Anna (Higginson)
Also Known As: "Ann", "Dolever"
Birthdate: October 11, 1652
Birthplace: Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut
Death: 1738
Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts
Believed to be buried here with the Boshop's committee members
NO STONE
The committee members were Abiah Carpenter, John Robinson, and Daniel Carpenter.
Daughter of Rev. John Higginson and Sarah Higginson
Wife of William Dolliver
Mother of Sarah Dolliver; Paul Dolliver and Peter Dolliver
Sister of Capt. John Higginson; Sarah Wharton; Thomas Higginson; Francis Higginson; Henry Higginson; and Nathaniel Higginson
NOTES: THANKS!
https://www.geni.com/people/Anna-Dolliver/6000000004237821251
Ann Higginson, daughter of Reverend John Higginson and Sarah Whitfield of Salem Town, Massachusetts,
was born 11 October 1652 at Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut;
and died at the age of 86 in 1738 at Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts.
On 4 October 1682, she married William Dolliver (17 August 1656 Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts - c.1716) at Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts, with whom she had three children.
Court records of 1683 show that complaints were made against William Dolliver for being idle and neglecting his family.
In fact, he eventually left the Massachusetts Bay Colony, abandoning Ann and her children with no means of support. Ann was forced to return to her father's home in Salem where he and the town supported them.
Her social standing was compromised and her mental state declined.
She was 45 years old and already in shaky mental health, when she was arrested and tried for "Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren and Susannah Sheldon" on 6 June 1692. Dolliver was accused of wanting to kill her own father out of spite, and of being blamed by the specter of a dead child for its murder.
When asked, "Mrs. Dolliver, did you never act witchcraft?" she answered, "Not with the intent to hurt anybody with it."
She admitted to having done witchcraft in 1678 to protect herself and her family, but denied that she afflicted her accusers in 1692.
Although little documentation about Ann Dolliver's trial has survived, it appears that she was released due to insufficient evidence or because of her questionable mental condition.
Her life did not improve after the trials ended.
In a letter to her brother written in August 1693, her father described her as suffering from "overbaring malloncolly, crazed in her understanding."
In 1705 she was living with the family of Edward and Sarah Bishop of Rehoboth, formerly of Salem Village.
The children probably continued to live with their grandfather, who mentioned them in his will.
Marriage and Children
William Dolliver (1656 - c.1716) married 4 October 1682 Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts
Peter Dolliver (1680 Gloucester, Massachusetts - 1764)
Sarah Dolliver
Paul Dolliver
Notes
Alternate year of birth: 1651
Recorded year of marriage (1682) conflicts with date of birth of first child, Peter Dolliver (1680)
Sources and Further Reading
Babson, John J. History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, including the Town of Rockport. Gloucester, MA: P. Smith, 1972. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed; the Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1974. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692. New York: Da Capo, 1977. Print.
Buckstad, Kristin. "Ann Dolliver." Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature, An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia. Spring 2001.
Burr, George Lincoln. "A MODEST INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF WITCHCRAFT, BY JOHN HALE, 1702." Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1914. 397--. Print.
Courtroom examination of Ann Dolliver. Boston Public Library Department of Rare Books and Documents.
Higginson, Thomas W. Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson, First "teacher" in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Salem, Massachusetts and Author of "New-Englands Plantation" (1630) (1910). Massachusetts: Private, 1910. Internet Archive. University of California: California Digital Library, 1 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Norton, 1987. Print.
Reis, Elizabeth. Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America. Page 2
Roach, Marilynne K. The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. Page 164. "... about ten years earlier she [Ann Higginson] had married the improvident mariner William Dolliver, who quickly spent most of her money. After he left for parts unknown, she and her children returned to her father's Salem household ..."
Swan, Marshall. "The Bedevilment of Cape Ann (1692)." Essex Institute Historical Collections 117:3 (July 1981): 153-177.
Upham, C. W. "Letter from Rev. John Higginson to his son Nathaniel Higginson." Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Series Three. 8(1839):182-186.
