Alse Young (1615 – 26 May 1647) of

Windsor, Connecticut Windsor is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, and was the first English settlement in the state. It lies on the northern border of Connecticut's capital, Hartford. The population of Windsor was 29,492 at the 2020 census. P ...

— sometimes Achsah Young or Alice Young — was the first recorded instance of

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...

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 ...

in the

thirteen American colonies The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Founded in the 17th and 18th centur ...

. She had one child, Alice Beamon (Young), born in 1640, who was also condemned for the same crime thirty years later in the 1670s, but was not hanged.

Background and execution

Alse Young was born in 1615 in New Windsor,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and moved to

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

during the 1630s. She is believed to have been the wife of John Young, who bought a small parcel of land in Windsor in 1641, sold it in 1649, and then disappeared from the town records. The best evidence to suggest that John Young was her husband comes from a physician. She had a daughter, Alice Young Beamon, who was accused of witchcraft in nearby

Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, th ...

, some 30 years later. Her daughter Alice Young Beamon married and had children with Simon Beamon. Similarly to her mother, Alice Young Beamon was also accused of witchcraft but defended herself by claiming that she was being slandered. Even though Alice Young was a woman without a son when the witchcraft accusation was lodged, her husband was still alive during her accusation. This makes it unlikely that she was accused simply for the possibility of inheriting her husband's estate in the future. Other reasons are more probable. There is no record of Young's trial or the specifics of the charge. The same year that Alice was hanged the death rate had steadily increased. The influenza affected everyone in that even wealthy people with more resources and access to medical care were dying at extremely high rates. Many prominent members of the noble class and legislature lost their families. Given such circumstances, a member of the elite class may have organized for someone to be hanged and scapegoated, leading to Alice's being chosen at random. She may have been hanged at the Meeting House Square in

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, now the site of the Old State House, since a jail was on the edge of the square. A journal of then

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as th ...

Governor

John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...

mentions "One... of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch." The second town clerk of Windsor, Matthew Grant, confirms her execution with the May 26, 1647, diary entry, "Alse Young was hanged." She was roughly 32 years old when she was hanged.

Exoneration

At the urging of Beth Caruso, a local historian who wrote a book on her case, Alse Young was formally exonerated on February 6, 2017, by a unanimous vote of the Windsor Town Council, along with Lydia Gilbert, the second Connecticut woman to be executed for witchcraft, who was also from Windsor.Jennifer Coe
"Windsor Passes Witch Execution Resolution"
''Hartford Courant'', March 17, 2017.

References

External links

Alse Young profile
damnedct.com; accessed December 26, 2014.

jud.ct.gov; accessed December 26, 2014.
Alse Young - The Grimm Generation
Soundcloud, accessed February 27, 2017 {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Alse 1600s births 1647 deaths 17th-century executions of American people American people executed for witchcraft Executed people from Connecticut History of Hartford, Connecticut People executed by Connecticut by hanging People executed by Connecticut Colony People executed by the Thirteen Colonies by hanging People from Windsor, Connecticut People of colonial Connecticut Place of birth unknown Year of birth uncertain Year of birth unknown

Background and execution

Exoneration

See also

References

Further reading

External links