1.22 



ding year he had made a contract by which John Norton was to build 

 him a house "twenty foot in length, flfteene in breadth and eight foot 

 stud ;" and here he lived from that time till his death in 1692. This 

 farm extended on both sides of the road which passes in front of this 

 school-house where we hold our meeting. Corey gave it to his sons- 

 in-law, Win. Cleeves and John Moulton, who divided it between them. 

 Cleeves conveyed his share, which was on the west side of the road, 

 to Nathaniel Hay ward, who, in 1702, conveyed the northern part of it 

 to Wm. Curtice. This is still known as "the Curtice field," and the 

 old well and house-place, just north of the school house, marks the 

 spot where Curtice lived. That part of the farm on the east side of 

 the road was conveyed by John Moultou to Humphrey French, in 

 1695, together with the house in which Giles Corey had lived. French's 

 heirs conveyed it to Nathaniel Gould, and from him it descended to 

 John Clammons, who, in 1773, conveyed it to Andrew Curtice, who 

 conveyed it to Jacob Goodale. In 1792 it was conveyed to Samuel 

 Taylor, who, in 1847, gave it to his son Benjamin Taylor, who now 

 owns it. 



The spot where Corey's house stood is on the south side of the Sa- 

 lem and Lowell Kailroad, about twenty rods west of the West Pea- 

 body Junction. All traces of it were removed a few years ago, but 

 the site is identified both by the record history and by tradition. 



The deed by which Giles Corey passed this farm over to his sons- 

 in-law, Cleeves and Moultou, was probably first drawn up and signed 

 in the jail at Salem, where he was confined under the accusation of 

 witchcraft, as it is dated April 24, 1692, and one of the three witnesses 

 to the deed, which also had the character of a will, was Wm. Doun- 

 ton, keeper of the prison at Salem. It was finally executed at the 

 jail at Ipswich, being acknowledged there July 25, 1692, before 

 "Thomas Wade, Justice of the Peace." The property is described as 

 follows, "all my land and ipeadow lying and being in ye bounds of 

 Salem town," and " all my neat cattle and all other my stock upon the 

 said farm or elsewhere, as likewise all my houseing." He speaks of 

 himself as "lying under great trouble and affliction through which I 

 am very weak in body but in perfect memory, knowing not how soon 

 I may depart this life." 



It is not unlikely that Giles Corey had already made up his mind to 

 that determination to which he afterwards so firmly adhered, to re- 

 fuse to plead either "guilty," or "not guilty," to the indictment for 

 witchcraft, which had been brought against him. According to the 

 ancient theory of English law, it was necessary that a person accused 

 of a capital felony should voluntarily "put himself upon the country," 

 by pleading to the indictment, before a trial could be had ; probably 

 this was required in order to give a kind of sanction- to the subse- 