Links
Subject: [HIGGASON Wiliam Dolliver and Ann Higginson] 2003
Accepted Ancestors, The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches
Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver
(Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver )
(HAWTHORNE IS NATHANIEL'S ANCESTOR)
Essex ss. To the Sheriffe of the County of Essex or his deputie
or Constable in Salem or Beverley
You are in theire Majest's names, hereby required to apprehend
and forthwith bring before us Ann Dalibar the wife of Wm Dalibar of
Glocester who stands Charged this day with haveing Committed
sundry acts of Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren & susannah Shelden to the hurt of theire Bodys in order to her Examination Re-
lateing to the premises faile not Dated Salem June the 6'th 1692
P us
*Bartho Gedney
*John. Hathorne
*Jonathan. Corwin
Just'es of the peace
(Reverse) In obediance to this warant I have aprehended the person
with in Named and brought her to the plase apoynted in order to her
examination as atest my hand
*Peter Osgood constabell for the town of Salem
(Reverse) Dalibar
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 53 )
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124
( Elizabeth Nicholson v. Ann Dolliver )
Elizabeth the wife of Edmond Nicolasson will testify; that coming
to the house of Samuell Dallabar ; Peter Pitford and the wife of the
said Dallabar. were in discourse before the dore in the yard; and
in theire discourse she heard Peter Pitford say: I mervaile how
that old witch knowes every thing that is done in my house; Re- becca the wife of Samuell Dallabar replied oh Peter doe not say soe;
for I believe she is no Witch; soe she came a way and left Peter Pitford and the wife of Samuell Dallabar in discourse
Elizabeth Nicolasson
(Reverse) Elizabeth Nicholson evidence.
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 54 )
Manuscript
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124b
Examination of Ann Dolliver, 6 June 1692
Mrs. An Doliver was examined before Majr Gedney: Mr. Hawthorne Mr. Corwin June 6: 1692
Mrs. Doliver: Did you never act witchcraft: answered: not ^ with intent^ to hurt any body with it but you implicitly confess will: you goe on to confess: but she asked where be my accusers I am not willing to accuse myself She owned she had often been out in the woods all night: once she was in a fainting fitt: & could not get hom home other times she would rather ly in ye woods & goe round them come over with ye ugly fellow that kept ye fferryman: her mother also was not pleased with her & she went from home on yt accot some times: but she had not seen any thing that affrighted her: nor spirits as she knew once a negro affrighted her: & she knew not a spirit from a man in ye night for she had heard yt ye devill some time was in ye shape of a man: & some times she went alone to pray: but susanna Sheldon Mary Wolcot Mary Warin came being cald they fell down: they all afirmd that this was the person yt afflicted them this day: she had other cloaths but it was ye same face: some of them sd there was a little child: yt was just now dead: yt cryed for vengeance: for she had pressed ye breath out of its body: some of them sd she had tryed seven or eight houses: her spectre sd: to afflict but could do it no where else: her spectre then sd: told them she would have kild her father if she could: for: she had more spite at him yn she had: at ye childe: also her spectre sd: yt she knew: where: to find ye devil at any time: if she did goe but to such a ditch: the [letter crossed out] afflicted sd also: yt she had poppits in a secret place that she afflicted with: Mrs. Dolliver was asked whether she had not made poppits of waxe: she sd yes she sd one: after ward she ownd two popits & it was because she thought she was bewitched & she had read in a booke: that told her: that that: was ye way to afflict: them yt had afflicted her: she sd she was not very well upon it but her mother: and her brother Jno were ill were ill upon it when she was afflicted as she thought she sd she was much pinched the afflicted persons: then charged her with afflicting them: & they: every one sd they saw her afflict: ye others: sd Dolliver was asked: what she had bin doing: this day yt these persons were afflicted: she sd nothing but spinning: she had stuck [words unclear ] in nothing but her cloaths to dress her & she had stuck a pin to fasten her distafe: ye afflicted told her she had bin some times in Tho Putnams window at ye village but she owned it not: also that she had been at goodwife Nurses: but she sd it was but once when she mist her way going round becaus she would not goe over with ye ferry man: but being bid to shake hands with ye afflicted: she did it & they were not hurt The waxe poppits were made about fourteen year agoe: she standen [uncertain] by took notice that once sd Dollivers eyes were fixed: ye afflicted sd ye black man was: before her: in ye time of her examination this was
I undr written: being appointed by Authority to take: ye Above written examination doe testify: yt this upon oath taken in Court: yt this is a true copy of ye substance substance of it to ye best of my knowledge.
Simon Willard
(Reverse) Ann Dollivers Examination
( Dept. of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library
Also Known As: "Ann", "Dolever"
Birthdate: October 11, 1652
Birthplace: Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut
Death: 1738
Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts
Believed to be buried here with the Boshop's committee members
NO STONE
The committee members were Abiah Carpenter, John Robinson, and Daniel Carpenter.
