Outcast: Eunice Cole of Hampton

We know very little about Eunice (—) Cole’s background and her life in England. By 1636, she was married to William Cole, who was 20 to 30 years older than she was. The couple was childless and apparently had no relatives in New England. Yet more than three hundred years after she died, Eunice is still remembered in Hampton, New Hampshire, and her difficult life can be traced in numerous court records.

In 1636, William Cole and his wife Eunice sailed to Boston as servants of Matthew Craddock, a wealthy merchant of London who had properties in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Once they landed, however, the couple did not work on Craddock’s properties and neglected to pay £10 for their ship passage. By 16 November 1637, Craddock’s agent was demanding payment, though they had no money to pay the debt. Even the town of Boston was cautious about helping the aged carpenter, giving him “two acres only for his present planting” at Mount Wollaston.

There, William and Eunice Cole met Rev. John Wheelwright, who shortly afterward was disenfranchised and banished from the colony. The Coles followed him. In April 1638, William witnessed an Indian deed between Wheelwright and Wehanownowit. He signed the Exeter Combination the following year.

In June 1640, William Cole received a grant in Hampton for a town lot and upland. It seemed like William and Eunice Cole’s fortunes were improving.

But in 1645, Eunice was brought to court for her “slanderous speeches” against her neighbors. Sitting in the stocks didn’t improve her behavior. In 1647, William Cole offered to “rescue [steal] goods out of the hands of William Fuller, the constable,” and he and his wife were charged with biting the constable’s hands. To top it off, Eunice had some choice words to say about Fuller. Eunice made several court appearances in 1648, 1651, and 1654 for unstated charges.

In 1656, Eunice was accused of witchcraft and imprisoned in Boston, but not convicted. Witchcraft was a capital crime, punishable by hanging, and in June of that year, widow Anne Hibbens was executed for witchcraft in Boston. Eunice was in prison so long that her husband William pleaded for her release in 1659. In 1660, Eunice was in court again for unseemly speeches and was whipped by Hampton constable John Huggins. From prison in 1662, Eunice asked to be released to take care of her 88-year-old husband as only a wife could do. She remained locked up, unable to pay her prison fees.

Meanwhile, William Cole was in dire straits. In 1657, Craddock’s estate made another demand for payment on the 10-pound bond. On 3 November 1659, William asked the General Court for relief. Instead, the court demanded the town of Hampton take over his estate and support him. Aged and very sickly, on 26 May 1662, William wrote his will, in which he gave his house, land, cattle, household stuff, and whatever remained to Thomas Webster upon condition of keeping him comfortable during his life—and then he promptly expired. The inventory totaled £59.14.0, with the five-acre house lot and the house upon it worth £20. To Eunice, he left only her clothes. The Norfolk county court set aside the will, and after debts were paid, half went to Thomas Webster and the other half went to the selectmen of Hampton for Eunice’s support.

Without a home to return to, in 1670, the town of Hampton erected a hut for Eunice Cole, and the townspeople took turns supplying her food and fuel. In a short time, old fears and stories returned of Eunice hurting or killing people and livestock, being a shape-shifter, having conversations with the devil, and trying to steal children. After gathering testimonies, in 1673 the jury decided Eunice was not legally guilty of witchcraft but strongly suspected her of familiarity with the devil. On 7 September 1680, again the court “vehemently” suspected Eunice of being a witch but without “full proof.” They ordered her imprisoned, with a lock on her leg.

Eunice returned to Hampton only to die, alone in her hut, in October 1680.

Sources

AmericanAncestors.org (vital records, court records, etc.)

Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England by John Putnam Demos (chapter 10)

Marked: The Witchcraft Persecution of Goodwife Unise Cole 1656-1680 by Cheryl Lassiter (“creative nonfiction”; p. 169 for record images of Eunice Cole’s death)