52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025: Week 33 (LEGAL TROUBLES)
My 11th great grandfather, William Pontus, served as a juror for the first capital trial in Plymouth Colony.
4 men known as the Peach Gang murdered a local indigenous man, and were charged with murder.
"...in 1638, authorities in Plymouth Colony tried Arthur Peach, along with three codefendants, for the murder of a Nipmuc man called Penowanyanquis. The court found the men guilty and sentenced them to death. Three of the four men that were convicted, including Peach, died by hanging. The fourth escaped before trial to Maine, whose people openly refused Plymouth’s requests for his extradition. ..." 1
"...By early September the trial of Peach, jackson
and Stinnings began. The court selected twelve
men to sit on the jury and hear testimony. The records of the proceedings are sketchy and provide
only a miniscule amount of detail. A5 soon as the
trial began, all three defendants confessed to
committing the murder of Penowanyanquis. yet
these admissions did not completely satisfy the
court. Consequently, the Plymouth jurists summoned various individuals to testily. Overriding
every other concern, the court worried about its
authority to hear the case at all. And the court
76 MURDER
magistrates confronted a rather knotty question
- no one had actually seen Penowanyanquis die.
No one could be sure if these men should be tried
for murder or a lesser charge of assault.
The testimony soon ended any doubt..." 2
"From the Old Colony Memorial. TRIAL FOR MURDER. The following is the first capital trial on the Records of Plymouth Colony, which took place in 1638, eighteen years after the first settlement of the Colony. The execution of three white men for the murder and robbery of an Indian, shews a disposition, as well as determination on the part of the fathers to distribute equal justice to all, and goes to disprove the charge which some have brought against them, of endeavoring to extirpate the natives from the land. It was their constant with to live in peace and They barmony in fact with had the tribes around inducement to preserve the friendship of the Indiacs, and nothing but repeated violations of their treaties and attacks upon their property and lives, would have compelled them to take up arms a- gainst numerous tribes of savages.
At a General 1638. New Plymouth reign lord the Court of our soveKing, held at New Plymouth the fourth day | of September, in the 14th year of the reign of our said Sovereign Lord : Charles, by the grace of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c. before Thomas Prince, Gent. Governor -William Bradford, Edward Winslow, Capt. Miles Standish, John Alden, John Jenny, Joba Atwood, and John Brown.
Gentlemen, and Assistante of the said Government. Arthur Peach, Richard Stinnings and Daniel Crosse, were indicted for murder and robbing by the highway. They killed and robbed one Penowanyanquis, an- lodian, at Misquamyanquie, and took from him five fathoms of wampeny, and three coats of woollen cloth. The jurys' names that went upon them were theseSworn. William Hatch, John Winslow, Willium Pontus, Edward Foster, Richard Derby, John Holmes, | John Peabode, Richard Sillis, Humfrey Turner, Samuel Hinckley, Giles Rickett, Gabriel Fallowell.
They found the said Arthur Peach, and Richard Stinnings guilty of the said felonious murdering and robbing of the said Poncwanyanquis, but say that they nor auy of them had any lands or tenements, goods or chattels at the time of the said felony committed that they know of and so they say all. Daniel Crosse made an escape, and so had not his trial, but Peach, and Stinnings had sentence of death propounced, viz--to be taken from where they were to the place from whence they came, and thence to the place of execution, and there to be hanged by the neck until their hodies be dead, which was executed upon them accordingly. This is a true copy from the Recorde of the Colony of Plymouth, 1st book of Court Orders. page 69. Attest.
ROSSETER COTTON. Register of Deeds for the County of Plymouth.." 3
..."Plymouth Colony jurors to court. Edward Foster, William Hatch, John Winslow, William Pontus, Richard Derbye, John Holmes, John Paybody, Humfrey Turner, Samuell Hinkley, Giles Rickett, and Gabriell Fallowell made up eleven of the twelve men needed to serve as jurors. Clues in the historical record suggest that Prence and Reverend Lothrop managed to agree that if the religious leader kept his congregation in the colony until the end of the trial, the governor would support their relocation.
The jurors were an austere group. No sketches, visual or verbal, survive to reveal how the jurors looked or acted as they convened, but their biographies help fill in the blanks. Though all married or widowed, none wore wedding rings, an affectation disdained by Puritans. Their work-worn hands would have rested unadorned on their roughly hewn garments. Juror Pontus may have showed his fifty-three years of age, the skin around his eyes creased. The hardworking farmer likely appreciated getting away from the fields and off his feet, as jurors were among the few in court to enjoy the luxury of sitting on benches. ..." 4
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| 5 sourced below |
In researching it was apparent we really are doomed to repeat our mistakes.
