Husband & Wife Descend from Witch and Bewitched

Lines of Descent from Participants in 1692 Salem Witchcraft Trials

Oct 16, 2009 Rosemary E. Bachelor

When compiling their genealogy Charles Austin and wife Carol found he descends from a confessed witch and she from the person who was bewitched.

Charles Ward Austin and Carol Lynne Robinson were wed in 1958. Carol’s family research came up with an interesting connection between their ancestors who were involved in the 1692 Salem witchcraft hysteria.

Carol’s genealogical research shows her husband descends from confessed witch Ann Foster, an elderly woman who died in prison in 1692. Carol’s own pedigree includes descent from Elizabeth (Phelps) Ballard, the woman Ann Foster supposedly bewitched.

Line of Descent from Elizabeth (Phelps) Ballard

When Elizabeth (Phelps) Ballard came down with a fever that wouldn’t go away, her husband and others decided she had been bewitched. They lived in Andover, MA, so he saddled up his horse and rode to nearby Salem, where he found two people believed to have the power of knowing if a witch had bewitched someone. Supposedly, they could look at the victim and identify the witch. Here is Carol’s line of descent from Elizabeth.

1. Elizabeth Phelps married Joseph Ballard in 1665
2. Elizabeth Ballard married George Abbott in 1689
3. Rev. Peter Abbott married Lydia Gilbert in 1730
4. Jesse Abbott married Sarah Wakefield in 1765
5. James Abbott married Huldah Sanford in 1792
6. Eliza Abbott married John Milliman ca. 1813
7. Charles Leander Milleman married Angelica Van Der Karr in 1844
8. Harriet Christina Milleman married Samuel H. Ames Jr. in 1862
9. Emily M. Ames married William H. Koontz in 1885
10. Charles C. Koontz married Edna M. Grayum in 1912
11. Dorothy A. Koontz married Walter L. Robinson Jr. in 1935
12. Carol L. Robinson married Charles W. Austin in 1958

Line of Descent from Confessed Witch Ann Foster

It was not Elizabeth Ballard who accused Ann Foster of witchcraft, but the two Salem residents who had named many other witches. In fact, they named as witches about 50 Andover residents. In this case, they fingered Ann Foster. Here is Charles Austin’s line of descent from Ann Foster.

1. Ann (maiden name unknown) married Andrew Foster ca. 1634
2. Andrew Foster married Mary Russ ca. 1662
3. Hannah Foster married Thomas Austin 1689-90
4. Zebadiah Austin married Sarah Gutterson in 1727
5. David Austin married Lydia Austin in 1760
6. Abiathar Austin married Mary Clark Bradley in 1798
7. Hosea Austin married Vienna Holland in 1828
8. John Orlando Austin married Jemima Sparks in 1868
9. Charles Peck Austin married Florence Holmes in 1898
10. Carl Philip Austin married Mary E. Hurlbut in 1926
11. Charles Ward Austin married Carol L. Robinson in 1958

(A related article gives more information about Ann Foster and why she may have confessed to witchcraft.)

Source: Lineage charts and related information given to this writer in 1992 by Carol (Robinson) Austin, who was then living in Garden Grove, CA.

The copyright of the article Husband & Wife Descend from Witch and Bewitched in Genealogy is owned by Rosemary E. Bachelor. Permission to republish Husband & Wife Descend from Witch and Bewitched in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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