Recently, I shared a humorous exchange with friends about boys (or families) in the neighborhood who your parents encouraged you to not to hang out with, in this case the Murphy, Reilly and Dugan boys.  What is true today was true in mid-17th century Ipswich, Massachusetts where my 7th great-grandfather, Joseph Fowler, was known as “a lawless and defiant disturber of the public peace.” (Source: Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts Volume 1)

The Kimball’s were the brothers of his wife Martha.
Joseph’s wife, Martha Kimball Fowler.

A brilliant blog post entitled, “Drunkards, liars, a hog, a dog, a witch, disorderly persons and the innkeeper” (Historic Ipswich Blog), notes that “the real trouble-makers in town (were); Joseph Muzzy (a great-uncle), Mark Symonds, Thomas Cooke, Thomas Scott, and especially Joseph Fowler (my 7th great-grandfather).” I encourage you to read the entire post to get a full picture of Ipswich in the mid-17th century. (Excerpt below)

Joseph Fowler“a lawless and defiant disturber of the public peace.”

Those are the words of Thomas Franklin Waters in Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Waters noted that Joseph Fowler was sentenced to pay a considerable fine or sit in the stocks on lecture day, for saying there were seven or eight liars in the church and asking why they were not cast out, and for saying “if one would lye soundly he was fit for the church.”

Joseph Fowler was problematic even in his military training, which was a requirement of all young men in those early days. Waters wrote that “More than once, irrepressible Joseph Fowler was disrespectful to the haughty (General) Denison, and for each offense in 1647 and in 1648, he was summoned to the head of the company, and then and there made humble acknowledgment in such terms as the Major required.”

(Joseph Fowler (b.1626) died on May 19, 1676 at the Battle of Great Falls/Massacre at Peskeompskut (now Turners Falls, Massachusetts) during the King Phillip’s War)

Bonus – The post also tells us about John Bradstreet who was convicted of witchcraft based on claims that he had “familiarity with the devil” and for “bewitching a dog.”  John was the nephew of my 10th g-grandmother Bridget and Joseph Fowler’s cousin.  By the way, Bradstreet was charged with witchcraft based, in part, on testimony provided by —–Joseph Fowler! The dog was hung as a witch (Bewitched Dogs), John escape to New Hampshire.

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

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