The tale is 387 years old, and yet it reads like to could have happened this week.
There are parts of the tale that society has left behind - such as indentured servants....well except for human trafficking is still a thing & not all employers of temporary foreign workers treat their workers like free citizens. So I'm not sure we have evolved that far in the past 387 years.
If you want to learn more about this court case check the sources below.
In looking at research ideas for this week's blog I took this line back a further generation, and peaked my interest to learn more.
My 11th great grandfather:
William Pontus
Birth 4 Dec 1585 • Holland, Reusel-de Mierden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands
Death 9 Feb 1653 • Plymouth, Massachusetts, Colonial America
and 11th great grandmother
Wybra Hanson
Birth ABT. 1590 • Austerfield, South Yorkshire, England
Death 22 DEC 1633 • Plymouth, Massachusetts, Colonial America
For a moment I stopped and pondered 11th great grandparents - did you know we have 8,192 11th great grandparents - well I do, but Chris does not because he has pedigree collapse in at least one of his lines. His father's maternal 5th great grandparents are also his father's paternal 4th great grandparents so he will have less. Then again - with this puritan line I may have pedigree collapse in my line as well.
Finding one of my eight thousand one hundred and ninety-two 11th great grandparents in historical records!!!
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***1 The Murder of Penowanyanquis and the Trial of Arthur Peach, Plymouth, 1638. Dorn, Nathan. Originally published September 13th 2018, Retrieved August 13th 2025 from
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2018/09/the-murder-of-penowanyanquis-and-the-trial-of-arthur-peach-plymouth-1638/
2 Rhode Island History Journal, Vol. 38, August 1979. Retrieved August 13th 2025 from https://www.rihs.org/history_journal/rhode-island-history-journal-vol-38-august-1979/
3 From the Old Colony Memorial: TRIAL FOR MURDER (Peach Gang/Murder of Penowanyanquis, Massachusetts). Woodstock Observer, and Windsor and Orange County Gazette. Woodstock, Vermont. Tue, Jul 5, 1825. Page 4. Retrieved from Newspapers.com August 13th 2025
4 Judgement Day at America’s First Blockbuster Murder Trial. Tobey Pearl on the Trial of the Plymouth Colonists Who Murdered an Indigenous Man. Pearl, Tobey. Originally published March 16th 2021. Retrieved August 13th 2025 from
https://lithub.com/judgement-day-at-americas-first-blockbuster-murder-trial/
1638: Three (of four) English colonists for murdering a Native American.Executed Today. Originally osted on September 4th 2008. By dogboyHistorical executions, day by day. Retrieved August 12th 2025 from
https://www.executedtoday.com/tag/arthur-peach/
Book Links. Plymouth Colony Records. Retrieved August 11th 2025 from
https://johndunhamsociety.com/library/plymouth-colony-records
From the Old Colony Memorial: TRIAL FOR MURDER (Peach Gang/Murder of Penowanyanquis, Massachusetts). Woodstock Observer, and Windsor and Orange County Gazette. Woodstock, Vermont. Tue, Jul 5, 1825. Page 4
Retrieved from Newspapers.com August 13th 2025
How Big is Your Family Tree?. Retrieved August 12th 2025 from
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~pamonval/genealogy/howbig.html
Judgement Day at America’s First Blockbuster Murder Trial. Tobey Pearl on the Trial of the Plymouth Colonists Who Murdered an Indigenous Man. Pearl, Tobey. Originally published March 16th 2021. Retrieved August 13th 2025 from
https://lithub.com/judgement-day-at-americas-first-blockbuster-murder-trial/
Line 2 William Pontus, the man who missed the Mayflower. A Long Line of Family Blog. Originally posted January 26th 2011. Retrieved August 10th 2025 from
https://alonglineoffamily.blogspot.com/2011/01/
The Murder of Penowanyanquis and the Trial of Arthur Peach, Plymouth, 1638. Dorn, Nathan. Originally published September 13th 2018, Retrieved August 13th 2025 from
https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2018/09/the-murder-of-penowanyanquis-and-the-trial-of-arthur-peach-plymouth-1638/
The Plymouth Colony Archive Project. From Thanksgiving to War: Native Americans in Criminal Cases of Plymouth Colony, 1630-1675. Aultman, Jennifer L. Originally published 2001. Retrieved August 13th 2025 from
http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/plymouth/wampanoag.html
Records of the colony of New Plymouth in New England : printed by order of the legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. by New Plymouth Colony; Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet, 1810-1874; Pulsifer, David, 1802-1894. Page 96. Retrieved August 11th 2025 from
https://archive.org/details/recordsofcolonyo0102newp/page/n117/mode/2up
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