by Stephanie Beecoff
In 1957, the 87-year old West Peabody school was put
up for sale. It was still sturdy but nobody wanted it. The reason the city
wanted to get rid of it was so as to avoid paying for the removal of the
school.
Finally, on September 26, 1957, the City Council voted that the old Kiley (West) School be sold to Peter Rubchinuk for the price of $165. Because the building was described as a "fire menace", Rubchinuk was responsible for leveling the building and removing it within sixty days.
Two years prior to the removal of the old Kiley (West) School, a one-story brick building was erected. It cost the city about $650,000 furnished.
The old West School was renamed the Kiley Brothers Memorial School before it closed. The Kiley Brothers School opened in 1955 and is still the same today.
Who were Ralph and Roger Kiley?
By Krista Monastiero
Ralph Kiley and his younger brother Roger were graduates of the West School. They were killed within a fortnight of one another while serving in the Pacific during the second World War. The West School was renamed in their honor in 1947.
Ralph Dana Kiley, age 22, was missing in action on January 29, 1945 and presumed dead. He was a 2-C U.S. Coast Guard Reserve and was missing following the explosion of an ammunition ship, the USS Sepens, that blew up near Guadalcanal in the South Pacific.
Ralph Kiley as married to Mary Stanton of North Reading. He entered the service in the fall of 1942 leaving his position at Munroe & Arnold, Merrit Express Company to enlist.
Corporal Roger G. Kiley, U.S. Maine Corp., died at the age of 21 due to wounds received while battling on the island of Iwo Jima. Roger was married to the former Phyllis Akerson of West Peabody. A graduate of Peabody High School, he played basketball and football. He worked at General Electric Co. in Lynn. When Roger died, his wife Phyllis moved to Oxnard, California.
Ralph and Roger Kiley's parents were Carl Kiley, a former Peabody city councilor, and Grave (Galeucia) Kiley. After their sons died, they moved from Lowell Street to 26 Johnson Street across from the current Kiley Brothers Memorial School. Carl Kiley was born in Burke, New York, son of William and Amelia Huntley Kiley.
Carl and Grace Kiley received the news of their son Roger's death by telegram. It read:
"I deeply regret to inform you that your son, Corporal Roger G. Kiley, USMCR died February 19, 1945 of wounds received in action at Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, in the performance of his duty and service of his country. When information is received regarding burial, you will be notified. To prevent possible aid to our enemies do not devulge the name of his ship or station. Please accept my heartfelt sympathy."
Dedication and re-dedication of school.
The original dedication ceremony for the Kiley School was in May, 1947. It was attended by Mayor Leo F. McGrath, Mayor Edward A. Coffey of Salem, members of the school board and city council and representatives of every veterans organization in the city. Superintendent of School William A. Welch was the principal speaker. Mrs. Mary McCormack, a lifelong resident of West Peabody, spoke of the boy hood days of the Kiley Brothers.
Cyrus Tenney, who designed and made the tablet upon which the bronze plaque was placed, presided at the exercises. This bronze plaque bears the inscription – "Roger and Ralph Kiley School. "This memorial is erected to the men and women of this community who served in the armed forces of this country in time of war."
The plaque was unveiled by George Goldsmith and Arthur Parrish, friends of Roger, and by John Rosa and Roland Kelley, friends of Ralph.
The plaque originally stood mounted on a rock in front of the old West/Kiley School. After the new school was built, the stone and marker were placed at the front of the school’s entrance. [Source: Peabody Times, September 1, 1955]
On November 7, 1997, the Kiley Brothers Memorial School was rededicated. Principal John Murtagh read a letter sent for the occasion by a former classmate of the Kiley brothers, Theodore R. Stocker – who is a veteran of WWII serving in the U.S. Navy on the USS Bradford in the Pacific. He wrote, "I grew up with the family, attended school, enjoyed their company in local school plays and all the West Peabody activities of the late 1920’s. Roger, an older brother, was a star baseball player in the twilight league – home games, always in the evenings, at what is now Ross Park. His dad was a former and forceful Councillor from West Peabody.
"The very ground that this Kiley Brothers Memorial School is built on was farmed by Carl. Roger and Ralph toiled, weeded, gathered crops on this land.
"Roger was a great tenor and entertained us at the old West School hall many times. Ralph was young and was just one of the guys – also a great ball player.