Daughter of Rev. John Higginson and Sarah Higginson
Wife of William Dolliver
Mother of Sarah Dolliver; Paul Dolliver and Peter Dolliver
Sister of Capt. John Higginson; Sarah Wharton; Thomas Higginson; Francis Higginson; Henry Higginson; and Nathaniel Higginson
NOTES: THANKS!
https://www.geni.com/people/Anna-Dolliver/6000000004237821251
Ann Higginson, daughter of Reverend John Higginson and Sarah Whitfield of Salem Town, Massachusetts,
was born 11 October 1652 at Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut;
and died at the age of 86 in 1738 at Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts.
On 4 October 1682, she married William Dolliver (17 August 1656 Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts - c.1716) at Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts, with whom she had three children.
Court records of 1683 show that complaints were made against William Dolliver for being idle and neglecting his family.
In fact, he eventually left the Massachusetts Bay Colony, abandoning Ann and her children with no means of support. Ann was forced to return to her father's home in Salem where he and the town supported them.
Her social standing was compromised and her mental state declined.
She was 45 years old and already in shaky mental health, when she was arrested and tried for "Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren and Susannah Sheldon" on 6 June 1692. Dolliver was accused of wanting to kill her own father out of spite, and of being blamed by the specter of a dead child for its murder.
When asked, "Mrs. Dolliver, did you never act witchcraft?" she answered, "Not with the intent to hurt anybody with it."
She admitted to having done witchcraft in 1678 to protect herself and her family, but denied that she afflicted her accusers in 1692.
Although little documentation about Ann Dolliver's trial has survived, it appears that she was released due to insufficient evidence or because of her questionable mental condition.
Her life did not improve after the trials ended.
In a letter to her brother written in August 1693, her father described her as suffering from "overbaring malloncolly, crazed in her understanding."
In 1705 she was living with the family of Edward and Sarah Bishop of Rehoboth, formerly of Salem Village.
The children probably continued to live with their grandfather, who mentioned them in his will.
Marriage and Children
William Dolliver (1656 - c.1716) married 4 October 1682 Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts
Peter Dolliver (1680 Gloucester, Massachusetts - 1764)
Sarah Dolliver
Paul Dolliver
Notes
Alternate year of birth: 1651
Recorded year of marriage (1682) conflicts with date of birth of first child, Peter Dolliver (1680)
Sources and Further Reading
Babson, John J. History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, including the Town of Rockport. Gloucester, MA: P. Smith, 1972. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed; the Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1974. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692. New York: Da Capo, 1977. Print.
Buckstad, Kristin. "Ann Dolliver." Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature, An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia. Spring 2001.
Burr, George Lincoln. "A MODEST INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF WITCHCRAFT, BY JOHN HALE, 1702." Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1914. 397--. Print.
Courtroom examination of Ann Dolliver. Boston Public Library Department of Rare Books and Documents.
Higginson, Thomas W. Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson, First "teacher" in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Salem, Massachusetts and Author of "New-Englands Plantation" (1630) (1910). Massachusetts: Private, 1910. Internet Archive. University of California: California Digital Library, 1 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Norton, 1987. Print.
Reis, Elizabeth. Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America. Page 2
Roach, Marilynne K. The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. Page 164. "... about ten years earlier she [Ann Higginson] had married the improvident mariner William Dolliver, who quickly spent most of her money. After he left for parts unknown, she and her children returned to her father's Salem household ..."
Swan, Marshall. "The Bedevilment of Cape Ann (1692)." Essex Institute Historical Collections 117:3 (July 1981): 153-177.
Upham, C. W. "Letter from Rev. John Higginson to his son Nathaniel Higginson." Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Series Three. 8(1839):182-186.
