Sarah Clayes (1638 – 1704) and her family were among the earliest settlers on Thomas Danforth’s land near Cowassock Brook in present day West Framingham. How they came to settle there is a very interesting story.
Sarah was born in 1638 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to William Towne and his wife Joanna Blessing Towne. Sarah married Edmund Bridges in 1659 or 1660. After Edmund died in 1682, she married Peter Cloyse and they settled in Salem Village. In 1692 in Salem, a group of young girls began to accuse some people of witchcraft. Among the accused were Sarah Cloyes’ sisters Rebecca Towne Nurse and Mary Towne Easty (Estey, Esty). During a Sabbath church service, the Reverend Parris began preaching against witchcraft and the accused witches, Sarah walked out of the meetinghouse, door slamming behind her. Soon thereafter, she too was accused of witchcraft by the young girls. One of her accusers claimed to have seen her specter (a ghostly appearance) curtsy to the devil outside the meetinghouse. On April 12, 1692, with Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth present as a member of a council which observed the proceedings at Salem, charges were brought against Sarah Cloyes and Elizabeth Proctor. They and several other accused witches were sent to jail in Boston to await their fate. Sarah’s sister, Rebecca Nurse, and the others were hanged. Mary Towne Easty was also imprisoned in April only to be released a month later when the young girls backed off on their accusations. She was re-imprisoned after her accusers stated that they were being tormented by her specter. Mary was sent to the gallows on September 22, 1692.
In August 1692, Sarah was transferred to jail in Ipswich to await her hanging. Her husband, Peter, was allowed to visit her while she was in jail. Sarah managed to escape from prison with his help and then she was hidden by friends for a time. In March 1693, Sarah and her family made their way to the Cowassock Brook area of Danforth’s land in what is now known as Framingham. Here they changed their last name to Clayes. Members of her extended family also made their way to Framingham. Included were her sons from her first marriage, Benjamin and Caleb Bridges, her husband’s sons from his first marriage, Peter Jr., and James Clayes, Rebecca Nurse’s son Benjamin and his family and other Towne family members. This area became known as Salem Plain and later as Salem End. Today, Salem End Road runs through the heart of the Salem End area.
Thomas Danforth was no longer Deputy Governor when the witch executions were carried out. He strongly disapproved of them, and worked behind the scenes to put them to an end. It is not known if he helped Sarah Clayes in any way to escape from jail and make her way to his land in present day Framingham.
Five houses built by these families from Salem still stand today. They are: the Peter & Sarah Clayes House (c1693), the Nurse Homestead (c1694), and the Israel Towne House (c1717) on Salem End Road; the Caleb Bridges House (c1700) on Gates Road; and the John Towne House (c1704) on Maple Street.
The home of Sarah and Peter was restored in 2017-2018 and placed on the market in December 2018. The 5 bedroom, 2.5 bath has immense character and boosts secret doors and spaces that speak to it’s long and fascinating history.
Facts
Alternate spelling of her name: *Cloyes *Cloyce *Clayce
Salem Witch Trials: February 1692 – May 1693.
Further Reading
Boras, Tracey. The Salem Witch Trials. Capstone Press, 2004.
Brooks, Rebecca Beatrice. “History of the Salem Witch Trials.” History of Massachusetts. August 18, 2011 http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/ Accessed 20 Feb. 2017.
Dolan, Edward F. The Salem Witch Trials. Benchmark Books, 2002.
Kallen, Stuart A. The Salem Witch Trials. Lucent Books, 1999.
Orr, Tamra. The Salem Witch Trials. Thomson Gale, 2004.
Bibliography
Fradin, Judith Bloom and Dennis Brindell Fradin. The Salem Witch Trials. Marshall Cavendish, 2009.
Herring, Stephen. Framingham: An American Town. Framingham Historical Society, The Framingham Tercentennial Commission, 2000.
“Salem witch trials.” Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 26 Jan. 2016. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Salem-witch-trials/65052. Accessed 20 Feb. 2017
Tuller, Roberta. “Sarah Towne Bridges Cloyes.” An American Family History. 2016. http://www.anamericanfamilyhistory.com/TowneFamily/TowneSarahBridgesCloyes.html Assessed 20 Feb. 2017.
Temple, Josiah H. History of Framingham, Massachusetts, 1640-1885. A special Centennial year reprinting of the 1887 edition, New England History Press, 1988.