"When Pearl Harbor occurred both boys, as well as all us other young fellows, joined the war effort.
"Roger was a handsome Marine and Ralph was in the Navy. I was at Iwo Jima aboard a destroyer in for gunnery support when Roger landed on Iwo Jima and met his death. I heard that Roger was buried at sea."
See Also: Peabody-Lynnfield Weekly News, November 1997 (Appendix 1)
See Also: Related student essays, 1997 (Appendix 2)
By Stephanie Beecoff
The gymnasium at the Kiley Brothers Memorial School is named after the Taylor family. This is because some of the Taylor family’s land was taken by eminent domain to build the school in 1954.
The Taylor property encompassed the former farm of Martha and Giles Corey and was owned by Benjamin Taylor in 1847. John Wells in The Peabody Story reported that Taylor ploughed up the site of the Corey dwelling house. The Taylor family also later owned the Moulton lot, which was also within the original Corey land track.
In 1869, when a West School was built to accommodate students from three, ungraded grammar schools in West Peabody, the Taylor family donated the land for the school.
From History of Freemasonry in Danvers, 1778-1896, by D.A. Massey, p.298.
There is a plaque in the hall outside of the gym at the Kiley Brothers school today that was placed in honor of Captain George Washington Taylor, a Civil War hero. He was born in 1832. His parents were Eben M. and Mary A. (Twiss) Taylor.
He attended district schools, graduated from Peabody High School and attended an academy in Oxford, New Hampshire. He was a farmer in West Peabody and a U.S. mail agent.
In 1861, he enlisted as a private in the 4th Massachusetts Light Battery. One month later, he became a Second Lieutenant and became a First Lieutenant one year later. In 1862, the South Danvers Wizard reported that his name appeared on the sick list following the Battle of Baton Rouge.
In an account describing member of the Jordan Lodge of Freemason, it was reported that Taylor "participated in the capitulation of Forts Jackson and Philip on the Mississippi; in the battles of Maripas, Pass Manchac and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; under fire during the entire siege of Fort Hudson; witnessed the surrender of Gen. Gardner to Gen. Banks; in action at Carrion Crow Bayou and Vermilionville, Louisiana; at the siege of Mobile from its environment to its surrender, and took part in all the engagements there; then ordered to Texas.
"He is mentioned in Gen. Order No. 62, Dept. of the Gulf, for meritorious conduct in the battle of Baton Rouge; also publicly complimented by Gen. B. F. Butler at the review of the army, September, 1862 in Carrolton, Louisiana."
In 1865, he achieved the rank of Captain.
Captain George Taylor lived in the former Flint/King house across from Crystal Lake that is now occupied by the Lakeside School. After the war, he served as a street commissioner, on the Board of Health and as a town selectmen in 1877 and 1878.
The plaque in the hall at the school also mentions Bessie Taylor, a grand-daughter of Captain George Taylor. Bessie taught at the Kiley School for many years.
When the Taylor family land was taken for the school,
the family requested that all or most of the trees and the stone wall bordering
the property at the site remain. The stone wall is gone and in the westerly
corner of the lot, there is a huge, beautiful tree with spectacular autumn
foliage. When the request was made by the family, Dr. Moulton, a Taylor
family descendant said that the grown trees were planted by his grandfather.
Connection with Martha and Giles Corey.
By Krista Monastiero
Giles and Martha Corey were victims of the witchcraft delusion of 1692. They owned 300 acres of land. The Coreys lived on the site of the present "Whippen" house on Pine Street, between Route 1 and Johnson Street. Half of their 300 acres held the "Corey Farm". The farm was later subdivided and owned by Humphrey French, Nathaniel Howard, Robert Moulton and Henry Crosby.
Giles and Martha lived a normal life until the hysteria of 1692. People were not fond of Martha. She was charged with witchcraft and because she would not admit to being a witch she was hanged.
Giles Corey too would not admit to witchcraft and suffered the worst death of all; he was pressed to death by stones.
Corey had earned a bad reputation and was known to live a "scandalous life". In 1675, he beat a farm worker who later died of injuries. As punishment, Corey had to pay a heavy fine.
He had two wives, both of whom died, before he married Martha. Giles and Martha were married around 1685. He was arrested on April 19, 1692. "He refused to yield and died under this torture on September 18, 1692, a day after his Salem Church excommunicated him." [Source: The Devil hath been raised", by Richard B. Trask, page 125).
