tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post8195835813403531520..comments2024-03-28T05:28:46.610-04:00Comments on NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE: Rochester's Witch RockPeter Muisehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05939949561996555115noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-8815879408773509272023-08-28T20:47:21.050-04:002023-08-28T20:47:21.050-04:00Pretty cool man I am Loring Pittsley I live In Ass...Pretty cool man I am Loring Pittsley I live In Assonet , Ma. Named after my grandfather Loring Pittsley who died in ‘76 before I was born in ‘78 . He and many of my ancestors are buried on the Freetown line off of Chipaway road on the New Bedford line . I notice a lot of unmarked stone grave markers in the back and also the rail road appears to have split the cemetery in half . As there is another section on the other side of the tracks . Always heard about a connection to witch craft but questioned the legitimacy of the claims . Very interesting! Thanks for publishing Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-38821669339717374952022-06-23T21:35:15.417-04:002022-06-23T21:35:15.417-04:00Also see: Beloved Prophet: The Love Letters of Kah...Also see: Beloved Prophet: The Love Letters of Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell, and Her Private Journal.ZombyDawghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01608480990735480437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-41763817611026866242022-06-23T21:32:55.850-04:002022-06-23T21:32:55.850-04:00Correction: Alexander Cheves Haskell's daughte...Correction: Alexander Cheves Haskell's daughter was Mary (her sister was Elizabeth), and she founded and was the principal of the Haskell School for Girls, which after merging with another school is now known as The Cambridge School of Weston.ZombyDawghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01608480990735480437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-85253751552541871552021-12-30T23:38:18.844-05:002021-12-30T23:38:18.844-05:00I am a daughter of the late Drescott Thompson Sr. ...I am a daughter of the late Drescott Thompson Sr. and Shirley (Vaughn) Thompson Norton. As I reread the article, I realized that the writer from the Wanderer had incorrectly quoted me. We are descendants of the Penobscot Tribe of Maine, on my mothers side. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-72111776503039783272021-05-19T17:54:57.761-04:002021-05-19T17:54:57.761-04:00My husband David is a direct descendent of Roger a...My husband David is a direct descendent of Roger although thru John not Mark and did not know the Pittsley connection how were they Cousins?bartletpondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11864621964888040629noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-22796694912406388312020-08-23T23:25:02.747-04:002020-08-23T23:25:02.747-04:00B. Moore:
Your ancestor who moved to South Carolin...B. Moore:<br />Your ancestor who moved to South Carolina actually moved there after the Revolution. His name is Colonel Elnathan Haskell. His portrait is in the US Capitol rotunda and he is in John Trumbull's painting "The Surrender of General Burgoyne". He lived in the Zante Plantation at Fort Motte. His son, Charles Thomson Haskell had seven sons who served in the Confederate army in the Civil War, six of them in Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. One was killed at Fort Wagner and one was killed at Gettysburg. John Cheves Haskell lost an arm at Gaines Mills, but later joined the artillery, eventually commanding a battalion and leading all of Lee's artillery to the Appomattox surrender. General Grant tried to buy his horse there, but he refused. He later married Wade Hampton's daughter. Alexander Cheves Haskell was a cavalry commander in the ANV and led all the cavalry to the surrender at Appomattox. He married the sister of General E. Porter Alexander (E.P. Alexander is portrayed by James Patrick Stuart in the movie Gettysburg. "I'm 28, Sir!") A.C. Haskell became involved in post-war anti-reconstructionist politics in South Carolina, supporting Wade Hampton for Governor. Hampton appointed him as Associate Justice on the SC Supreme Court for his efforts. In 1890 he ran against Ben Tillman for governor. His daughter, Elizabeth Haskell, move to Boston and was a teacher in Haskell's School for Girls. She met Kahlil Gibran and became his financial benefactress.ZombyDawghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01608480990735480437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-27527665732862619622020-08-23T22:30:01.856-04:002020-08-23T22:30:01.856-04:00"Witchcraft" Mark was the nephew of my 8..."Witchcraft" Mark was the nephew of my 8th-great-grandfather, William Haskell. My line of the family stayed in Essex County (Gloucester and Newburyport) until my great-grandfather moved to Maine (some other Haskells were the first settlers on Deer Isle, Maine). Mark probably chose Rochester because his brother John already lived there. John had married Patience Soule, daughter of George Soule, Mayflower passenger, and George had left them land there in his will.<br />-Les HaskellZombyDawghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01608480990735480437noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-6617698037338026682020-02-07T08:21:58.593-05:002020-02-07T08:21:58.593-05:00Hello to all. Very late to this post but nonethele...Hello to all. Very late to this post but nonetheless I too am a Witchcraft Mark's Great (x 6)grandson. My line in the family migrated down to South Carolina at some point before the revolution. Great to read about this "witches rock" and to see the Haskell connection.