Links
Subject: [HIGGASON Wiliam Dolliver and Ann Higginson] 2003
Accepted Ancestors, The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches
Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver
(Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver )
(HAWTHORNE IS NATHANIEL'S ANCESTOR)
Essex ss. To the Sheriffe of the County of Essex or his deputie
or Constable in Salem or Beverley
You are in theire Majest's names, hereby required to apprehend
and forthwith bring before us Ann Dalibar the wife of Wm Dalibar of
Glocester who stands Charged this day with haveing Committed
sundry acts of Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren & susannah Shelden to the hurt of theire Bodys in order to her Examination Re-
lateing to the premises faile not Dated Salem June the 6'th 1692
P us
*Bartho Gedney
*John. Hathorne
*Jonathan. Corwin
Just'es of the peace
(Reverse) In obediance to this warant I have aprehended the person
with in Named and brought her to the plase apoynted in order to her
examination as atest my hand
*Peter Osgood constabell for the town of Salem
(Reverse) Dalibar
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 53 )
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124
( Elizabeth Nicholson v. Ann Dolliver )
Elizabeth the wife of Edmond Nicolasson will testify; that coming
to the house of Samuell Dallabar ; Peter Pitford and the wife of the
said Dallabar. were in discourse before the dore in the yard; and
in theire discourse she heard Peter Pitford say: I mervaile how
that old witch knowes every thing that is done in my house; Re- becca the wife of Samuell Dallabar replied oh Peter doe not say soe;
for I believe she is no Witch; soe she came a way and left Peter Pitford and the wife of Samuell Dallabar in discourse
Elizabeth Nicolasson
(Reverse) Elizabeth Nicholson evidence.
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 54 )
Manuscript
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124b
Examination of Ann Dolliver, 6 June 1692
Mrs. An Doliver was examined before Majr Gedney: Mr. Hawthorne Mr. Corwin June 6: 1692
Mrs. Doliver: Did you never act witchcraft: answered: not ^ with intent^ to hurt any body with it but you implicitly confess will: you goe on to confess: but she asked where be my accusers I am not willing to accuse myself She owned she had often been out in the woods all night: once she was in a fainting fitt: & could not get hom home other times she would rather ly in ye woods & goe round them come over with ye ugly fellow that kept ye fferryman: her mother also was not pleased with her & she went from home on yt accot some times: but she had not seen any thing that affrighted her: nor spirits as she knew once a negro affrighted her: & she knew not a spirit from a man in ye night for she had heard yt ye devill some time was in ye shape of a man: & some times she went alone to pray: but susanna Sheldon Mary Wolcot Mary Warin came being cald they fell down: they all afirmd that this was the person yt afflicted them this day: she had other cloaths but it was ye same face: some of them sd there was a little child: yt was just now dead: yt cryed for vengeance: for she had pressed ye breath out of its body: some of them sd she had tryed seven or eight houses: her spectre sd: to afflict but could do it no where else: her spectre then sd: told them she would have kild her father if she could: for: she had more spite at him yn she had: at ye childe: also her spectre sd: yt she knew: where: to find ye devil at any time: if she did goe but to such a ditch: the [letter crossed out] afflicted sd also: yt she had poppits in a secret place that she afflicted with: Mrs. Dolliver was asked whether she had not made poppits of waxe: she sd yes she sd one: after ward she ownd two popits & it was because she thought she was bewitched & she had read in a booke: that told her: that that: was ye way to afflict: them yt had afflicted her: she sd she was not very well upon it but her mother: and her brother Jno were ill were ill upon it when she was afflicted as she thought she sd she was much pinched the afflicted persons: then charged her with afflicting them: & they: every one sd they saw her afflict: ye others: sd Dolliver was asked: what she had bin doing: this day yt these persons were afflicted: she sd nothing but spinning: she had stuck [words unclear ] in nothing but her cloaths to dress her & she had stuck a pin to fasten her distafe: ye afflicted told her she had bin some times in Tho Putnams window at ye village but she owned it not: also that she had been at goodwife Nurses: but she sd it was but once when she mist her way going round becaus she would not goe over with ye ferry man: but being bid to shake hands with ye afflicted: she did it & they were not hurt The waxe poppits were made about fourteen year agoe: she standen [uncertain] by took notice that once sd Dollivers eyes were fixed: ye afflicted sd ye black man was: before her: in ye time of her examination this was
I undr written: being appointed by Authority to take: ye Above written examination doe testify: yt this upon oath taken in Court: yt this is a true copy of ye substance substance of it to ye best of my knowledge.
Simon Willard
(Reverse) Ann Dollivers Examination
( Dept. of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library
Anna (Higginson)
Also Known As: "Ann", "Dolever"
Birthdate: October 11, 1652
Birthplace: Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut
Death: 1738
Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts
Believed to be buried here with the Boshop's committee members
NO STONE
The committee members were Abiah Carpenter, John Robinson, and Daniel Carpenter.