Martha Corey was born around the 1620's. Prior to her marriage with Giles, Martha married a rich man and was accepted into the church in1690. Martha had a reputation of being "a pious, intelligent but somewhat over-bearing woman."
She was not very well liked by the community and was an obvious candidate for a witch. When two of the girls became oddly ill, the town started having suspicions. With accusations flying, it would have been very difficult to believe that Martha would not be convicted.
She was excommunicated from the Salem church on September 14, 1692, four days after the death of her husband .
Her husband Giles was very confused by the situation and began thinking of Martha as having some witchery in her. He claims that when he tried to pray with his wife in the room, that he was unable to do so. He thought it was a "devilish influence" that caused this.
Three hundred years after Giles and Martha Corey were executed and buried in unmarked grave, the citizens of Peabody placed two markers on September 22, 1992 in commemoration of the witch hysteria victims. Crystal Lake, which is near to the Kiley Brothers school, was once part of the Corey property in Salem Farms.
The markers read as follows:
See Also: Martha Corey: The Gospel Woman (Appendix 3)
See Also: Witchcraft Accusations in Peabody (Appendix 4)
by Krista Monastiero
To get a more complete picture of what life was really like for Giles and Martha Corey, I wrote a diary that they may have kept.
Giles-
March, 1692
Our 300 acres of land is sure hard to keep up. I'm the only farm worker on the land and it's hard work, but right now that isn't my problem. Martha has been accused of being a witch. What am I to do?
March, 1692
It's funny, I'm finding it hard to pray when Martha is around. I'm so confused. Has everyone gone mad? . She's been arrested. Even I don't know if she's a witch or not. The police came again to ask more questions. I told them everything but now I'm not sure that was the right thing to do.
Martha -
March , 1692
Dear Diary,
Has everyone in this town turned insane? The town is going crazy over a few schoolgirls' accusations of witchcraft. I'm beginning to feel very nervous. I think the town is suspecting me. Everytime I go out, people look at me oddly and mothers won't let their children talk to me or even come near me. I'm getting very nervous.
Things are getting worse in the town of Salem. The girls are having fits, claiming that they can see the devil standing next to people.
When I went into my rooms to get my brush, Giles was praying. He looked up and did not continue and he gave me a frightened look. I just don't know what's going on. I am now starting to fear for my life.
April, 1692 - Salem Jail
I don't know what is happening. I love God and now I have been excommunicated from his church How dare they do that to me? Has everyone gone mad?
September 15, 1692
Today my dear Giles was accused and arrested on the charge of witchcraft. He is most likely to die. Giles will not lie and admit what they want him to.
September 18, 1692
Giles suffered the whole day. He was pressed to death by stone. What drives these peopld to do this? I love Giles dearly and I'll miss him very much.
September 22, 1692
Today my life will end. They have wrongly found me guilty of witchcraft and are going to hand. After all my hard year of praying and to God, he is going to let them hang me? Why?
Yours truly forever,
Martha
What unique relationship did the school have with the Peabody Institute Library?
In June 1956, the first branch library ever opened by the Peabody Institute since its founding in 1852 was dedicated at the Kiley Brothers Memorial School on Johnson Street.
"Room 14 today is a regular classroom," said Principal John Murtagh. "But, when this building was built in 1955, they didn’t have a library in West Peabody and they used Room 14 at the Kiley School as the main library. I believe that continued for about seven years and then they set up next to the Fire Station and then to a new building."
He said the room was built with an outside door to allow for use of the library during school hours. The library was also open some evenings. [Source: Interview with Murtagh, Feb. 1998]
Thomas McLaughlin was the night library and Mrs. King was the new day librarian.
[Source: Peabody Times, 6/7/1956]
"We still go over the library quite often ourselves, especially now with the school’s Accelerated Reader program," said Murtagh. "It’s a two minute walk and they’re very nice to us over there. Plus, they come here once in awhile and give us lectures, too."
From the Peabody-Lynnfield Weekly News, November 1997
Kiley Brothers School Re-Dedicated
by S.M. Smoller
PEABODY - Last week, four days before Veterans Day, local government officials and veterans taught fourth and fifth grade students at Kiley School about the lives and sacrifices of the namesakes of their school: Ralph and Roger Kiley, who died within days of each other in the South Pacific during World War II.
