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Stories say he stood over 7 feet tall and that he was able to walk 16 to 18 miles a day almost up until the day he died. He was rumored to be a member of King Charles I’s bodyguards and some say he may have been his executioner. He lived to be well over 100 years of age still keeping a full head of dark hair. He was able to carry a sack of corn on his shoulder for up to 18 miles starting his trip in Colchester, CT to ending where it was ground in Glastonbury, having to only to stop his brisk walk once along the way, to shift the sack onto his other shoulder. He was known for his fleetness of foot and was thought to have traveled all the way from Canada to the US solely on foot. This alone makes Thomas Carrier one of the most impressive and interesting men to have ever lived in America, but what makes him special to us, is that he once lived in the town of Billerica. At the time of the execution of King Charles I in the year 1649, stories were circulating that someone who had done the actual deed had fled England and escaped to the colonies in America. One of the rumors was that it was a Welshman by the name of Thomas Morgan – a name which is sometimes believed to be misspelled as Thomas Wogan. On the death certificate of King Charles I there is a Thomas Wogan signature on it. Thomas Carrier’s supposedly real name was Thomas Morgan - Carrier was supposedly his mother’s maiden name. Like this Thomas Wogan he also came from Wales. As to whether Thomas Carrier and Thomas Wogan are one and the same, no one knows, but there has been a lot of speculation that they were. Add to the mystery that when King Charles II took the throne and had the conspirators of King Charles I (of which Thomas Wogan was thought to be one) jailed in the Tower of London, there was no mention of a Thomas Wogan being held there. Whether he was ever held in the Tower of London and escaped or whether he managed to escape from Britain before he could be jailed, again, no one knows for sure. Our Thomas Carrier (alias Thomas Morgan) arrived in the Americas first in Nova Scotia, Canada sometime after the execution of King Charles I. For whatever reasons, he made his way by walking from Canada to the English colonies that later became part of the United States. He arrived in Andover, Massachusetts, a town which was at the time next to Billerica, in the mid to late 1600s. There he must've met a Martha Allen and the two became intimate for by the time they married, Martha was already pregnant with her first son, Richard, who was born about 2 months after Thomas and she were wed. As with pregnant brides then, I would imagine that Martha and her family had their share of scandal from the unplanned pregnancy. Though unwed pregnancy was common even back then, it was not taken lightly. Martha and her family must've had to withstand the gossip and hurtful glances of neighbors due to her condition. It probably was thought best for the whole family if Thomas and Martha moved away to begin their life anew somewhere else. They moved to Billerica sometime either in the year of 1674 or 1676. Martha had a sister in Billerica named Mary who had married a Roger Toothaker. This move to Billerica probably was a decision based on practicality. Martha would still be around family and have some assistance if necessary, once the child was born. As with small towns, gossip travels fast. Rumors were abound about this Thomas Carrier from Wales. He had been a part of the Royal Guard - not too impressive an accomplishment to the settlers in the American colonies who were tiring from the endless interference from the British government on just about anything they did. There were rumors about what exactly he did do when he was over there in England. Was it true that he was the one responsible for King Charles' death? And what about this woman whom he married that was already carrying his child before the vows were taken? What sort of man was this tall man, Thomas Carrier, anyways? Why did he go by the name of Thomas Carrier if his real name was Thomas Morgan? What was he hiding? The Billericans must've surveyed their new neighbors with suspicion and caution. But nevertheless, Thomas Carrier and his family did live in Billerica sometime until the years of 1684 - 1690. They had first settled in the southeast part of town and then moved somewhere beyond North Billerica, somewhere west of a road of a Winthrop's farm and next to a John Rogers. This John Rogers was, as you will remember, the one who was killed in the Indian attack of 1695. Obviously this part of town had their share of Indian attacks – plenty as a matter of fact. The residents of the area seemed to be isolated which probably promoted such incidents. As to whether this was the reason why the Carrier family left Billerica and moved to Andover, one can only surmise. Andover was; however at the time, a town that bordered Billerica until parts of Billerica and its then surrounding towns were split into the towns of Tewksbury, Bedford, Wilmington and Carlisle. Billerica was a big town - but not big enough to escape gossip. That gossip probably came with the Carriers and carried over into Andover. Well while the Carrier family may have escaped the future Indian attack of 1695 in Billerica, they did not escape what was to become one of the worst plagues to hit Massachusetts - a plague that wasn't even a medical disease. This plague, the Salem witchcraft hysteria, began its insidious way around the state of Massachusetts in the year of 1692. Neighbors who did not get along with neighbors were often found to be accusing each other of witchcraft with sometimes deadly results. The guilty soon found themselves on the hanging block when they did not 'confess' to having practiced witchcraft and did not want to beg for forgiveness from dabbling in such. Unfortunately one of these victims turned out to be Martha Carrier who just had a hard time getting along with her neighbors just about