Margaret Mattson was one of two women tried and acquitted in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

in the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

for

witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

in 1683.''Witchcraft and Quakerism: A Study in Social History'' (Chapter IV, by Amelia Mott Gummere. Street Corner Society

Biography

Nils and Margaret Mattson arrived in the colony of

New Sweden New Sweden ( sv, Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. New Sweden form ...

in present-day southeastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

on May 22, 1654, on the ship Orn. They settled on land near Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Of Swedish-Finnish descent, Nils was a reputed healer working from Finnish tradition. In 1683, some of Margaret's neighbors claimed that she had bewitched cattle. Charges of practicing witchcraft were brought before the

Pennsylvania Provincial Council The Pennsylvania Provincial Council helped govern the Province of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1776. The provincial council was based on the English parliamentary system and namely the Upper House or House of Lords. From the Frame of Government of Penn ...

on February 7, 1683 (under

Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...

)."The Fame Of A Witch" (''The Pennsylvania Lawyer''. Craig R. Shagin, Published by the Pennsylvania Bar Association, September–October 2016

/ref> This occurred nineteen years after the Swedish territory became a British

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...

colony and subject to English Witchcraft Act 1604. Accused by several neighbors, as well as her own daughter in law, Mattson's alleged crimes included making threats against neighbors, causing cows to give little milk, bewitching and killing livestock and appearing to witnesses in spectral form. On February 27, 1683, charges against Mattson and a neighbor Gertro (a.k.a. Yeshro) Jacobsson, wife of Hendrick Jacobsson, were brought by the Attorney General before a

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

of 21 men overseen by the colony's proprietor,

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

. The grand jury returned a true bill

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

that afternoon, and the cases proceeded to trial. A

petit jury In common law, a petit jury (or trial jury) hears the evidence in a trial as presented by both the plaintiff (petitioner) and the defendant (respondent). After hearing the evidence and often jury instructions from the judge, the group retires for ...

of 12 men was selected by Penn and an interpreter was appointed for the Finnish women, who did not speak English. Penn barred the use of prosecution and defense lawyers, conducted the questioning himself, and permitted the introduction of unsubstantiated hearsay.Before Salem, a witch inquiry in Pennsylvania – The case offered William Penn a chance to show his tolerance
Joseph S. Kennedy, ''Philadelphia Inquirer'', August 1, 2004 Penn himself gave the closing charge and directions to the jury, but what he told them was not transcribed. According to the minutes of the Provincial Council, dated February 27, 1683, the jury returned with a verdict of "Guilty of having the Comon Fame of a Witch, but not Guilty in manner and Forme as Shee stands Endicted." Thus Mattson was found guilty of having the reputation of a witch, but not guilty of bewitching animals. Neither woman was convicted of witchcraft. "Hence the superstitious got enough to have their thinking affirmed. Those less superstitious, and justice minded, got what they wanted." The accused were released on their husbands posting

recognizance bond In some common law nations, a recognizance is a conditional pledge of money undertaken by a person before a court which, if the person defaults, the person or their sureties will forfeit that sum. It is an obligation of record, entered into before ...

s of 50 pounds and promising six months' good behavior. A popular legend tells of William Penn dismissing the charges against Mattson by affirming her legal right to fly on a broomstick, saying "Well, I know of no law against it." The record fails to show any such commentary, but the story probably reflects popular views of Penn's socially progressive

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

values.''Weird Pennsylvania.'' (by Matt Lake. New York: Sterling Publishers. 2005)

References

Other sources

*Jordan, John W. ''A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania''. (Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York. 1914) *Benson, Adolph B. and Naboth Hedin, eds. ''Swedes in America, 1638–1938'' (The Swedish American Tercentenary Association. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 1938)

External links

Minutes of the Provincial Council of PennsylvaniaThe Fame Of A Witch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattson, Margaret Year of birth missing Year of death missing People from Eddystone, Pennsylvania 17th-century women American people of Finnish descent American people of Swedish descent Colonial American women People accused of witchcraft People of New Sweden Cunning folk 1680s in Pennsylvania People of colonial Pennsylvania People acquitted of witchcraft 1697 in Europe 1697 in law 17th-century trials