Daughter of Rev. John Higginson and Sarah Higginson
Wife of William Dolliver
Mother of Sarah Dolliver; Paul Dolliver and Peter Dolliver
Sister of Capt. John Higginson; Sarah Wharton; Thomas Higginson; Francis Higginson; Henry Higginson; and Nathaniel Higginson
NOTES: THANKS!
https://www.geni.com/people/Anna-Dolliver/6000000004237821251
Ann Higginson, daughter of Reverend John Higginson and Sarah Whitfield of Salem Town, Massachusetts,
was born 11 October 1652 at Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut;
and died at the age of 86 in 1738 at Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts.
On 4 October 1682, she married William Dolliver (17 August 1656 Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts - c.1716) at Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts, with whom she had three children.
Court records of 1683 show that complaints were made against William Dolliver for being idle and neglecting his family.
In fact, he eventually left the Massachusetts Bay Colony, abandoning Ann and her children with no means of support. Ann was forced to return to her father's home in Salem where he and the town supported them.
Her social standing was compromised and her mental state declined.
She was 45 years old and already in shaky mental health, when she was arrested and tried for "Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren and Susannah Sheldon" on 6 June 1692. Dolliver was accused of wanting to kill her own father out of spite, and of being blamed by the specter of a dead child for its murder.
When asked, "Mrs. Dolliver, did you never act witchcraft?" she answered, "Not with the intent to hurt anybody with it."
She admitted to having done witchcraft in 1678 to protect herself and her family, but denied that she afflicted her accusers in 1692.
Although little documentation about Ann Dolliver's trial has survived, it appears that she was released due to insufficient evidence or because of her questionable mental condition.
Her life did not improve after the trials ended.
In a letter to her brother written in August 1693, her father described her as suffering from "overbaring malloncolly, crazed in her understanding."
In 1705 she was living with the family of Edward and Sarah Bishop of Rehoboth, formerly of Salem Village.
The children probably continued to live with their grandfather, who mentioned them in his will.
Marriage and Children
William Dolliver (1656 - c.1716) married 4 October 1682 Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts
Peter Dolliver (1680 Gloucester, Massachusetts - 1764)
Sarah Dolliver
Paul Dolliver
Notes
Alternate year of birth: 1651
Recorded year of marriage (1682) conflicts with date of birth of first child, Peter Dolliver (1680)
Sources and Further Reading
Babson, John J. History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, including the Town of Rockport. Gloucester, MA: P. Smith, 1972. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed; the Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1974. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692. New York: Da Capo, 1977. Print.
Buckstad, Kristin. "Ann Dolliver." Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature, An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia. Spring 2001.
Burr, George Lincoln. "A MODEST INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF WITCHCRAFT, BY JOHN HALE, 1702." Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1914. 397--. Print.
Courtroom examination of Ann Dolliver. Boston Public Library Department of Rare Books and Documents.
Higginson, Thomas W. Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson, First "teacher" in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Salem, Massachusetts and Author of "New-Englands Plantation" (1630) (1910). Massachusetts: Private, 1910. Internet Archive. University of California: California Digital Library, 1 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Norton, 1987. Print.
Reis, Elizabeth. Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America. Page 2
Roach, Marilynne K. The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. Page 164. "... about ten years earlier she [Ann Higginson] had married the improvident mariner William Dolliver, who quickly spent most of her money. After he left for parts unknown, she and her children returned to her father's Salem household ..."
Swan, Marshall. "The Bedevilment of Cape Ann (1692)." Essex Institute Historical Collections 117:3 (July 1981): 153-177.
Upham, C. W. "Letter from Rev. John Higginson to his son Nathaniel Higginson." Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Series Three. 8(1839):182-186.
