Giles Corey facts for kids

Giles Corey (bapt. 16 August 1611 – 19 September 1692) was an English farmer, petty thief, and tried murderer who was accused of witchcraft along with his wife Martha Corey during the Salem witch trials. After being arrested, Corey refused to enter a guilty or not guilty plea. He was executed. Because Corey refused to enter a plea, his estate passed on to his sons instead of being seized by the local government.

Corey is believed to have died in the field adjacent to the prison that had held him, in what later became the Howard Street Cemetery in Salem, which opened in 1801. His exact grave location in the cemetery is unmarked and unknown. There is a memorial plaque to him in the nearby Charter Street Cemetery.

Pre-trial history

Giles Corey was born in Northampton, England. He was baptized in the church of the Holy Sepulchre on 16 August 1611. Giles was the son of Giles and Elizabeth Corey. His birth is recorded in the parish records. His name is quite often spelled "Corey," but the baptismal record is "Cory." It is not certain when he arrived in North America, but there is evidence he was living in Salem Town as early as 1640. He originally lived in Salem Town but later moved to nearby Salem Village (now Danvers) to work as a farmer. There are quite a few entries in the court documents for which he was charged and confessed, mainly petty theft. Charges ranged from sleeping on the watch (and once having his weapon stolen from him while doing so), collecting a canoe load of firewood while on watch, and stealing food, tobacco, knives, and several other small items.

Despite these charges, Corey was a prosperous land-owning farmer in Salem and married three times. He is believed to have married his first wife, Margaret, in England. Margaret was the mother of his eldest four children: Martha, Margaret, Deliverance, and Elizabeth. His second wife was Mary Bright; they were married on 11 April 1664, when Corey was 53 years old, and had a son named John.

In 1676, Corey was brought to trial and charged with murder in Essex County, Massachusetts, for killing one of his indentured farm workers, Jacob Goodale (also spelled "Goodell" or "Goodall"), son of Robert and Catherine Goodale and brother to Isaac Goodale. The local coroner, as well as numerous witnesses and eyewitnesses, testified against Corey, including neighbor John Proctor, who testified that he heard Corey admit he had beaten Goodale. Since corporal punishment was permitted against indentured servants, Corey was exempt from the charge of murder and instead was charged with using "unreasonable" force for which he was found guilty and fined.

Corey's neighbor, John Proctor also accused Corey of the arson of his home. Later, one of Proctor's sons confessed. Corey's second wife, Mary Bright, died in 1684. Corey later married his third wife, Martha Rich. Martha was admitted to the church at Salem Village, where Giles had lived. At the time of the witch trials, Corey was 80 years old and living with Martha in the southwest corner of Salem Village, in what is now Peabody.

Arrest, examination, and refusal to plead

Martha Corey was arrested for witchcraft on 19 March 1692. Corey was so swept up by the trials that he initially believed the accusations against his wife until he himself was arrested based on the same charge on 18 April, along with Mary Warren, Abigail Hobbs, and Bridget Bishop. The following day, they were examined by the authorities, during which Hobbs accused Giles of being a wizard. Giles denied the accusations and refused to plead (guilty or not guilty), was sentenced to prison, and subsequently arraigned at the September sitting of the court.

Death

According to the law at the time, a person who refused to plead could not be tried. To avoid people cheating justice, the legal remedy for refusing to plead was "peine forte et dure".

Memorial marker in Salem, Massachusetts

Samuel Sewall's diary states, under the date of Monday, 19 September 1692:

Since Corey refused to plead, he died in full possession of his estate, which would otherwise have been forfeited to the government. It was passed on to his two sons-in-law in accordance with his will.

Aftermath

Corey's wife Martha was executed three days later on 22 September 1692. She had a son from a previous marriage named Thomas; he showed up as a petitioner for loss and damages resulting from his mother being executed illegally during the witch trials. He was awarded £50 on 29 June 1723.

The gruesome and public nature of Corey's death may have caused residents of Salem to rethink their support for the witch trials. Giles was absolved of the crime in 1712. Martha was not.

Despite Corey's efforts to protect his estate by refusing to plead, Corwin still attempted to extort money from Corey's heirs after the witch trials. In 1710, Corey's daughter Elizabeth and her husband John Moulton filed a lawsuit seeking damages from Corwin. Her statement to the court read, "After our father's death, the sheriff threatened to seize our father's estate, and for fear, that we complied with him and paid him eleven pounds six shillings in money."

Legacy

Legends

"Father Father", illustration accompanying Giles Cory, Yeoman, a play by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume LXXXVI, 1893.

According to a local legend, the apparition of Corey appears and walks his graveyard each time a disaster is about to strike the city. Notably, he was said to have appeared the night before the Great Salem Fire of 1914. The position of Sheriff of Essex County was also said to have suffered from the "curse of Giles Corey," as the holders of that office, since Corwin, had either died or resigned as a result of heart or blood ailments (Corwin died of a heart attack in 1696). The curse was said to have been broken when the sheriff's office was moved from Salem to Middleton in 1991.

Literature

Corey is the subject of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow play entitled Giles Corey of the Salem Farms and an 1893 play, Giles Corey, Yeoman, by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman.

See also

In Spanish: Giles Corey para niños