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<h1 align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial">IN
SEARCH OF JUSTICE: <br>
THE STRANGE ORDEAL AND TRIUMPH OF NICHOLAS JENNINGS</span></b></h1>
<p align="center" style="text-align:center"><font face="Arial" size="2">Nicholas
E. Hollis<br>
All Rights Reserved</font></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Three
hundred, seventy-six years ago my Jennings ancestors were arriving in the New
World.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Some came as early
as 1634 resolute in their desire to carve a better future away from
England�s repression and turmoil, especially during the Cromwell era.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Certain Jennings lines were well-established, even prominent, in
the 16<sup>th</sup> and 17<sup>th</sup> century England, but those who
ventured across the Atlantic were of a particularly hardy and
independent strains.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The
strict Puritanism of Massachusetts Bay Colony held little appeal for
Jennings family members who first appeared in the Connecticut Colony.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Twenty-two
year-old Nicholas Jennings arrived in New England in 1634 aboard the
�Francis� sailing from Ipswich.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>He was among the first settlers of Hartford on the Connecticut
River along with his father, John, and younger brothers,
<a href="Sunrise%20at%20Trenton.htm">John</a> and
<a href="Oldest%20Alamo%20Hero.htm">Joshua</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
The father and brothers apparently arrived from England a year after
Nicholas in 1635.
</span>The family was apparently strapped for finances and were not
recorded as among the �proprietors� of Hartford.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>By 1636 the town had nearly 800 settlers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>John was a chimney sweeper and was provided land courtesy of the
town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Young Nicholas served in
the Pequot Wars (1636-1637) under Captain John Mason and was apparently
liked by his commander. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">In the late
1630s Nicholas was awarded land in the Soldiers Field at Hartford and
began building a home of his own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But
he gave up the project and moved to New Haven where he was attracted to
a young, indentured servant named Margaret Bedford, who worked in the
household of one of the town�s leaders, Captain Turner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Margaret was working off her passage fare with a four-year debt,
but the young couple decided to run off together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>They were apprehended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Nicholas
was brought before the court on March 3, 1643, charged with fornication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>He was found guilty and severely whipped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Margaret was found guilty of similar charges as well as theft of
some household items on April 7, 1643.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>She was severely whipped and ordered by the court to marry
Nicholas Jennings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He was
then ordered to make restitution to Captain Turner for Margaret�s
remaining indentured labor and to repay with double value those items
which Margaret had taken.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Despite the
rough start, the Jennings couple settled down in New Haven where
Margaret returned to working in the home of Captain Turner until he
disappeared on a business trip crossing the Atlantic in January 1646.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Hoping for a fresh start, the couple left New Haven, moving
to Hartford where John Jennings (father of Nicholas) was dying. Upon his
death Nicholas and his brother, Joshua, sold their father�s property
and lands.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Lack of
social standing and possibly problems in New Haven continued to stalk
Nicholas Jennings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In March
1647 he was called before a court and punished for allegedly striking a
neighbor�s cow.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Victimized
for youthful indiscretions and recognizing a stacked deck was building
against him, Nicholas retreated to Saybrook at the mouth of the
Connecticut River where he bought land next to his former commander,
Captain John Mason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He and
Margaret lived there peacefully until 1661 when they were caught up in
the spreading psychological hysteria known as the witchcraft trials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The reign of terror started in Hartford and swept down the
valley.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Neighbors with grudges, card-playing, drinking, virtually any
perceived dispute between generations or sexes could trigger a deadly
allegation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In the Jennings
case, a neighbor (George Wood) unhappy over a land dispute, pointed the
finger at Margaret on behalf of his wife � and soon both Nicholas and
Margaret were on trial for their lives.<a href="#1/" name="1 return">/1</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The court eventually found the couple not guilty, but did not
clear them either.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The three
Jennings children � Martha, <a href="Sunrise%20at%20Trenton.htm">John</a>, and Joseph � were separated from
their parents by the court and apprenticed out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Martha was examined and found not to be pregnant, as had been
alleged. <a name="2 return" href="#2/">/2</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Nicholas
Jennings, bloodied but unbowed, continued to reside in Saybrook.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Clearly, he had decided to make his stand with his family there
(also he apparently owned property east of the Connecticut River near
modern-day Lyme)
� and, in any case, there was no easy way out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The witchcraft hysteria grew more deadly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>In Hartford, over the next four years, 17 more people were
accused, and 4 were executed.<a href="#3 return">/3</a> The societal
insanity reached its climax at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 during a
six-month period (May through October) 19 people were indiscriminately
accused and hung � with many more persecuted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>The panic ended abruptly as public opinion changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>Witchcraft trials were halted, and then condemned, but the damage
had been done.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Nicholas
Jennings lived until 1673, one year longer than his neighbor and
commander, Major John Mason (elevated rank after the Pequot War).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>As veterans, the two probably had some gruesome stories to swap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>It was a rough frontier, and the enemies were not always the
Indians. The gravesite of Jennings has not been located.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">Other
Jennings, notably Joshua (probably his brother) and John (father), were
among the founders of Fairfield, Connecticut in 1639 with Roger Ludlow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>About forty years later <a href="cornerstone_for_courage.htm">Stephen
Jennings</a> of Hatfield, Massachusetts, achieved legendary status for
his daring rescue expedition, tracking an Indian raiding party which had
kidnapped his wife and daughters into Canada.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</span>He arranged their ransom and negotiated their safe return to
Massachusetts in 1677-78 with French military escort!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">The
personal ordeals of Nicholas Jennings and the unrelenting assaults on
his reputation (and that of his family), endured for years, place his
descendants in some rarified company.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Among
other direct descendants of the Connecticut witchcraft trials were Sir
Winston Churchill, wartime prime minister of Great Britain (whose mother
was an American named Randolph), and Noah Webster, a famous American
author and lexiographer.<a href="#4/" name="4 return">/4</a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial">___________________________________________________________________________________</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"><a name="1/" href="#1 return"><sup>1/</sup></a>
Harriet Chapman Chesebrough<i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">,
Glimpses of Saybrook in Colonial Days</i>, (1984) p.142.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"><a name="2/" href="#2 return"><sup>2/</sup></a>
Tomlinson, R.G.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">The Witchcraft Trials of Connecticut</i> (1978), p. 25.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"><a name="3 return" href="#3 return"><sup>3/</sup></a>
Ibid, p. 26.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:Arial"><a name="4/" href="#4 return"><sup>4/</sup></a>
Ibid, p. 72.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0; margin-bottom: 0"><font size="2">See also <i>
<a href="http://www.damnedct.com/nicholas-and-margaret-jennings/">
Nicholas and Margaret Jennings</a></i></font></p>
<p style="text-autospace: none; margin-left: 36.75pt" align="center"><font face="Arial" size="2"><b>Jennings Heritage
Project<i><br>
</i></b>P.O. Box 5565 - Washington DC 20016</font></p>
<p style="text-autospace: none; margin-left: 36.75pt" align="center"><font face="Arial" size="2">Tel: (202) 296-4563<br>
Email: <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a> </font></p>
<p style="text-autospace: none" align="center">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; font-family: Arial">
<a href="http://www.agribusinesscouncil.org/heritage.htm">
www.agribusinesscouncil.org/heritage.htm</a></span></p>
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