Abigail Sharp: New Jersey’s One Witch

The colonial province of New Jersey never tried anyone for witchcraft. The only legal record concerning a “witch” is the lawsuit brought by Abigail Sharp of Woodbridge, New Jersey against Abraham Shotwell.

Sharp v. Shotwell

closeup of Supreme Court case file; the handwritten text says "Abig. Sharp v. Ab. Shotwell" — Courtesy New Jersey State Archives ; Department of State

On May 13, 1727, Abigail Sharp sued Abraham Shotwell for trespass on the case in the amount of £500, citing harm to her business, her reputation, and her social life, as well as exposing her to the threat of unwarranted prosecution. Shotwell had publicly accused her of witchcraft, describing supernatural events he claimed he had witnessed, including her taking the shape of a cat on top of his house and bewitching his horse, which died.

Abraham Shotwell pleaded not guilty. There is no information on the ultimate decision of the case.

The three pages that comprise her lawsuit are the only record we have that the events occurred and it seems to have been forgotten until the case became an object of public interest in the 19^th century.

The suit was filed in Middlesex County and is in the collection of Supreme Court case files at the New Jersey State Archives. See “Abigail Sharp v. Abraham Shotwell.” Case 38755. New Jersey State Archives Supreme Court Case Files, 1704-1844. https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/SupremeCourt.aspx. A scanned copy is available to download.

A Transcription of the Lawsuit

Spelling, grammar, and line breaks are preserved from the original.

The original handwritten account of the lawsuit

Superior Court of the term of May in the thirteenth year of
King George
Middlesex: Abigail Sharp complains of Abraham Shotwell in Custody &
For that, whereas the said Abigail is a good true faithfull
And honest subject of our Lord the King now & hath been
Of good name fame conversation & condition & as Such
As well[?] among her neighbors as other faithfull subjects
Of our Said Lord the King always hitherto hath been
Esteemed called & reputed & soberly modestly & Religiously
From the time of her nativity hitherto hath always lived
Without any scandal or suspicion of felony witchcraft
Inchantment or diabolical conversation with wicked
& unclean spirits or another other hurtfull or unlawfull
Crime whatsoever. Nevertheless, the aforesaid Abraham
Not ignorant of the premises but contriving & malitious-
Ly intending the same Abigail unjustly to injure
Her good name fame & reputation to hurt Distract
From & damage & to cause her to suffer & undergo
The pains & penalties by the Laws of England & of
This province upon those that are guilty of witchcraft
& have commerce & familiarity with unclean &
Wicked spirits ordained to be inflicted the Same
Abraham on the last day of March in the year of
Our Lord one thousand seven hundred & twenty
Seven at Woodbridge within the county of Middlesex
Aforesaid in the presence & hearing of many of the
faithfull subjects of our Lord the King now falsely &
maliciously openly & publickly spoke uttered
& spread abroad of the same Abigail those false [??]
& defamatory English words following namely Nab
Sharp (meaning the said Abigaill) is an old witch &
Had been flying all night & that he saw her (meaning
The Said Abigail) as he was coming home early in
The morning & She was just lighted in a [??] of
Bouns & also that the said Abraham of his further
[next page]
Further malice against the same Abigail. Thereon & that
Same Abigail further to blacken scandalize & hurt
in the manner aforesaid afterwards to wit on the day
& year & at the place aforesaid presence & hearing
Of many of the faithfull subjects of our said Lord
the King now falsely maliciously openly & publickly
Spoke uttered spread abroad & with a loud voice
Published of the same Abigail these other false feigned
Scandalous & defamatory English words following
Namely Abigail Sharp is a witch & that he heard a
Noise on the top of his house & he saw her meaning
The said Abigail in the shape of a cat and also that
The said Abraham of his further malice against the
Said Abigail shown & the same Abigail further to
blacken scandalize & hurt in the manner aforesaid
afterwards to wit on the day year & at the place afore
Said in the presence & hearing of many of the faithfull
Subjects of our said Lord the King now falsely &
Maliciously openly & publickly spoke uttered spread
Abroad & with a loud voice published of the same
Abigail these other false feigned Scandalous & Defamatory
English words following namely Nab Sharp that old
Witch (meaning the said Abigail) bewitched that horse
That lies dead in my field. She meaning the said
Abigail, brought him there just now all mealy from
The mill, by Reason of the Speaking uttering
Spreading abroad & publishing of which several
False feigned scandalous & defamatory English words
The same Abigail – not only in her good name found
Credit[?] & Reputation which she heretofore had is
greatly hurt & worsted but hath been put in danger
Of being indicted of felony & witchcraft & is drawn[?]
Into so great hatred & infamy that all the people
Of this Province do refuse to have commerce &
Society with her & in getting of her livelyhood
& doing of her business she is many ways hurt
[next page]
Wherefore the said Abigail saith that she is worsted & hath
damage to five hundred pounds & thereof she bringeth
this suite.
Wm. Smith Quod[?] plg[?]
[Post script]
Middlesex: So Abigail Sharp puts in her place William Smith her attorney
against Abraham Shotwell in a plea of trespass upon the
Case

Who was Abigail Sharp?

Nothing is known of her origins, the outcome of the case, or anything else at all in any source that I can find.

I have not yet found a published genealogy or primary source that includes an Abigail Sharp that could possibly be her, but there are clues in the lawsuit to her possible identity.

