THOMASVILLE- The John Lee of Nansemond Chapter, Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century met at The Plaza Restaurant for its January meeting. During the meeting, new officers were elected and delegates to the annual Georgia Society Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century Conference to be held in March in historic Madison, Georgia.

An informative and interesting program was presented by Kathy Mills, Chapter Vice President, on the topic, “Dorothy Goode and the Massachusetts Witch Trials, 1692-1693.” Over two hundred people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Twenty of those were executed by hanging and one man was tortured to death. Fifteen hundred people were involved in the trials including jurors, marshals, and constables.

The instigators of the trials were some young Puritan girls accusing three women of being witches because of the girls’ illnesses.

Dorothy Goode was born in 1688 to William and Sarah Goode, a very poor family. Sarah went about begging and if she were refused help, she would go away muttering under her breath. The accusers took this muttering as being spells cast upon people. Sarah was arrested and imprisoned in the Boston jail. Shortly after her arrest, Sarah’s four year old daughter, Dorothy, was arrested, made to testify during which she said both she and her mother were witches. Dorothy was sent to jail and was there for thirty-four weeks. She was released when the trials were nearly over. Her mother, Sarah, at the age of thirty, was not so fortunate, she was one of five women hanged in 1692.

The conditions in the jails were deplorable, with dirt floors, lice infestations, dark, dismal, damp, and stank of tobacco and dung. They were hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Prisoners were shackled and chained to walls. The conditions were so bad that at least five people arrested died in the jail. The prisoners were charged for their keep and in today’s money, the fee was $15.96 per day.

Dorothy was terribly traumatized after her ordeal and losing her mother. Her father could no longer care for her and he appealed to the Salem Selectmen for monetary assistance. She was passed from one family to another from 1712-1738. Apparently, Dorothy had a child and named her Dorothy, Junior and was to be ordered out of Salem. At this time, Nathaniel Putnam agreed to care for Dorothy. About 1725, Dorothy had a son and named him William, for her father. She continued to be passed around from pillar to post. The last reference to Dorothy in Salem records was made in September, 1738. In August, 1761, a notice was published in the New London Summary that a woman, identified as Dorothy Goode, was found dead in a bog meadow in New London, Connecticut. Perhaps Dorothy’s two children lived to adulthood and possibly had children of their own.

There is a heritage organization that descendants of witches may join called Associated Daughters of Early American Witches and the symbol of the organization is a black swan.

Mills also presented the Colonial Minute on “The Myth or Truth of Betsy Ross Making the First American Flag.” The flag is made up of thirteen five point stars on a field of blue (canton) and thirteen alternating red and white stripes, all symbols of the original colonies. June 14, 1777, the Second Continental Congress passed the first Flag Resolution, officially adopting the “Stars and Stripes” as the national flag. America still celebrates June 14th as Flag Day.