"It makes us ever mindful of how lucky we are to live in a free country that was made free for us by people who are sitting here and people who are not here because of making the supreme sacrifice," said Mayor Peter Torigian.
"I think one of the most important things we could possibly do is to reaffirm the naming of this school. It is most important because what you have is really a direct result of the sacrifice all the veterans made," said Superintendent Louis Perullo. "The sacrifices the Kiley brothers made were really supreme. They could give no more. They gave their lives...Always remember this school is named after two great people, two common people, two young boys, 22 and 25 years old."
The five boys in the Kiley family grew up working on their family farm off Lowell Street in West Peabody. Torigian said as a youth in the 1940’s he too worked on the Kiley farm picking vegetables earning 25 cents an hour, $12 a week.
After the family’s horsedrawn wagon was replaced with a truck, the produce would be thrown up onto the truck bed by Roger, who had a muscular build, his sister-in-law Virginia Kiley remembered last week.
The Kiley brothers attended West School, then located where the West Congregational Church sits on Johnson Street. They were involved in plays and liked to play sports. Ralph was a good tenor. Roger cultivated a strawberry garden and was a star baseball player in the Twilight League. They both graduated from Peabody High School, started careers and married before enlisting in the fall of 1942.
After high school, Roger worked for General Electric Company in Lynn. When he was 22 years old, he had to have his leg adjusted by an osteopath in order to pass physical requirements for enlistment. He joined the Marine Corps and left his wife, Phyllis, for training. He was sent overseas early in 1943 where he participated in Marine attacks on Saipan, Tarawa and other battles in the South Pacific.
Ralph started a career at Munroe & Arnold-Merrit Express in Salem after high school. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and was stationed on special guard duty at military bases in the United States until May, 1944. He married his long-time girlfriend, Mary Stanton, after being told there was little likelihood he would be sent overseas. His orders to go overseas arrived shortly thereafter and he had to leave his new bride.
A photograph included in the display about the Kiley brothers created by the Peabody Historical Society, shows the two men, smiling, and posing in their backyard near the Rolling Hills subdivision during the summer of 1944. Before the men reported overseas, they saw each other for the last time while on furlough.
Virginia Kiley said that Ralph had a favorite pig, "Minnie", and that he brought a picture of "Minnie" with him and would mount it at his bunk the way other soldiers adorned their space with posters of pin-up girls. On January 27, 1945, Ralph wrote to his mother saying that "he was well and everything was quiet" from his post on the USS Serpens in the South Pacific near Guadalcanal.
Two days later, the Kiley family received the sad news that Ralph was reported missing in action following the explosion of the USS Serpens. The cause of the destruction of the ship, which was heavily loaded with ammunition, was not known.
Another Peabody youth who knew Ralph Kiley was stationed on Guadalcanal on the day of the explosion. Lena Styles, who also attended the dedication ceremony last week, was serving as an Army nurse and watched the ship blow up without knowing that Ralph was on board. "I didn’t know until I got home," she said. "The ship went up in the sign of a cross."
Eleven days after learning that Ralph was missing in action, the Kiley family learned that Roger fell with others in the fourth wave of Marines to arrive on Iwo Jima.
On February 9, 1945, Roger died "of wounds received while leading a working party in transporting ammunition from the beach on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands to his gun position. Until he was mortally wounded, Roger continually exposed himself to Japanese artillery and rocket fire to insure the uninterrupted firing of the machine gun at a critical time."
Virginia Kiley said that Roger was killed by a cannonball to the chest hurled by Japanese soldiers in foxholes. Corporal Roger G. Kiley was awarded the Bronze Star posthumously for his "brave aggressiveness and unyielding devotion to duty."
At the ceremony last week, 80-year-old Virginia Kiley recalled the sad ceremony and 21-gun salute thirty years ago when the school was dedicated to the men’s memory.
She said that her mother and father-in-law, Carl and Grace Kiley, moved from their Lowell Street home after the boys died and moved to a house across from the school on Johnson Street before it was named in honor of their sons. The ground where the Kiley School is situated was once cultivated as part of the Kiley farm.
Kiley School Principal John Murtagh said, "Remember, Veterans Day is a day to behold and say thank you."