Links
Subject: [HIGGASON Wiliam Dolliver and Ann Higginson] 2003
Accepted Ancestors, The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches
Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver
(Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver )
(HAWTHORNE IS NATHANIEL'S ANCESTOR)
Essex ss. To the Sheriffe of the County of Essex or his deputie
or Constable in Salem or Beverley
You are in theire Majest's names, hereby required to apprehend
and forthwith bring before us Ann Dalibar the wife of Wm Dalibar of
Glocester who stands Charged this day with haveing Committed
sundry acts of Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren & susannah Shelden to the hurt of theire Bodys in order to her Examination Re-
lateing to the premises faile not Dated Salem June the 6'th 1692
P us
*Bartho Gedney
*John. Hathorne
*Jonathan. Corwin
Just'es of the peace
(Reverse) In obediance to this warant I have aprehended the person
with in Named and brought her to the plase apoynted in order to her
examination as atest my hand
*Peter Osgood constabell for the town of Salem
(Reverse) Dalibar
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 53 )
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124
( Elizabeth Nicholson v. Ann Dolliver )
Elizabeth the wife of Edmond Nicolasson will testify; that coming
to the house of Samuell Dallabar ; Peter Pitford and the wife of the
said Dallabar. were in discourse before the dore in the yard; and
in theire discourse she heard Peter Pitford say: I mervaile how
that old witch knowes every thing that is done in my house; Re- becca the wife of Samuell Dallabar replied oh Peter doe not say soe;
for I believe she is no Witch; soe she came a way and left Peter Pitford and the wife of Samuell Dallabar in discourse
Elizabeth Nicolasson
(Reverse) Elizabeth Nicholson evidence.
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 54 )
Manuscript
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124b
Examination of Ann Dolliver, 6 June 1692
Mrs. An Doliver was examined before Majr Gedney: Mr. Hawthorne Mr. Corwin June 6: 1692
Mrs. Doliver: Did you never act witchcraft: answered: not ^ with intent^ to hurt any body with it but you implicitly confess will: you goe on to confess: but she asked where be my accusers I am not willing to accuse myself She owned she had often been out in the woods all night: once she was in a fainting fitt: & could not get hom home other times she would rather ly in ye woods & goe round them come over with ye ugly fellow that kept ye fferryman: her mother also was not pleased with her & she went from home on yt accot some times: but she had not seen any thing that affrighted her: nor spirits as she knew once a negro affrighted her: & she knew not a spirit from a man in ye night for she had heard yt ye devill some time was in ye shape of a man: & some times she went alone to pray: but susanna Sheldon Mary Wolcot Mary Warin came being cald they fell down: they all afirmd that this was the person yt afflicted them this day: she had other cloaths but it was ye same face: some of them sd there was a little child: yt was just now dead: yt cryed for vengeance: for she had pressed ye breath out of its body: some of them sd she had tryed seven or eight houses: her spectre sd: to afflict but could do it no where else: her spectre then sd: told them she would have kild her father if she could: for: she had more spite at him yn she had: at ye childe: also her spectre sd: yt she knew: where: to find ye devil at any time: if she did goe but to such a ditch: the [letter crossed out] afflicted sd also: yt she had poppits in a secret place that she afflicted with: Mrs. Dolliver was asked whether she had not made poppits of waxe: she sd yes she sd one: after ward she ownd two popits & it was because she thought she was bewitched & she had read in a booke: that told her: that that: was ye way to afflict: them yt had afflicted her: she sd she was not very well upon it but her mother: and her brother Jno were ill were ill upon it when she was afflicted as she thought she sd she was much pinched the afflicted persons: then charged her with afflicting them: & they: every one sd they saw her afflict: ye others: sd Dolliver was asked: what she had bin doing: this day yt these persons were afflicted: she sd nothing but spinning: she had stuck [words unclear ] in nothing but her cloaths to dress her & she had stuck a pin to fasten her distafe: ye afflicted told her she had bin some times in Tho Putnams window at ye village but she owned it not: also that she had been at goodwife Nurses: but she sd it was but once when she mist her way going round becaus she would not goe over with ye ferry man: but being bid to shake hands with ye afflicted: she did it & they were not hurt The waxe poppits were made about fourteen year agoe: she standen [uncertain] by took notice that once sd Dollivers eyes were fixed: ye afflicted sd ye black man was: before her: in ye time of her examination this was
I undr written: being appointed by Authority to take: ye Above written examination doe testify: yt this upon oath taken in Court: yt this is a true copy of ye substance substance of it to ye best of my knowledge.
Simon Willard
(Reverse) Ann Dollivers Examination
( Dept. of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library
Also Known As: "Ann", "Dolever"
Birthdate: October 11, 1652
Birthplace: Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut
Death: 1738
Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts
Believed to be buried here with the Boshop's committee members
NO STONE
The committee members were Abiah Carpenter, John Robinson, and Daniel Carpenter.