Abigail brought the lawsuit herself, which may indicate she was either unmarried or widowed. Shotwell disparagingly called her an “old nab” in 1727; if she was, say, 50 years old at the time, that would have her born about 1675 or earlier. At that age, she could be a New Jersey native born to one of the early Sharp settlers in East or perhaps West Jersey, or she was herself an immigrant.

There are a handful of Sharp families settled in New Jersey by 1727. My current working theory is she is a sister or cousin to a pair of Sharp brothers who immigrated from Scotland and settled in Woodbridge. Abigail was in the same generation as William and John Sharp. William Sharp married a Mary Smith. Abigail’s lawyer was William Smith; I have not yet confirmed his identity.

It’s also noteworthy that Abigail had the means to hire a lawyer to sue Abraham Shotwell. Abigail Sharp was a businesswoman. She claims in the lawsuit that she suffered not only from a bad reputation as a result of the slander, but that “all the people of this Province do refuse to have commerce & Society with her & in getting of her livelihood & doing of her business she is many ways hurt.” Shotwell also claimed that when she brought him to the dead horse, she was “all mealy from the mill”.

What was Abigail’s business? Did she work at the mill? Woodbridge is the site of New Jersey’s first grist mill, founded by Jonathan Singletary Dunham. Dunham’s daughter married Samuel Smith, and it was their daughter Mary who married the immigrant William Sharp.

In other witchcraft cases, it’s been noted by historians that accusers are motivated by fear of the Other, xenophobia, and jealousy. There is sometimes a financial disparity between the accused and the accuser, with the accuser wanting to take down someone of higher financial status.

If Abigail is a Scot, I wonder whether xenophobia played a part in Shotwell’s accusation (as it did in the Pennsylvania witchcraft trial discussed below); her accuser, Shotwell, was a New Yorker of English descent. Scotland and England at the time shared a long, fraught history of distrust.

If I am able to identify her further, I will update this blog.

Abraham Shotwell, being male with an unusual name, is easier to locate. He is probably if not certainly the Abraham Shotwell who was born say 1692 in Long Island and was of Piscataway when he died in 1757. He would have been in his thirties when he made his accusations, which he had to have known endangered her life. It had been only thirty years since the last witchcraft executions in the future United States, the Salem trials of 1692. While we can say today with hindsight it would have been unlikely for Abigail to be prosecuted for witchcraft, in 1727 it remained on the books as a capital crime.

East Jersey Witch Law of 1668

In the general assembly of East Jersey held in May, 1668, among the dozen “Capital Laws,” is the following law authorizing prosecution for witchcraft: “If any person be found to be a witch, either male or female, they shall be put to death.”

closeup of page in Leaming and Spicer's 1758 book "Grants, concessions, and original constitutions of the province of New-Jersey" depicting the law against witchcraft "ITEM.—If any person be found to be a witch, either male or female, they shall be put to death." — “ITEM.—If any person be found to be a witch, either male or female, they shall be put to death.”

This and other works are available in our list of Historical Compilations of New Jersey Law.

West Jersey, which operated independently and published its own laws, had no such mention of witchcraft in its laws. After 1703, when East Jersey and West Jersey were combined into the new province of New Jersey, the witchcraft law was in effect statewide.

Mount Holly Witches?

The other notable mention of witchcraft is a 1732 article published in the Pennsylvania Gazette on the witches of Mount Holly, who are celebrated today with an annual Witches Ball. Read the article here: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-01-02-0056.

The absence of any supporting documentary evidence, the jovial tone of the article, and the absence of any personal names as would surely be expected all point to this being a probable fabrication by the Gazette under its editor, noted prankster and joker (among other titles), Ben Franklin. There are those who were more than willing to believe the story, including the author of an 1894 article in New Jersey Law Journal.

New Jersey’s Enduring Witch Heritage

Margaret Mattson, the only woman tried for witchcraft in Pennsylvania, was bailed out by her husband Nils Mattson and son Anthony Nilsson Long to the sum of 50 pounds. She was tried by a jury of mostly English Quakers who found her not guilty of witchcraft, but guilty of “the fame of being a witch” (i.e. she had a bad reputation). Margaret, her husband, and their son were Finns who had endured a traumatic migration to the New Sweden colony in 1654 on an overcrowded ship in which a third of the passengers died. However Nils Mattson prospered and was a landholder when the English Quakers moved in. While their rights to own property were for the most part respected by the English, there was tension as many of the prime locations were already developed by the Swedes and Finns. Many sold their land in Philadelphia, and a number moved to Gloucester and Salem counties.

In February 1684, she and her co-accused were tried for witchcraft in the new state of Pennsylvania’s Provincial Council, with William Penn serving as judge. In the midst of the accusations and trial, her husband sold off his farms in Pennsylvania. After the trial, he and Margaret relocated across the river to Gloucester County, New Jersey to live with their son. Witchcraft was never a crime in West Jersey. Son Anthony Nilsson Long was a prominent man, serving as constable of Gloucester County the same year his mother was tried as a witch across the river. Anthony had five children and there are surely descendants of Margaret Mattson living in New Jersey today.

Lastly, the accused witch of East Hampton, New York, Elizabeth Garlick, spared at trial by John Winthrop Jr. in 1658, has a strong New Jersey connection; most of her grandchildren left Long Island for Cape May and south Jersey when land became available in the 1680s and 1690s. Widespread endogamy means if you have colonial Cape May roots, there is probably a witch grandmother sitting in your tree.

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