The Family Witch
By Mark Wright
My family has a dark side. It’s a sordid tale of
witchcraft and devil worship. … And it’s available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and video
on-demand. Whether the tale is true depends on who’s telling it – Hollywood or
historians. Either way, it makes for one hell of an interesting family tree.
I am a Georgian by birth, but I’ve spent my formative
years in Texas. Yet, there’s something Northern in my blood. My paternal
grandmother, who was raised in Missouri (pronounced Missouruh), had deep New
England roots on her mother’s side. One of those Yankee families from which I
descend is named the Shermans. In 1844, Rhode Island denizen Bathsheba Thayer
married into said Sherman family. Bathsheba was the wife of Judson Sherman and
daughter-in-law of my fifth great grandparents Asahel Sherman (who died in
1830) and Rowena Ballou Sherman (who lived until 1859). My fourth great
grandfather Dutee Sherman (born in 1790) was Judson’s older brother and
Bathsheba’s brother-in-law.
Horror movie enthusiasts know Bathsheba Thayer Sherman
for a different reason than marrying into the Sherman family. In the 2013 film The Conjuring, Bathsheba is portrayed as
a malevolent spirit haunting a young couple and their daughters in the early
1970s in rural Burrillville, Rhode Island. Ah yes, my fourth great grand
uncle’s wife was a witch who came back from beyond the grave to haunt a family.
Betty Mencucci, president of the Burrillville Historical& Preservation Society, assures me that genealogists have found no evidence
to support claims that Bathsheba Thayer Sherman was accused of killing a child
or practicing witchcraft or worshiping the devil, contrary to what the film
suggests. Furthermore, records indicate that she died, not from a suicide
brought on by madness, but rather from complications from a stroke.
"As a historical society we researched all the claims made against Bathsheba and it is all nonsense," Mencucci said.
Bathsheba, who was born in 1812, is recorded as a housewife of Burrillville, Rhode Island, in the 1880 U.S. Census. She died about 1885 and was buried on a quiet burial plot with a nice marble headstone. No one in the community, then, seems to have feared that this old woman would return from beyond the grave as a wicked ghost. But in the Internet age, a significant segment of the population, mainly horror-movie fanatics and gullible teens, will forever regard Bathsheba Thayer Sherman as an evil witch who returned from the dead to terrorize an innocent family. The film The Conjuring was based on a book series by Andrea Perron called House of Darkness: House of Light. The author was one of the children living in the reportedly haunted farm house. The book series is positioned as a work of non-fiction, but Perron's claims about Bathsheba have no merit, based on records that exist from Bathsheba’s lifetime. Plus, one should probably always question any claims of paranormal activity in an old house. Dark, creaky buildings get the imagination bubbling over. But no objective evidence ever seems to emerge from those who report the haunting. Instead, ghost stories rely on the willingness of the audience to accept these wild tales on faith, an odd little phenomenon given the general skepticism of the current day.
"As a historical society we researched all the claims made against Bathsheba and it is all nonsense," Mencucci said.
Bathsheba, who was born in 1812, is recorded as a housewife of Burrillville, Rhode Island, in the 1880 U.S. Census. She died about 1885 and was buried on a quiet burial plot with a nice marble headstone. No one in the community, then, seems to have feared that this old woman would return from beyond the grave as a wicked ghost. But in the Internet age, a significant segment of the population, mainly horror-movie fanatics and gullible teens, will forever regard Bathsheba Thayer Sherman as an evil witch who returned from the dead to terrorize an innocent family. The film The Conjuring was based on a book series by Andrea Perron called House of Darkness: House of Light. The author was one of the children living in the reportedly haunted farm house. The book series is positioned as a work of non-fiction, but Perron's claims about Bathsheba have no merit, based on records that exist from Bathsheba’s lifetime. Plus, one should probably always question any claims of paranormal activity in an old house. Dark, creaky buildings get the imagination bubbling over. But no objective evidence ever seems to emerge from those who report the haunting. Instead, ghost stories rely on the willingness of the audience to accept these wild tales on faith, an odd little phenomenon given the general skepticism of the current day.
