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| The SLEEPER Memorial Stone at Founder's Park, Hampton, New Hampshire |
SLEEPER
Thomas Sleeper came to Hampton, New Hampshire around 1640 as
a weaver. He received a grant of land in
1646. He built his home on Shaw’s Hill,
in a part of town that was remote from the other residents. This part of
Hampton was once known as Sleepertown or Sleepytown. In November 1675 several Indians were seen
trying to burn down his home in Hampton, but the plot was thwarted. Later he bought land in Kingston where his
descendants lived.
His wife, Joanna, was a witness twice against Goodwife
Eunice Cole “Goody Cole”, the only woman convicted of witchcraft in New
Hampshire. On 4 September 1656 she
testified that she had seen a black cat torture a man in his sickbed on the
same evening when Goodwife Cole had been there at noon. And in October 1656 she testified with Thomas
Moulton’s wife that they had been talking about Goodwife Cole when they heard
mysterious scraping noises outside the window.
Eunice Cole was found guilty and sentenced to be flogged and imprisoned
for the rest of her life in Boston.
Since the Cole family was impoverished they could not pay
for Goody Cole’s jail boarding. The town
was ordered to pay instead. Eventually
she was released from jail because the town of Hampton figured that it was less
expensive to pay her charity to live at home than to pay her jail fees. She
died impoverished and in abject poverty.
A memorial stone was dedicated to Goody Eunice Cole at the Green
Memorial Park in Hampton on 17 August 1963.
See this link for another blog post about a famous SLEEPER
descendant, Henry Davis Sleeper (1878 – 1934), architect and designer of
Beauport Mansion in Gloucester, Massachusetts
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| Henry Davis SLEEPER's Beauport Mansion, Gloucester, Massachusetts |
Some SLEEPER resources:
Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire, 1623 – 1660, by Charles
Henry Pope, 1908, page 191.
The History of the Town of Hampton, by Joseph Dow, 1893, Volume 1, page 220
Witch Hunting in Seventeenth Century New England: A Documentary History,
by David D. Hall, page 214.
Robert Sleeper, Sr Family History: Epping, New Hampshire to Warren
Center, PA: with Accounts of the Sleeper Family Dating from Thomas Sleeper of
Hampton, NH, by V. Sleeper- Terry, 1999.
My SLEEPER genealogy:
Generation 1: Thomas
Sleeper, born about 1607 probably in England, died 30 July 1696 in Hampton, New
Hampshire; married in September 1649 in Hampton to Joanna UNKNOWN. She was born about 1623 and died 5 February
1703 in Kingston, New Hampshire. Eight
children.
Generation 2: Aaron
Sleeper, born 20 February 1661 in Hampton, died 9 May 1732 in Kingston, New
Hampshire; married first on 23 May 1682 in Hampton to Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of
Joseph Shaw and Elizabeth Partridge. She
was born 23 August 1664 in Hampton Falls, died 17 October 1708 in Kingston. Ten
children. Aaron Sleeper was married
second to her sister, Sarah Shaw, born 5 December 1676 in Hampton Falls, and
died 9 May 1732 in Kingston. Two
children.
Generation 3: Moses
Sleeper, born 22 February 1685 in Hampton, died 13 January 1754 in Kingston;
married on 9 January 1714 in Kingston to Margaret Sanborn, daughter of Jonathan
Sanborn and Elizabeth Sherburne. She was
born 20 March 1698. Fifteen children.
Generation 4: Hepzibah Sleeper, born 24 March 1742 in
Kingston; married about 1760 to Samuel Lane, son of Samuel Lane and Elizabeth
Blake. He was born in 1741 in Hampton
Falls, and died 15 January 1822 in Hampton Falls. Nine children.
Generation 5: Sarah
Lane m. Elisha Batchelder
Generation 6: Jonathan
Batchelder m. Nancy Thompson
Generation 7: George
E. Batchelder m. Abigail M. Locke
Generation 8: George
E. Batchelder m. Mary Katharine Emerson
Generation 9: Carrie
Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen
Generation 10:
Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)
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