The poem below, was found in my ancestor's manuscript located in the archives at the New England Historic Genealogical Society's Library. My photographed image came out well, and since it meant something to my ancestor, I've decided to use it for Bill West's Fifth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge! as described on his blog, West in New England.
At first, I thought the author, Julian S. Cutler might have been related to the writer or even to me, since I have a long lineage of Cutlers. However, I find no connection.
Old Mammy Redd is based on a true but very sad story about Wilmot Redd. She was convicted of Witchcraft in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and was hung. I found some links explaining more about this event. They are listed below.
OLD MAMMY REDD.
[For the Transcript.]
In Salem
With
her wrinkled cheeks and her bony hands,
And
pleads for her life on a summer's day,
The
life which the maidens had sworn away.
No
kind neighbor or friend is there
To
urge the granting of her wild prayer,
And
crushed she listens the sentence fall--
"Death
on the gallows for witches all!"
Never
again will her old eyes see
The
fisher boats, when the winds are free,
Sail
out of the harbor
of Marblehead
Or
home when the evening skies are red.
No more will she watch the while gulls fly
With snowy wings; 'gainst the inky sky,
When in from sea, through the twilight gray,
The storm comes sweeping across the bay.
No more will she watch the while gulls fly
With snowy wings; 'gainst the inky sky,
When in from sea, through the twilight gray,
The storm comes sweeping across the bay.
No
more will she hear when the shadows fall
The
sunset gun from Fort
Sewall
Nor
list at midnight the rythmic roar
Of
flood-tides creeping along the shore.
Short
are the days of Mammy Redd,
Old
witch woman of Marblehead
Vain
her prayers; 'neath the autumn sky,
Up
Gallows Hill she is led to die.
"Witch,"
her accusers called her there;
Scoffed
at her tears and her broken prayer;
Naught
was heard but the cruel cry--
"Hang
her--so let the old witch die!"
So
she perished on Gallows Hill,
And
the days and the years went by, until,
They
said, in the streets of Marblehead
"No
witch, but a martyr was Mammy Redd."
And
I've been told, when the midnight tide
Creeps
in to the short where the old crone died,
If
you listen, borne on the midnight air,
Her
voice comes wafted in wailing prayer.
JULIAN
S. CUTLER.
Below are photos of Wilmot "Mammy" Redd's memorial in the Witchcraft Memorial, Charter Street Burying Ground, also known as The Burying Point, Salem, Massachusetts
Wilmot Redd
Hanged
Sept. 22, 1692
Note: Other good websites for additional information about Mammy Redd.
Find A Grave "On October 31, 2001 Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift signed a bill pardoning Wilmot Redd along with four other victims of the witch trials."
Vast Public Indifference article