The school department, Historical Commission and Veterans Council organized the re-dedication the school. The ceremony was an opportunity for students to learn the meaning of marking "a moment of silence", to hear from two classmates on the meaning of liberty and courage, and to sweetly sing "America" to conclude the observance.
In addition to ceremonies, the following biographical sketches of the brothers were written by Ann Birkner of the Peabody Historical Society and included in the program for the event.
Roger Gardiner Kiley was born on June 1, 1920 in Salem, Massachusetts and grew up on the family farm in West Peabody. He was educated at the West School and attended Peabody High School where he played baseball and football. Roger was employed at General Electric Company in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Roger enlisted in the Marine Corps in September, 1942 and received his training at Paris Island, South Carolina and Camp Pendleton, California. He was sent overseas early in 1943 and participated in Marine attacks on Saipan, Tarawa and other battles in the South Pacific. On February 9, 1945, he died of wounds received while leading a working party in transporting ammunition from the beach on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands to his gun position. Until he was mortally wounded, Roger continually exposed himself to Japanese Artillery and rocket fire to insure the uninterrupted firing of the machine gun at a critical time.
Corporal Roger G. Kiley was awarded the Bronze Star posthumously for his "brave aggressiveness and unyielding devotion to duty." He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.
Ralph Dana Kiley was born March 16, 1922 in Salem, Massachusetts. Like his brother, he grew up on the family farm on Lowell Street and attended the West School and Peabody High School. He left his position at Munroe & Arnold-Merritt Express, Inc. in Salem when in the fall of 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard. Ralph’s service record included being stations on special guard duty at Brooklyn Navy Yard and at bases at several other locations. In May, 1944, he received his orders to go overseas.
On January 29, 1945, Ralph Dana Kiley, Seaman First Class, was reported Missing in Action. Ralph together with approximately two hundred of his comrades were aboard the USS Serpens in the South Pacific near Guadalcanal when it exploded. The ship was heavily loaded with ammunition. Two days before the explosion, Ralph had written a letter to his mother saying that "he was well and everything was quiet."
From the Peabody-Lynnfield Weekly News, Peabody news in brief, Nov.1997
Efforts to educate students to the importance of the flag and to honor veterans have been undertaken by the Peabody Veterans Council. Chairman Gerard Boutin and a contingent of numerous local Veterans groups have been involved in ceremonies this fall to re-dedicate two schools in memory of the veterans for which they are named.
Last month, the marker commemorating Daniel Francis Keefe was restored to the former Keefe School on Washington Street and last week the Kiley School was rededicated in memory of Ralph and Roger Kiley.
Following the ceremonies during an open forum, guests fielded questions from students - some of which seemed unrelated to the purpose of the gathering and others illustrating a curiosity and interest in learning more about military history.
One student, perhaps a budding political analyst, seized the moment to quiz newly re-elected Mayor Peter Torigian as to his future plans, asking, "Do you count on being Mayor again?"
After offering the fellow a salute, Torigian said, "At least 26 more months." Then he asked, "Could I get his name to sign up for the campaign?"
Another student asked," Is it hard being Mayor?" Torigian said it was not hard and told the students gathered to honor veterans, "This is the best part of being Mayor."
The ceremonies also included speeches written by students at the Kiley School on the meaning of liberty and courage.
Fifth grader Chantal Horgan said, "The United States of America is a symbol of liberty throughout the entire world. But what is liberty? To me, liberty is the right of everyone to responsibly do and say whatever we wish.
"It is the right to practice our different opinions, and simply be different from others without the fear that anyone, especially government, will interfere in our lives.
"The many liberties that we enjoy are free so along with these comes an awesome call to duty: a duty to protect these precious liberties whenever or wherever it becomes necessary and protect them against people who would take them away from us or other free people in the world. "More than fifty years ago two brave men who were brothers heard this call to duty. Ralph and Roger Kiley gave up their lives so that you, I and the entire world could continue to enjoy those liberties that other brave Americans also fought and died for beginning with the American Revolutionary War. Today, our own personal defenders of liberty are those brave brothers from Peabody, Ralph and Roger Kiley."
Joshua Shalin, a fourth grader, said, "I think courage is a special gift that was given for some people for bravery. When we do something brave, we get the gift and we use it do things that are scary to us. When you get courage, you never lose it.