Daughter of Rev. John Higginson and Sarah Higginson
Wife of William Dolliver
Mother of Sarah Dolliver; Paul Dolliver and Peter Dolliver
Sister of Capt. John Higginson; Sarah Wharton; Thomas Higginson; Francis Higginson; Henry Higginson; and Nathaniel Higginson
NOTES: THANKS!
https://www.geni.com/people/Anna-Dolliver/6000000004237821251
Ann Higginson, daughter of Reverend John Higginson and Sarah Whitfield of Salem Town, Massachusetts,
was born 11 October 1652 at Guilford, New Haven, Connecticut;
and died at the age of 86 in 1738 at Rehoboth, Bristol, Massachusetts.
On 4 October 1682, she married William Dolliver (17 August 1656 Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts - c.1716) at Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts, with whom she had three children.
Court records of 1683 show that complaints were made against William Dolliver for being idle and neglecting his family.
In fact, he eventually left the Massachusetts Bay Colony, abandoning Ann and her children with no means of support. Ann was forced to return to her father's home in Salem where he and the town supported them.
Her social standing was compromised and her mental state declined.
She was 45 years old and already in shaky mental health, when she was arrested and tried for "Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren and Susannah Sheldon" on 6 June 1692. Dolliver was accused of wanting to kill her own father out of spite, and of being blamed by the specter of a dead child for its murder.
When asked, "Mrs. Dolliver, did you never act witchcraft?" she answered, "Not with the intent to hurt anybody with it."
She admitted to having done witchcraft in 1678 to protect herself and her family, but denied that she afflicted her accusers in 1692.
Although little documentation about Ann Dolliver's trial has survived, it appears that she was released due to insufficient evidence or because of her questionable mental condition.
Her life did not improve after the trials ended.
In a letter to her brother written in August 1693, her father described her as suffering from "overbaring malloncolly, crazed in her understanding."
In 1705 she was living with the family of Edward and Sarah Bishop of Rehoboth, formerly of Salem Village.
The children probably continued to live with their grandfather, who mentioned them in his will.
Marriage and Children
William Dolliver (1656 - c.1716) married 4 October 1682 Gloucester, Essex County, Massachusetts
Peter Dolliver (1680 Gloucester, Massachusetts - 1764)
Sarah Dolliver
Paul Dolliver
Notes
Alternate year of birth: 1651
Recorded year of marriage (1682) conflicts with date of birth of first child, Peter Dolliver (1680)
Sources and Further Reading
Babson, John J. History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, including the Town of Rockport. Gloucester, MA: P. Smith, 1972. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed; the Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1974. Print.
Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. The Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents of the Salem Witchcraft Outbreak of 1692. New York: Da Capo, 1977. Print.
Buckstad, Kristin. "Ann Dolliver." Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature, An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia. Spring 2001.
Burr, George Lincoln. "A MODEST INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF WITCHCRAFT, BY JOHN HALE, 1702." Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1914. 397--. Print.
Courtroom examination of Ann Dolliver. Boston Public Library Department of Rare Books and Documents.
Higginson, Thomas W. Descendants of the Reverend Francis Higginson, First "teacher" in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of Salem, Massachusetts and Author of "New-Englands Plantation" (1630) (1910). Massachusetts: Private, 1910. Internet Archive. University of California: California Digital Library, 1 Aug. 2008. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Norton, 1987. Print.
Reis, Elizabeth. Spellbound: Women and Witchcraft in America. Page 2
Roach, Marilynne K. The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. Page 164. "... about ten years earlier she [Ann Higginson] had married the improvident mariner William Dolliver, who quickly spent most of her money. After he left for parts unknown, she and her children returned to her father's Salem household ..."
Swan, Marshall. "The Bedevilment of Cape Ann (1692)." Essex Institute Historical Collections 117:3 (July 1981): 153-177.
Upham, C. W. "Letter from Rev. John Higginson to his son Nathaniel Higginson." Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, Series Three. 8(1839):182-186.
