Elizabeth Jackson Howe

Category: Accused, Brought to Trial, Convicted, Executed

Ingalls Family Connection: Extended relationship through marriage: Elizabeth Ingalls (Henry, Sr.’s sister)

Biographical Sketches of Elizabeth Jackson

” Elizabeth Jackson Howe (1635?-1692) – Born to William and Deborah Jackson in England in about 1635, she was little more than a year old when her parents immigrated to the United States. Upon their arrival, the couple settled in Rowley, Massachusetts. By the age of seven, Elizabeth was already described as a maid who worked in the Reverend Ezekiel Rogers house. When she was 21 years-old, she married James Howe in April 1658, who came from the nearby village of Ipswich. The couple would have five children and resided in Topsfield, Massachusetts. Though her husband James was blind, they seemed to have been successful farmers. Elizabeth was known to have been an assertive personality, which probably made her unpopular in the pious community. Elizabeth’s problems first started in 1682 when she was 45 years-old, at which time a young girl in the community named Hannah Trumble started having fits, in which she sometimes accused Elizabeth Howe of using witchcraft to make her ill. Though nothing came of this accusation, the damage was done and Elizabeth’s reputation was tarnished. Afterwards, she was refused admittance to Ipswich church.
Ten years later, during the witch frenzy of 1692, Elizabeth would find herself accused again. On May 28, 1692, a warrant was issued for her arrest for witchcraft acts committed against Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, and others of Salem Village. She was arrested the next day by Topsfield Constable Ephraim Wildes and taken to the home of Lieutenant Nathaniel Ingersoll to be examined. During her examination, Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcott, two of her main accusers, fell into fits and when Elizabeth looked at Mary Warren, she violently fell down. Ann Putnam Jr. and Susannah Sheldon would also testify against her. When asked how she pled to the charges made against her, Elizabeth Howe boldly responded, “If it was the last moment I was to live, God knows I am innocent of anything of this nature”. On June 1st, testimony was taken from the Perely family of Ipswich, Massachusetts, who claimed that their ten-year-old daughter had been afflicted by Howe. The child complained of being pricked by pins and sometimes fell into fits. In their testimony against Howe, they quoted their daughter as saying, “I could never afflict a dog as Goody Howe afflicts me.”
On June 30th, Elizabeth was one of five women arraigned in the first Salem witch trial. During the proceeds, the Reverend Samuel Parris’ slave, John Indian cried out that she had bitten him and he fell into a fit. Despite strong support from family and friends, she and the other four women tried that day were all found guilty. On July 19, 1692, Elizabeth Jackson Howe, Rebecca Towne Nurse, Sarah Solart Poole Good, and Susannah North Martin were hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Towne and buried in a nearby crevice.”

Elizabeth Howe. Legends of America. (2019). Retrieved February 4, 2019, from https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ma-witches-h/

Here are links to additional biographical sketches of Elizabeth Howe:

• Elizabeth Howe. History of American Women. (2019, September 2). Retrieved from http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2008/05/elizabeth-jackson-howe.html
• Elizabeth Howe. Wikipedia. (2019, August 21). Retrieved September 3, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Howe
• Elizabeth Howe. Wikipedia. (2019, August 21). Retrieved September 3, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Howe
• Harris, G. The Witchcraft Trial of Elizabeth Howe in Historic Ipswich. Retrieved February 15, 2018, from https://historicipswich.org/2014/01/26/the-witchcraft-trial-of-elizabeth-howe/
• Lewis, Jone Johnson. (2019, July 3). Profile of Elizabeth How, Persecuted Salem Witch. Elizabeth Howe. History of American Women. (2019, September 2). Retrieved from http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2008/05/elizabeth-jackson-howe.html

Primary Sources on Elizabeth Howe’s Arrest, Examination, Trial

• (1911). A Short History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Trials, Illustrated by a Verbatim Report of the Trial of Mrs. Elizabeth Howe; A Memorial of Her . Map and Half Tone Illustrations. Perley. Original text available at https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofsa00perlrich/page/n4 Also available at Amazon in Kindle format. $3.99
• Salem Witchcraft Papers No. 072: Elizabeth How Executed July 19, 1692. Retrieved January 1, 2017, from http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n72.html