"We celebrate Veterans Day to honor the brave and courageous
people that fought for our country. It must have taken a lot of courage
for George Washington be a General and fight in the Revolutionary War.
The Kiley brothers also showed great courage fighting for our country.
"You can use courage to do things like meeting new people or going somewhere
you’ve never gone before. Sometimes you need courage when you’re trying
to learn something and it’s very hard to do. Some people wish more than
anything else in the world that they had courage. The only way to get courage
is to face your fears. Most people are too scared to do that but some people
face their fears and get their courage. Courage is a very special gift."
Speech, 1992 Tercentenary Memorial, S.M. Smoller, Peabody Women’s History Project
Martha Corey – The Gospel Woman
The most challenging writing assignment I have ever had was to boil down the lives of 300-year-old martyrs into twenty words or less, and then have those words literally cast in stone. It was very difficult to decide on the words that would paint just the right hue of Martha’s remarkableness.
The list of adjectives I encountered was long and colorful. "A stout professor of the faith." "A newcomer from Salem Towne." "Unpopular." "Overbearing." "Opinionated." "Outspoken." She is described as having "the misfortune of being always right" and that no one ever forgave her for that.
There are several stories about her visit from the church elders and her statements during the court examination are well documented. She said, "I have nothing to do with witchcraft," and when asked if she believed there are "Witches in the countrey", she replied, "I do not know that there is any."
She denied the charges and laughed at the accusations. Her skepticism bordered on heresy. The fact that she had hid Gile’s saddle in an attempt to prevent him from attending the witch proceedings didn’t help either. Or, what seemed her uncanny ability to "take the words out of someone’s mouth". These characteristics became attributed to clairvoyance and they proved self-incriminating.
At her examination, she proclaimed, "I am an innocent person: I never had to do with witchcraft since I was born. I am a Gospel woman."
My favorite Martha story as told by Marion Starkey, author of The Devil in Massachusetts, has to do with her being served with a warrant on Saturday, March 19 for her arrest on Monday. That meant she could go to church on Sunday. In fact, she went to both the morning and afternoon services. Stakey wrote, "The Witch Corey had also come to meeting. In full knowledge that on the morrow she would stand there in ignominy facing a hellish charge. The woman had come to church and taken her place among good Christians. That she should dare so much was an affront to all decency. The congregation could hardly keep its eye off her: the afflicted girls were all but forgotten in the scandal of her temerity, but not for long. Martha could have come only for the express purpose of defying God before his very altar. Now, before the eyes of the congregation, she began to work on the children. Invisibly, of course, all that the naked eye could see was the sturdy bulk of the woman sitting upright and quiet as any decent body; but all the while her incorporeal essence, her Shape, darted among the children, pinching and choking."
Starkey said, "Every face in the congregation turned to gape at her. Martha alone looked straight ahead of her and even now the woman had the effrontery to smile."
The afflicted girls reacted physically to her every movement. One of them threw he muff and then threw her shoe and hit 60-year-old Martha in the head. She endured. When the congregation reminded her that she must return to this place tomorrow to stand before her accusers, she replied, "I will open the eyes of the magistrate and the ministers." Open their eyes to her innocence.
During her brutal interrogation, the court repeatedly quizzed Martha around the theme, "Did not you say our eyes were blinded, you would open them?" To which, she laughed. Towards the end of her examination in the Meeting House, she began to answer the question, saying, "What can I do? Many rise up against me. Why confess?…" and, "When all are against me what can I help it."
She must have heard the constables coming through the woods of Salem Farms while her fingers steadfastly worked the spinning wheel in front of the kitchen fire. She told them she knew why they had come on that cold March night. "Martha Corey was not the kind of martyr to suffer in silence," wrote Starkey.
Since I moved to West Peabody seven years ago, I keep tripping over these great stories about women from the past and I am intrigued that so often the stories that survive are those of women who accomplished something first – women who flew in the face of convention. Mary Upton Ferrin of West Peabody was the first woman to petition the legislature for women’s rights. Martha has her distinguished list of firsts too.
Martha Rich Corey of Salem Farms was the first member of the church to be accused and arrested. She was also the first victim honored following the hysteria, when the new parish Reverend, Joseph Green, asked the congregation to revoke her excommunication in 1703 so she became the first source of healing for the community.