Links
Subject: [HIGGASON Wiliam Dolliver and Ann Higginson] 2003
Accepted Ancestors, The Associated Daughters of Early American Witches
Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver
(Warrant for Arrest of Ann Dolliver )
(HAWTHORNE IS NATHANIEL'S ANCESTOR)
Essex ss. To the Sheriffe of the County of Essex or his deputie
or Constable in Salem or Beverley
You are in theire Majest's names, hereby required to apprehend
and forthwith bring before us Ann Dalibar the wife of Wm Dalibar of
Glocester who stands Charged this day with haveing Committed
sundry acts of Witchcraft on the Bodys of Mary Warren & susannah Shelden to the hurt of theire Bodys in order to her Examination Re-
lateing to the premises faile not Dated Salem June the 6'th 1692
P us
*Bartho Gedney
*John. Hathorne
*Jonathan. Corwin
Just'es of the peace
(Reverse) In obediance to this warant I have aprehended the person
with in Named and brought her to the plase apoynted in order to her
examination as atest my hand
*Peter Osgood constabell for the town of Salem
(Reverse) Dalibar
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 53 )
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124
( Elizabeth Nicholson v. Ann Dolliver )
Elizabeth the wife of Edmond Nicolasson will testify; that coming
to the house of Samuell Dallabar ; Peter Pitford and the wife of the
said Dallabar. were in discourse before the dore in the yard; and
in theire discourse she heard Peter Pitford say: I mervaile how
that old witch knowes every thing that is done in my house; Re- becca the wife of Samuell Dallabar replied oh Peter doe not say soe;
for I believe she is no Witch; soe she came a way and left Peter Pitford and the wife of Samuell Dallabar in discourse
Elizabeth Nicolasson
(Reverse) Elizabeth Nicholson evidence.
( Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 2 Page 54 )
Manuscript
SWP No. BoySal1-1.124b
Examination of Ann Dolliver, 6 June 1692
Mrs. An Doliver was examined before Majr Gedney: Mr. Hawthorne Mr. Corwin June 6: 1692
Mrs. Doliver: Did you never act witchcraft: answered: not ^ with intent^ to hurt any body with it but you implicitly confess will: you goe on to confess: but she asked where be my accusers I am not willing to accuse myself She owned she had often been out in the woods all night: once she was in a fainting fitt: & could not get hom home other times she would rather ly in ye woods & goe round them come over with ye ugly fellow that kept ye fferryman: her mother also was not pleased with her & she went from home on yt accot some times: but she had not seen any thing that affrighted her: nor spirits as she knew once a negro affrighted her: & she knew not a spirit from a man in ye night for she had heard yt ye devill some time was in ye shape of a man: & some times she went alone to pray: but susanna Sheldon Mary Wolcot Mary Warin came being cald they fell down: they all afirmd that this was the person yt afflicted them this day: she had other cloaths but it was ye same face: some of them sd there was a little child: yt was just now dead: yt cryed for vengeance: for she had pressed ye breath out of its body: some of them sd she had tryed seven or eight houses: her spectre sd: to afflict but could do it no where else: her spectre then sd: told them she would have kild her father if she could: for: she had more spite at him yn she had: at ye childe: also her spectre sd: yt she knew: where: to find ye devil at any time: if she did goe but to such a ditch: the [letter crossed out] afflicted sd also: yt she had poppits in a secret place that she afflicted with: Mrs. Dolliver was asked whether she had not made poppits of waxe: she sd yes she sd one: after ward she ownd two popits & it was because she thought she was bewitched & she had read in a booke: that told her: that that: was ye way to afflict: them yt had afflicted her: she sd she was not very well upon it but her mother: and her brother Jno were ill were ill upon it when she was afflicted as she thought she sd she was much pinched the afflicted persons: then charged her with afflicting them: & they: every one sd they saw her afflict: ye others: sd Dolliver was asked: what she had bin doing: this day yt these persons were afflicted: she sd nothing but spinning: she had stuck [words unclear ] in nothing but her cloaths to dress her & she had stuck a pin to fasten her distafe: ye afflicted told her she had bin some times in Tho Putnams window at ye village but she owned it not: also that she had been at goodwife Nurses: but she sd it was but once when she mist her way going round becaus she would not goe over with ye ferry man: but being bid to shake hands with ye afflicted: she did it & they were not hurt The waxe poppits were made about fourteen year agoe: she standen [uncertain] by took notice that once sd Dollivers eyes were fixed: ye afflicted sd ye black man was: before her: in ye time of her examination this was
I undr written: being appointed by Authority to take: ye Above written examination doe testify: yt this upon oath taken in Court: yt this is a true copy of ye substance substance of it to ye best of my knowledge.
Simon Willard
(Reverse) Ann Dollivers Examination
( Dept. of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Boston Public Library
Family Members
Advertisement
Advertisement
