Alice Alice

  General Notes:

That the early Strattons of Watertown possessed the same independence of thought which characterized other Watertown people, there is plenty of proof among the very early original papers in Cambridge and Boston.
On the records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, under date of May 13, 1648, is this enactment: "The corte beinge desirous that the same cource which has been taken in England for the discovering of witches, by watching, may be also taken here with the witch now in question & therefore doe order that a strict watch shall be set about her every night, & that her husband be confined to a private roome & watched also."
Felt, in his Ecclesiastical History of New England, says that this passage refers to Margaret Jones, wife of William Jones. She was executed as a witch June 15, 1648.*
Now, it seems that Samuel and Alice Stratton were not of the strictest Puritanic stripe, but were generous and liberal in their thinking, and their treatment of those who differed from them, and were among the few who cherished a leniency toward the so-called "witches." From the old, half-effaced court papers of that period we find that "Samuel Stratton said that Jones's wife Died wrongfully, and was no witch and that the magistrates would doe anything for bribes, and the members also." And that "Ales Stratton said that Goodwife Jones dyed wrongfully and was no more a witch than she was." Hugh Clarke of Water- town and Roxbury, Mr. Pemberton and wife Eleanor, and Samuel Durkin were of the same opinion. But these people had to pay for this "independence of thought."
At the county court held at Cambridge October 30, 1649, it was ordered that "Samuel Stratton, senior, and his wife should appear before the publique assembly at Watertown the next lecture Day to pay a fine of £5 and acknowledge their offense committed against ye commonwealth & court, and acknowledge ye justice & leniency of the court in dealing so mercifully with them." And in case they refused to make full acknowledgment they were to pay another fine of £5 more. The original paper containing this order is thus inscribed: "The partyes did acknowledge ye mercy of the magistrates sentence herein incerted [ ?] dealt with them but of the charges laid upon them they
are of the same mind." *
At the court at Cambridge April 2, 1650: "Goodman Stratton refusing to make full acknowledgement enjoyned by the court, is enjoyned to pay five pounds he is granted liberty for payment of ye same until the next 8th mo." No mention is made of Alice.f
And so it seems that Samuel Stratton incurred the displeasure of the court and magistrates, and paid the fine for the privilege of remaining "of the same mind." Like other Watertown men he had "strong convictions and the courage to maintain them." {



The last mention that has been found of Alice is 9 Nov. 1649.

Alice married Samuel Stratton, son of John Stratton and Alice Piggot, about 1623 in , , England. (Samuel Stratton was born in 1592 in Podrington, Bedfordshire, England and died on 25 Dec 1672 in Watertown, MA.)