with Priscilla) were accused of being witches.  The older sister (Sarah) and younger sister (Phoebe) to our ancestor, Elizabeth, were accused.  Sarah and husband Edward were arrested and taken to Boston, where after 87 days were able to escape and went into hiding.  Phoebe was accused, but there is no record of a trial or an official outcome. 

Ephraim testified in his Mother’s defense: “As for my Mother, I never saw any harm upon any such ‘cout’ (bad action) in word nor action as she is now accused for she always instructed me in the Christian religion and the ways of God ever since I was able to take instructions, and so I leave it all to this honored court to consider it.”  She was hung 7 days later on July 29, 1692. 

Sarah (Averell) Wildes was born in England and came with her parents to America when she was between 7-10 yrs old (approx. 1635).  She was hung in her new country in 1692 at 65 years of age.  

She was exonerated by the Massachusetts General Court in 1710.  Ephraim was awarded 14 pounds as restitution.  His response: “the loss of so dear a friend… cannot be made up.”.

John Wildes remarried a third time to Mary Jacob, at an old age, a widow of George Jacobs Sr. who was hung in Salem for witchcraft few months later, on August 19, 1692.

8x Grandparents: Family 2 (Jones-North/Martin)

Thomas Jones of Gloucester (The Immigrant) & Mary North

Child: Benjamin Jones Sr of Enfield (1651-1718) Our ancestor

Mary North came as an immigrant with her sister from England. They arrived in America about 1639, Mary (22yrs), Susannah (18yrs).  

Mary married Thomas Jones of Gloucester (our 8x Great Grandfather) and Susannah, her sister, married George Martin.  Due to Susannah’s ultimate death by hanging, her story is quite well documented.  Her sister’s Mary (our ancestor) is less so.

The story of Susannah (North) Martin is considerably different than Sarah (Averell) Wildes.  

Susannah married George Martin and had 8 children.  In 1669 she was accused of being a witch, that one of her children was a bastard and another an ‘imp’.  The family responded with a lawsuit of slander and some accusations were retracted, but the witchcraft accusation went to a higher court before it was dismissed.  

Susannah and George had several years of lawsuits regarding inheritances, all went against them.  When George died in 1686, he left Susannah a poor widow with little means financially or in terms of power.

In 1692, 23 years after her initial accusation, Susannah was arrested and accused again of witchcraft – of luring others to witchcraft and for causing the possession of a herd of ox to run to river and drown themselves.  It is stated that Susannah was very eloquent, appeared very ‘pious’ and knowledgeable of scripture, which she quoted throughout her trial.   It was in relation to this trial, that the children accusers (one of which was Ann Putnam, the granddaughter of John and Priscilla (Gould) Putnam) would throw fits or behave as possessed when Susannah would enter the courtroom.  Which Susannah responded with laughter.  Which was viewed as contemptuously evil. 

Susannah was examined physically on two occasions to find a “witches tit or physical protuberance which might give milk to a familiar.”  (Wikipedia). No deformities were found, but the court records show their comments that Susannah, 71 years old, had ‘in the morning her nipples were found to be full of milk”, but by afternoon “her breasts were slack, as if milk had already been given to someone or something.”  

Susannah was hung the same day as Sarah Averell Wildes. The nephew of Susannah and the step daughter of Sarah, became our ancestors: Benjamin and Elizabeth Jones.

Both of these families had come to America with hopes for a new and prosperous beginning and both families were subjected to religious hysteria for years, which they fought against and only partially survived. 

Benjamin and Elizabeth (Wildes) Jones began the migration out of Massachusetts to Connecticut.  Their descendants stayed in Connecticut for two generations, where their granddaughter married Samuel Baker and then the family moved onto Illinois.  Their grandson was the gypsy-like Eli Baker (see the HOTELIER) who moved from New York – Minnesota – Iowa and eventually, and finally, to Silverton, Oregon.

Note: these fotos and wax museum likeness’ of Sarah (Averell) Wildes are greatly incorrect, she was not a young maiden, she was 65 years old.