<br />I very much hope to someday visit the area and perhaps see the rock myself!<br /><br />B. Moore<br />Charleston, SCAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02163039743290922867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-81193395628401655332017-07-27T17:29:26.110-04:002017-07-27T17:29:26.110-04:00Thank you Mr Pittsley! I'm Mark "Witchcr...Thank you Mr Pittsley! I'm Mark "Witchcraft" Haskell's great (x7 or so) grand daughter. I'd been looking for information about the family when Google brought me to this post. I appreciate it!Mongruellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03272371579970707393noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-6457498672985050752017-03-25T19:39:07.153-04:002017-03-25T19:39:07.153-04:00My name is William T Pittsley, and I must say this...My name is William T Pittsley, and I must say this,"there is nothing supernatural about Mark Witchcraft Haskells Rock." If you want to know the reason why this rock earned its name I'll inform you, and you can Google it also. The Pittsley's and The Haskell's are very old Southeastern Massachusetts Colonial English family's who have inhabited Dighton, Freetown, and Rochester since the very early 1600's. It was even believed by early historians that the Pittsleys were fishermen who fished off the coast of New England for decades before the settling of Plymouth Colony. These families had members else where throughout the English colonies. Roger Haskel (my Great x 7th or 8th Grandfather) had a son named Mark Haskell who was a citizen of Salem MA.. During the Salem Witch trials the towns people of Salem ordered Mark Haskell to serve as a juror. He refused and they accused him of being a witch. Mark then fled to Rochester where his Brother and cousins the Pittsley's hid him out near the rock. After the Salem Witch Trials came to an end Mark Haskell ended up settling in Rochester and the rock became known to everyone in the area as "Mark Witchcraft Haskells Rock. In and around the 1690's the British evicted all of the French , Dutch and English Neutralists from Arcadia some of them were Pittsleys, cousins to the New England Pittsley's. According to the articles written in the 1880's and 90's about the Pink Eyed Pittsley's some Pittsley's were released at Assonet where they took to the woods and in the words of that day and age became Gypsies or Indians and folklore has it they settled around Mark Witchcraft Rock in Rochester. Where their cousins the New England Pittsley's also resided. This is where I believe the Indian connection came from to the rock. Google "the Pink Eyed Pittsley' of Cape Cod and read for yourselves.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-48400467797917624082016-02-26T00:38:05.985-05:002016-02-26T00:38:05.985-05:00Hi Curtis,
I am a Thompson that grew up at "...Hi Curtis, <br />I am a Thompson that grew up at "Witch Rock", and I think that you didn't necessarily know this history, because my mother Shirley Vaughn-Thompson-Norton, wasn't related to the Vaughan's in Rochester. <br />However, we had this made known many years ago when the Standard-Times did an article about the rock. <br />I had been interviewed for information a few years ago by a writer for the Wanderer. <br />There was some misinformation that they wrote, but it was Indians that lived on the property many years ago, that believed the witches that had died from hangings, and their spirits came out on the full moon. We lived their from about 1945 - 1972, when the property was sold. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-973328114296593002016-02-24T12:37:53.712-05:002016-02-24T12:37:53.712-05:00Hi Curtis,
Thanks for the comment. Isn't it ...Hi Curtis, <br /><br />Thanks for the comment. Isn't it strange what we know and don't know about the places we grew up? When I was a kid I never knew one of the Salem witch trial judges was buried a mile from my parents house, or that several people from my home town had been accused of witchcraft in the Salem trials and even earlier. It's only 30 years later that I found all that out!Peter Muisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05939949561996555115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-5453164826691266762016-02-24T06:42:23.046-05:002016-02-24T06:42:23.046-05:00What's funny is I'm from Rochester Massach...What's funny is I'm from Rochester Massachusetts and part of one of the founding families of the area and I never heard that story's and I knew the vaughns tooAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04409397413609897985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-74438426524015588512015-07-12T15:40:43.913-04:002015-07-12T15:40:43.913-04:00Hi Brokeneye,
I think the boulder is romantic lo...Hi Brokeneye, <br /><br />I think the boulder is romantic looking in a capital "R" sense of the word, relating to the Romantic movement in literature and art which found beauty in the natural world and in old legends and folklore. Think more Goethe and Byron, and less Harlequin novels. Does that make more sense?Peter Muisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05939949561996555115noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1885320105550742793.post-35133873204453166362015-07-05T04:20:34.261-04:002015-07-05T04:20:34.261-04:00I was not aware that a boulder could be "roma...I was not aware that a boulder could be "romantic looking"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com