Dinah SILVESTER

Father: Richard SILVESTER
Mother: Naomi // 

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 _Richard SILVESTER _|
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|--Dinah SILVESTER
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|_Naomi // __________|
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Notes

Updated January 17, 2021. Compiled by Howder (www.howderfamily.com) from the following source(s):

(1) Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records via Ancestry.com

- Dinah [SILVESTER] daughter of Richard b. Apr. 2, 1642

(2) The New England Historical & Genealogical Register via Ancestry.com; Volume 009 (1855); page 172

- "SILVESTER Dinah dau. of Richard SILVESTER borne 2 (2) 1642"

(3) Third Supplement to Torrey´s New England Marriages Prior to 1700 via Ancestry.com; page 161

- "JOHNSON, Elkanah ~ Dinah SILVESTER (1642- ); in court 1 June 1 Feb 1693[/4?] [GM 3:255]"

(4) SILVESTER, Albert Henry, "Richard SILVESTER of Weymouth, Mass., and Some of his Descendants," New England Historical and Genealogical Register volume LXXXV (Boston, MA: 1931), p. 250, 257.

- "She was probably at meeting with her parents and her sister Lydia when her brother Peter accidentally shot himself. In March 1660/1 she was before the court of Plymouth, charged with accusing the wife of William HOLMES of witchcraft, and was compelled to retract and apologize. On 31 Oct. 1666 she, with her brother John and sister Naomi, was tried for rescuing her mother from the hands of the constable." (pages 250-251).

(5) Deetz, James & Patricia Scott Deetz, "The Times of their Lives; Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony" (W. H. Freeman and Company: New York, NY, 2000), pages 92-95.

- There are only three explicit references to witchcraft in the Plymouth Colony (page 92). In 1661, Dinah SILVESTER made an accusation against Goodwife HOLMES, spouse of William HOLMES, claiming to have seen Goodwife HOLMES transform into a bear. The HOLMES family sued for defamation, Dinah's claim could not be substantiated and she was "sentenced to pay a fine of five pounds sterling to William HOLMES, or be publicly whipped" (page 93) or pay only the cost of the lawsuit if she admitted fault, which she did. This source believes that ongoing internal family tensions, conflicts with outsiders, and a general animosity towards Goodwife HOLMES may have played contributing factors (pages 93-95).
- Soon after this incident, John PALMER Jr., broke-off his engagement to Dinah SILVESTER, and paid 20 pounds damage to her. "He was clearly harassed by the SYLVESTERs over this..." (p.94) - Dinah faced criminal charges, along with her brother John, when they assaulted a Marshfield constable in the process of arresting their mother in 1666.
- She once again brushed with the law "on a charge of fornication (sex between a man and a single woman)" and later "... Elkanah JOHNSON of Marshfield was bound to appear before the July 1669 meeting of the court in Plymouth due to a complaint against him 'in reference unto a child layed unto him by Dinah SYLVESTER. '" (p. 94)

(6) Records of the Suffolk County Court via Ancestry.com; Records of the Suffolk County Court; page 332

"SILVESTER Sentenced. Dinah SILVESTER bound over to this Court to Answer for her committing of Fornicacion + haveing a bastard Childe not being in a marriage state; which Shee Owned in Court, charging Ionathan BADCOCK to bee the Father thereof + said hee had fellowship with her but once + that it was October 1672. The Court Sentenced her to bee whip't severely with twenty Stripes immediately after the next Lecture in Boston, + then to bee sent home to Milton + there to bee severely whip't with twenty Stripes by the Constable of the Town or some other person whome hee may procure in presence of the Select men or some of them, to bee done within one month after her first whipping + to pay Fees of Court standing committed untill the Sentence bee performed."