Bartholomew Gedney (June 14, 1640 – February 28, 1698)''Collections of the

Maine Historical Society The Maine Historical Society (MHS) is the official historical society of the U.S. state of Maine. It is located at 489 Congress Street in downtown Portland. The Society currently operates the Wadsworth-Longfellow House, a National Historic Land ...

'', Volume 2 (1902), p. 179 was a merchant, physician, military officer, and native of

Salem Salem may refer to: Places Canada * Salem, Ontario, various places Germany * Salem, Baden-Württemberg, a municipality in the Bodensee district ** Salem Abbey (Reichskloster Salem), a monastery * Salem, Schleswig-Holstein Israel * Salem (B ...

Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around Massachusetts Bay, one of the several colonies later reorganized as the Province of M ...

. He is best known as one of the

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

s in the

Salem witchcraft trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Not everyone who was accused during that time ...

Life

Bartholomew Gedney was born in

in the

. His father, John Gedney, was one of Salem's founders and leading citizens, and Bartholomew followed in his father's footsteps. He served as a selectman of the town, and was involved in the local militia, rising to the rank of colonel. He was offered command of an expedition against

Port Royal Port Royal () was a town located at the end of the Palisadoes, at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, in southeastern Jamaica. Founded in 1494 by the Spanish, it was once the largest and most prosperous city in the Caribbean, functioning as the cen ...

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

, in 1690, but refused. In 1674, while a resident of

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland, Maine, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, Maine, North Yarmouth, it was part of the Massachusetts ...

, he went into business with Englishman Henry Sayward. They built the town's first grist mill at the First Falls. He also built two sawmills. Gedney was present at several of the examinations and later served as a member of the

Court of Oyer and Terminer In English law, oyer and terminer (; a partial translation of the Anglo-French , which literally means 'to hear and to determine') was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. Apart from its Law French name, the commission was also ...

. He was present at the examination of his friend

John Alden John Alden ( – September 12, 1687) was an English politician, settler, and cooper, best known for being a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the ''Mayflower'' which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth ...

on May 31, 1692, in Salem Village. When Gedney saw how the afflicted girls cried out that Alden tormented them, he told Alden that he had "always look'd upon him to be an honest Man, but now he did see cause to alter his judgment." Alden generously replied that he was sorry for that and hoped in time to recover Gedney's good opinion; the following year Alden, who had escaped from prison and fled, possibly to Duxbury and was declared innocent by proclamation. The Gedney House, which still stands in Salem, was constructed by his brother Eleazar.

References

Sources

''History of Essex County''
Government officials in the Salem witch trials Merchants from colonial Massachusetts 1640 births 1698 deaths {{Salem-stub