Whether she's a witch is no real concern to me. But Bathsheba is buried in the same graveyard as my fifth great grandparents. Because her tombstone attracts movie buffs and
cannabis-inhaling college kids, I am concerned for the ongoing preservation of
the Shermans’ graves. Incidents of vandalism have already occurred, and a local law enforcement official damaged Asahel's gravestone during a botched repair job. I am also concerned for the family’s reputation. The
Shermans were a prominent farming family with ties to the founding of Rhode
Island. And these Shermans are related to other famous Shermans, namely, Civil
War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and Constitution signer the Honorable Roger
Sherman. I hope mostly people simply view those buried alongside Bathsheba as God-fearing
early residents of the bucolic Blackstone River Valley of Rhode Island and
southern Massachusetts and not as the family of a witch.
Regardless of what folks think of the Sherman family, I remain
proud of my New England ancestors. My direct Sherman ancestors achieved less
fame than our distant cousins William Tecumseh and Roger, but the Rhode Island
Shermans nonetheless played a pivotal role in the early history of this nation.
Rowena Ballou Sherman’s father, Pvt. Eleazer Ballou, fought in the
Revolutionary War. Rowena and Asahel’s daughter-in-law Nancy Emerson Sherman,
my fourth great grandmother, was the granddaughter of two Revolutionary War
Patriots, Capt. John Emerson of the 3rd Worcester County regiment of
the Massachusetts Militia and Capt. David Burlingame of the Rhode Island
Militia. In fact, Pvt. Ballou served in a horse troop under command of Capt.
Burlingame. Nancy’s father, Ezekiel Emerson, is recognized by the Daughters of
1812 as a veteran of the War of 1812, the conflict in which this fledgling
nation repelled British attempts to forcefully retake its former American
colonies.
The Daughters of the American Revolution documentation for my paternal grandmother, Frances Ann Sunderland Wright (AKA Grandma Sundie) authenticates Capt. John
Emerson as her fourth great grandfather and certifies that he served in the
Revolution. The same record shows her great-great grandparents are Dutee
Sherman and Nancy Emerson Sherman. Therefore, my grandmother could have also
claimed Eleazer Ballou and David Burlingame as Patriot direct ancestors on her
application.
The Shermans also provide me with a direct link to the
Pilgrims. Robert Hicks, my tenth great grandfather, brought his family to the
Plymouth Colony a year after the arrival of the Mayflower. His granddaughter
Dorcas Hicks married Edmund Sherman, and they are, respectively, my eighth
great grandmother and grandfather.
Edmund’s father, my ninth great grandfather Philip Sherman, made quite a name for himself in the early days of New England.
Philip, who was born around 1610 in southeastern England and migrated to
Massachusetts Bay in his early 20s, had the fortitude and convictions to
question the rigid Puritan doctrine. He was banished from the colony for his
beliefs during the Antinomian Controversy but found his way to what became
Rhode Island, where he was one of the purchasers of Aquidneck Island. He served
as the colony’s first secretary and later as the town clerk of Portsmouth.
Presidents George Herbert Walker Bush and George W. Bush and famed British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill are my distant cousins through our shared
ancestor from the 17th century, the aforementioned Philip Sherman.
My brother and my dad find it hard to believe we are
scions of these old New England families. "How could we be related to presidents?" my brother said, underscoring our status as average Joes from Texas (kind of like the Bushes often claim to be). But, indeed, my paternal grandmother
was the great granddaughter of Ora Sherman Sinclair, the daughter of the
aforementioned Nancy and Dutee Sherman. The only family lore I heard during my
childhood was that we were related to Roger Sherman, who signed the Declaration
of Independence. And he is a relative, but it’s a far more distant relationship than my
grandmother’s stories implied. Indeed, several of my aunts are reticent to
accept my genealogical findings because I found old Rog to be a fourth cousin
seven times removed – hardly the close relative the family imagined him to
be. Still, we Wrights inherit quite a colorful and illustrious history through
our direct ancestors: the Rhode Island Shermans and related families. For
instance, a ninth great grandfather Joseph Emerson was a Puritan minister who
links us to distant relative Ralph Waldo Emerson.
My New England ancestors established themselves as early
landowners and prominent citizens in the American colonies and played an active
role in the struggle for independence from Britain. And if you ever visit a
bookstore or rent a film on demand, you might see something about a witch who
married into my family. And if you believe my family had a witch in it, maybe
there is a pair of ruby slippers I can sell you.
