SALEM WITCH TRIAL GRAND JURY MEMBER ADDINGTON 1676 LYNN SAUGUS MA HEIFER THEFT

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SALEM WITCH TRIAL GRAND JURY MEMBER ADDINGTON 1676 LYNN SAUGUS MA HEIFER THEFT:
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A rare 17th-century legal deposition dated January 20, 1676/7, regarding a case of suspected cattle theft. It features the testimony of seventeen-year-old John Dickenson and is officially attested to by Isaac Addington, the Clerk of the Court and a Salem Witch Trial Grand Jury member. From a Massachusetts estate. Thanks for looking.

Below is a faithful line-by-line transcription.

1676

John Dickenson aged Seaventeene yeares or thereabouts

Testifyeth, and Saith that whereas there was a warrant issu[e]d

forth to Search for Some Cattle of $m^{r}$ Waldrons, that was

taken from offe his farme, Called Bennets farme, he went

with $m^{r}$ Coldam Constable of Lyn, to Search for them --

Because he knew them, and when they Came to William

Edmonds, his house to Search, he Confessed to have a heifer

which we Looked for, which red heifer, was one of the Cattle --

that $m^{r}$ Bennet Senior & Benjamin Mussey & John Floyd, tooke

from offe $m^{r}$ Waldrons farme, & drove towards Old Goody

Chaddocks, and further Saith, that $m^{r}$ Waldron was not then

present, neither did give any order, that they Should have

the abovesaid Heifer, that he knows of and further Saith

not.

Sworne in Court January: 20th 1676/7:

as attest. Isa. Addington Cler[k]

Vera Copia attestr Isa. Addington Cler[k]

Historical & Contextual Breakdown

Dual Dating (1676/7): The date is written as "January 20th 1676/7". Under the old Julian calendar used by the English colonies at the time, the new year did not officially begin until March 25th. Thus, January was still considered part of 1676 legally, but historically corresponds to modern January 1677.

Key Historical Figures:

Isaac Addington: A prominent historical figure in colonial Massachusetts who served as a longtime Clerk and later as the Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Locations & Names: The document references local figures from the Lynn (Lyn) and Saugus area of Massachusetts, naming properties like "Bennets farme" and local citizens including Benjamin Mussey and John Floyd.

Legal Phrasing: The text concludes with classic legal Latin shorthand: "Vera Copia attestor", which translates to "Certified as a true copy".

Isaac Addington was a prominent colonial magistrate and long-serving politician who served as the Secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the notorious Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Rather than acting as a judge on the front lines, Addington functioned as the central administrative hub of the crisis, managing critical legal paperwork, coordinating arrests, and serving on the Grand Jury that formally indicted the defendants.

Biography Overview

Early Life: Born on January 22, 1644, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Isaac Addington Sr. and Anne Leverett. Through his mother, he was the nephew of Massachusetts Governor John Leverett. Early Career: Initially trained as a surgeon, he quickly shifted his focus to public administration, civic leadership, and law.

Political Rise: He became a member of the House of Deputies in 1685 and speaker the following year. Following the 1689 overthrow of Governor Edmund Andros, Addington was chosen as the Clerk of the Council of Safety.

The Secretariat: When the new provincial charter arrived in 1692, he was appointed the first official Secretary of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, a powerful lifetime administrative post he held until his death.

Judicial Peak: Later in life, he was appointed a Justice of the Peace and briefly served as the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature from 1702 to 1703. Death: He died in Boston on March 19, 1715, and is buried in the Granary Burying Ground.

Involvement in the Salem Witch Trials:

While names like John Hathorne and William Stoughton dominate the dark history of the trials, Addington played an indispensable structural role behind the scenes.

1. Pre-Trial Examination Participant Before the official Court of Oyer and Terminer was formed, Addington was part of the elite magistrate group that observed the initial, chaotic examinations of the accused. On April 11, 1692, he sat alongside Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth and Samuel Sewall to witness the interrogation of Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor. He bore firsthand witness to the "afflicted" children throwing fits in the courtroom.

2. Member of the Grand Jury Addington served directly on the Grand Jury convened in May 1692. His responsibility was evaluating whether the initial complaints and spectral evidence gathered by local officials carried enough weight to formally charge the defendants with the capital crime of witchcraft. The grand jury approved the indictments, clearing the path for the deadly trials to proceed.

3. Administrative Architect of the Court As the Colony's Secretary, Addington was the legal gatekeeper. All official documentation regarding the trials flowed through his Boston office. He processed: Mittimus Warrants: He received orders to commit major figures like Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, John Proctor, and Tituba to prison while they awaited trial. Official Correspondence: He managed communication with the prosecution, including letters from Attorney General Thomas Newton regarding the preparation of the Court of Oyer and Terminer. The New Charter: He was responsible for recording and issuing the very legal framework that established the courts handling the crisis.

Legacy and Historical Impact:

Because Addington's signature is pressed into dozens of surviving 1692 legal documents, his paperwork remains central to modern historical preservation. In fact, his historical footprint made headlines in 2000 when stolen 17th-century legal papers bearing his and Chief Justice William Stoughtons signatures were discovered being illegally saleed off online. Addington did not publicly repent for his role in the hysteria, unlike his contemporary Samuel Sewall. Instead, he retained his high-standing political reputation as a meticulous bureaucrat who kept the legal machinery of Massachusetts running even when that machinery was executing the innocent.

Sources: AI and relevant sourcese