Four years after the trials were over, twelve of the jurors who sat in judgement of the victims acknowledged their own error in an extraordinary statement that read in part: We confess that we ourselves were not capable to understand nor able to withstand, the mysterious delusions of the Powers of Darkness and Prince of the Air….Whereby, we fear, we have been instrumental with others, though ignorant and unwittingly, to bring upon ourselves and this people of the Lord the guilt of innocent blood."
To pious and outspoken Martha Corey, a martyr of the witch hysteria of Salem Village in 1692, who was hanged 300 years ago today, we present this memorial stone that reads, "I am an innocent person…A Gosple Woman" and "She laught and denied it."
From the Peabody Times "Peabody’s Past" column by Ann Zaorski Birkner
Birkner, of the Peabody Historical Society, was a featured
speaker at the Tercentenary commemoration in September 1992.
Witchcraft accusations in Peabody
I feel a close tie with Giles and Martha Corey, two local victims of the witchcraft hysteria. The 150-acre Corey Farm included land south of Crystal Lake and on both sides of Johnson Street. So if I lived in Salem Village (now West Peabody) in 1692, our families would have been neighbors.
Born in England in about 1619, Giles Corey was more than 90 at the time of the hysteria. While Corey’s neighbor, John Proctor, had prospered and enjoyed a relatively untarnished reputation, the older Giles Corey was a man who seemed to enjoy making trouble. Giles was a man of "great independence of character, careless of conventionalities and hardened by the severities of farm life."
He and John Proctor were recorded as opponents in various disputes. Corey was accused of beating one of his workmen to death for which he was fined by the court in 1676. In 1678, he was suspected of setting fire to Proctor’s house, but was found innocent. Corey countered this accusation with a legal one of his own. He was awarded damages from Proctor and others for defamation of character.
Martha Corey, wife of cantankerous Giles Corey, was a devout churchgoer. She was considered a pillar of Reverend Samuel Parris’ congregation from which the hysteria sprung. Though only a year had passed since she was received into the village congregation from her former communion in Salem Towne, she was already an unpopular personage. Opinionated and outspoken, Martha had the misfortune of being always right, for which no one forgave her.
Skeptical of the examination of the accused, Martha had prevented Giles from attending the examination of several accused witches when she hid his horse’s saddle. Her skepticism about the witchcraft goings-on was said to border on heresy and became her downfall.
When accusation of witchcraft were made against Martha Corey, two village citizens went to her West Peabody home. Her innocent sprightly conversation was judged as proof of her guilt and considered as evidence against her. When she later appeared at Thomas Putnam’s home, one of the girls fell into fits and declared that her sufferings were caused by Goodwife Corey. Upon this evidence, a warrant was issued for her arrest on March 19, 1692. At her examination, Martha Corey conducted herself in a right and fearless manner, hardly realizing the danger in which she stood. Some accusations made her laugh which was though as "convincing proof of devilish lightmindness."
Giles Corey was induced to give evidence against his wife. He had thought she was a witch and freely said so, though in reality he knew her to be a good and pious woman. Like John Proctor, who became entangled in the hysteria because of accusations against his wife, and his own intolerance toward what was happening, Giles Corey was himself charged with witchcraft.
He was examined on April 19, 1692 with the accusers falling into their usual fits and grievous pains while claiming the accused to be the cause. While asserting his innocence, Corey likely suffered much in his mind as he had a share though considered lukewarm, in promoting the case against his wide. Also, members of his own family sympathized with those who accused him of witchcraft.
When requested to plead, Corey stubbornly refused to respond and nothing would shake his stubborn determination. On September 19, 1692, Giles Corey was taken to an open field near Salem jail, and heavy stones were piled upon him while he still refused to plead. He died two days later. Tradition says that one of the torturous stones is buried in the vicinity of Goodale Street and Helen Drive, West Peabody.
Martha Corey declared her innocence to the end and went with a prayer on her lips to the gallows on September 22, 1692.
All of the witchcraft victims had their individual stories.
With the hindsight of 300 years we can surmise why the community chose
to persecute them. Like many, the Coreys had made enemies of their neighbors
and seemed likely targets of the hatred that was rampant that terrible
year. Perhaps it is time to pay tribute to them with a memorial plaque
in the vicinity of Crystal Lake?