Clearing up misconceptions

In New England, and the Meriden area, there is no shortage of strange tales. Local stories include that of the Leatherman and the Black Dog of West Peak. Tales involving witchcraft can seem similar, but they are also often rooted in actuality, and for some they contain a lot more meaning.

The Record-Journal recently highlighted the efforts of Sarah Jack, a ninth generation greatgrand daughter of Winifred Benham St., who with daughter Winifred Benham Jr. was the last of Connecticut residents to be accused of witchcraft. They were charged, but not convicted, in 1697. An organization is trying to establish exonerated status for the victims of witch trials in Connecticut.

Jack is a Colorado resident who was researching her genealogy when she came across a Facebook group that focuses on the witchcraft trails. Through that and other study she came to see that those accused of witchcraft in Connecticut were not as well known as other New England cases, including the famed ones out of Massachusetts, and that they are not exonerated. “There was like all of this attention in Boston,” said Jack. “Nobody knows our first hanged witch in our country was in Connecticut.”

See Witch, A17

Obituaries

Marsha Damiani

CHESHIRE -Marsha Damiani, 76, passed away Saturday,February 4,2023 atApple RehabMiddletown.She wasthe wifeof thelateDonaldC.Damiani.

Mrs.Damiani wasborn March 28,1946, inWaterbury,daughter ofthelate Tobin andMaureen (Casey) Cosgrove.She wasaretired Registered Nurse. Mrs. Damiani wasa longtimeresident ofCheshireand a communicantof St. Bridget of Sweden parish. Shewasanavidreaderand lovedtospend timeonthe Cape withher family.

Mrs. Damiani leaves behindher son,JeffreyDamiani, and hiswife, Jennifer, of Ashland, MA,and her daughter, Robin Murawski, and her husband,Lee, of Middletown; Shewill also bemissed byhergrandchildren, KyleMurawski of Orono,MEandTeaganMurawskiof Middletown.In addition to her parents, Mrs. Damianiwas prede- ceasedby hersister,Janet Curry.

Arrangements-AMemorial will be held at a later date andthere areno calling hours.A privatecommittal will beheld in Cheshire Hillside Cemetery.TheAlderson-FordFuneral Home of Cheshire is assisting with arrangements. Memorialcontributions maybe madeto Shriner’s Hospitalfor Children,516 CarewSt., Springfield, MA011042396. Foronline condolences,toshare aphotoor astory, pleasevisit www.fordfh.com.

Bob Beaumont, president of the Wallingford Historical Society, looks over pages of information about accused witchesofWallingfordonJan.26. Dave Zajac, Record-Journal

Witch

From A16

A Connecticut Witch Trail Exoneration project is the result, part of a movement called End Witch Trials.

It’s certainly worth supporting efforts to exonerate those accused of witchcraft. Jack told the R-J her group is also working to keep such situations from occurring in the future. “We’re looking to amplify the messages so that we don’t repeat those historical wrongs again here, so that we can help stop it with our world neighbors,” she said.

The Benhams left the area after facing accusations of witchcraft. There’s limited information about them at the Wallingford Historical Society.

Bob Beamont, society president, said “he has no problem with doing something to honor the Winifreds if the state officially exonerates those accused of witchcraft during the seventeenth century,” according to the R-J report.

“There never should have been a black mark (on the name) to begin with and that’s the part that is too bad,” Beamont said.

Such misconceptions are worth clearing up, and the efforts of descendants and others merit support.

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