everywhere she went. A very outspoken woman who could no doubt lash her tongue out when the situation called for it, she made enemies fast. Soon after the Carriers arrived in Andover around the year of 1690, a smallpox plague spread over the town. Martha and her children caught the disease and the townsfolk of Andover started to point fingers. Martha was always complaining and demanding that she get assistance from the town for herself and her family. Who was this witchy woman to demand assistance for a disease she was believed to have carried into town? Why should the town pay for her assistance? Had not other town people died from this disease from which none seemed to know came from where? The Andover residents must've looked on with anger and disbelief at her demands. They were said to only be willing to help some of her children but not everyone in the family. Then came the afflicted children of SalemVillage - those wondrous 'innocent' children who had purged that town of all its evildoers with their theatric accusations during the witchcraft trials there. They were brought to Andover to help that town rid itself of the evil spells cast about and to find out who or what was at the root of it all. Seeing as though these children were thought to be able to see what ordinary people couldn't, perhaps they could find out what was causing all of these evil spells. Though the children knew no one in the town, they quickly found out who was not well-liked and accordingly accused these people of being the culprits behind all this witchcraft. Martha's name came up and she was accused of being a witch. It was said that the trial took on an unusual tone. While some victims put on trial readily agreed to witchcraft and asked for forgiveness, Martha refused to give in to the accusations made by her former neighbors in Billerica and Andover and for that matter, her family members too. She downright called her accusers liars. When the judges asked her about whether she had seen ‘a black man’ who was supposedly at the center of the witchcraft in town and who he was, she answered, ‘I saw no black man, only you standing here’. This only served to make them disbelieve her more when her answer caused her accusers to throw sudden wild fits in court. Such was her gutsy and sharp temperament during her trial that she was branded by none other than Cotton Mather as being the Queen of the Witches. He quite frankly called her a hag. Her children were questioned and tortured into confessing that their mother was a witch. They were so tortured that they actually confessed to being witches themselves! The children, Richard and probably Andrew too, were bound neck to heels for hours on end to the point where they were bleeding from the mouth and nose until they finally ‘confessed’. Still Martha refused to admit to having practiced witchcraft and refused to repent for it. At her trial she was found guilty – based solely on spectral evidence and the testimonies of her neighbors and family members. On August 19, 1692, she along with 4 others were hung on Gallows Hill and then thrown into a common grave. But wait! Where was Thomas Carrier during all of this hysteria? For a time, he was incarcerated along with his wife and children for charges of witchcraft. (This may not be true - Thomas had a son named after him and it may have been his son who was incarcerated and not Thomas himself.) There is the likelihood that he was trying his best to keep the remainder of his family together and away from the hysteria as much as possible. No doubt he was also working to pay for his wife’s and children’s stay in jail for in those days, unlike these now, prisoners’ families had to pay for their accused relatives’ keep in jail even if the accused were later found innocent! There were no tax dollars used to keep those prisoners fed, clothed and housed. With time the witchcraft hysteria died out as it soon became apparent that just about anyone was going to be accused of being a witch. Rich and poor, well-liked and not so well-liked, the accusations were filling up the jails in Massachusetts to the point that something had to be done. That something was an end to the use of spectral evidence as a means for conviction. Unfortunately it was too late for Martha. Sometime after the demise of the witchcraft hysteria, the victims’ families received remunerations for their injustices. Martha was valued at a little over £7. Not much for a human loss but I suppose the Carrier family was glad to receive even only that small amount. No doubt the experience left Thomas feeling rather unsafe in Massachusetts because soon afterwards he moved to another state to the town of Colchester in Connecticut along with some of his children to start life anew. There he seemed to blend in with the community for there is no mention of any troubles he had with the law there. He lived to a ripe old age – somewhere in the 100s and died peacefully in his sleep. He was buried in the woods at the family homestead that he had built with his sons in Middle Haddam, Connecticut. This homestead, by-the-way, is still owned by descendants of Thomas Carrier. When they expanded the highway near the homestead, they found his grave along with some graves belonging to other members of the family in the woods nearby and they were moved, possibly to the graveyard in New London, Connecticut. No one knows for sure. -Binny Note: Though I tried to get the accurate story about Thomas Carrier and family, there will no doubt be errors found in the future on them in this story. These will be fixed in the future as they are noticed. There are so many stories which abound about this fascinating family that it is hard to tell truth from fiction! For more information on the Carriers, please click on to this excellent website made by one of the descendants of the Carriers: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~carrier/. Sources: And to Nicole, a descendant of Thomas Carrier and family – thank you! copyright 2003 |
