Family member Hanged for being a Witch by Witchfinder General .

Dominic

Over the last 5 years before her passing my mother did a massive amount of family tree research.Her family are a very old N.E Essex /Suffolk family that lived predominantly in the Town of Manningtree and Village of Ramsey and their graves/parish records go back centuries .
 It turns out that an antecedant grandmother was "The widow Elizabeth Gooding of Manningtree " .She was the 4th Victim of the evil Witchfinder General ;Mathew Hopkin and was convicted during the Civil War at the specially convened Chelmsford Assizes.
 Although her supposed crime was consorting with the Devil and Suckling an Imp ;trumped -up of course she was also charged with wishing the death of two oxen having made confession to Hopkin under torture and "watching "
 Hopkin was self appointed as Witchfinder General and responsible for the execution of 400 men and women in 3 years -not only did he charge parish councils huge fees but assumed responsibility for the disposal of the Estate of the executed which he swindled.He picked on spinsters,maiden aunts and widows as they were easy prey with no or little family to fight their cause.
 We were Goodings on my mother's side until approx 100 years ago.
This was in the 1640s .......wow ,what a terrible world it must have been.

Emp_Fab

Wow.  That's spooky.  Today I was in a doctor's surgery in a village near Cheltenham that is centuries old.  The whole village is straight out of the history books.  Anyway - I had cause to be shown around the building and it's all wattle and daub walls, two feet thick, huge old beams, low ceilings (people were shorter back then apparently), and as I'm ducking my way along one of the internal corridors I spot this....   It's the builder's initials hand-carved into one of the roof beams...



The date is 1637.

I ran my fingers over the letters and wondered who carved them, what they were like, what their life was like when Charles I was on the throne.  Whoever carved out their initials with a chisel on this very beam at this exact spot where I was standing was from another planet almost.  A world so unlike ours that it may as well be.  They are gone now.... long long gone, yet the man's carving is still there - I ran my fingers over it and felt a connection somehow through the centuries.  I doubt he would have thought for a second as he carved out the little serifs on the 'H' that in 380 years time, his work would still be there and a stranger from the future would be looking at it and wondering who he was.

boogieman

Emp_Fab said:

Wow.  That's spooky.  Today I was in a doctor's surgery in a village near Cheltenham that is centuries old.  The whole village is straight out of the history books.  Anyway - I had cause to be shown around the building and it's all wattle and daub walls, two feet thick, huge old beams, low ceilings (people were shorter back then apparently), and as I'm ducking my way along one of the internal corridors I spot this....   It's the builder's initials hand-carved into one of the roof beams...



The date is 1637.

I ran my fingers over the letters and wondered who carved them, what they were like, what their life was like when Charles I was on the throne.  Whoever carved out their initials with a chisel on this very beam at this exact spot where I was standing was from another planet almost.  A world so unlike ours that it may as well be.  They are gone now.... long long gone, yet the man's carving is still there - I ran my fingers over it and felt a connection somehow through the centuries.  I doubt he would have thought for a second as he carved out the little serifs on the 'H' that in 380 years time, his work would still be there and a stranger from the future would be looking at it and wondering who he was.

J R Hartley by the looks of it. 

@Dominic must be fascinating to know that much about your ancestors. I was actually watching the Witchfinder  General film on the Horror channel the other night. Sure it's a pretty hokey and very dated film but the story behind it is grim stuff when you realise it's all real. 

professorben

Prob a couple of young immigrant lads leaving drop off instructions for their mates...

fretmeister

Could you give the Witch Finder General my mother-in-law's address please?

Drew_TNBD

Very interesting. Goes to show that charlatans using the cover of justice have always existed.

RandallFlagg

"Suckling an Imp" ?

She sounds like my kind of gal.

Sporky

You should track down the witchfinder's descendants and demand reparations.

strtdv

Thread title reads like a Daily Mail headline

Bridgehouse

strtdv said:

Thread title reads like a Daily Mail headline

"Witchfinder General found on Moon"

Dominic

It was meant to .........in a tongue in cheek way but at least I didn't tell you how much my Ancestors house was worth or that she had a Lesbian cousin who was actually nothing to do with the story !

JohnPerry

RandallFlagg said:

"Suckling an Imp" ?

She sounds like my kind of gal.

Is it still illegal? 

Asking for a friend

Dominic

Bridgehouse said:

strtdv said:

Thread title reads like a Daily Mail headline

"Witchfinder General found on Moon"

That is more Sunday Sport together with a photo of a naked witch 

Myranda

Dominic said:

It was meant to .........in a tongue in cheek way but at least I didn't tell you how much my Ancestors house was worth or that she had a Lesbian cousin who was actually nothing to do with the story !

I took the title to mean it was recent... 

Reverend

I listen to Witchfinder General a lot.

Dominic

Myranda said:

Dominic said:

It was meant to .........in a tongue in cheek way but at least I didn't tell you how much my Ancestors house was worth or that she had a Lesbian cousin who was actually nothing to do with the story !

I took the title to mean it was recent... 

No, we haven't had a witch- burning around these parts for months 

Mick

Dominic said:

 We were Goodings on my mother's side until approx 100 years ago.
This was in the 1640s .......wow ,what a terrible world it must have been.

Used to go to school with a Gooding, at Manningtree High school. 

Dominic

Wow, must be some very distant relative ......it's not an especially common name and Manningtree / Mistley is a small area 

boogieman

I went to school with a guy called Dave Gooding. 

Emp_Fab

I used to watch The Goodies.

darthed1981

What a great opportunity to post this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaUkt59vY1Q

A modern version...