Ancestry/Genealogy

Sarah was characterized by the court as a "bold virgin" who had better mend her ways. She said meekly that she would. Jacob was set free and told to shun such virgins as Sarah. The Court declared, "that we have heard in the publique ministry that it is a thing to be lamented that younge people should have their meetings, to the corrupting of themselves & one another; as for Sarah Tuttle, her miscarriages are very great, that she should utter so corrupt a speech as she did concerning the persons to be married & that she should carry it in such an imodest, uncivil, wanton, lascivious manner, as hath beene proved; & for Jacob, his carriage hath beene verry corrupt & sinfull, such as brings reproach upon the family & place; the sentence therefore concerning them was, that they shall pay either of them as a fine 20 shillings to the Treasurer."

Sarah died at the hands of her brother, Benjamin on November 17, 1676. Twenty-nine year old Benjamin made his family's name in history with that rather indelicate instrument, the axe. That night he began quarreling with sister, Sarah. A fragment of paper preserved in the CT State Archives contains a statement by Benjamin.

In it he said that he was with his sister, that they had had a falling out, that he was afraid she would do to him what he had done to her, and that he had no love for her. He and Sarah may have been arguing about the division of their dead father's considerable property, or perhaps Sarah made a disparaging remark about their sister, Elizabeth, who was showing the same flirtatious nature as Sarah had. Benjamin may have reminded Sarah that she was no angel; she had scandalized the town in her youth by publicly exchanging kisses with a Dutch sailor, for which she and the sailor were fined.

Whatever the quarrel was about, Benjamin resolved it in a terrible, final manner. He went to the barn, got an axe, returned to the house and struck Sarah on the head, "maulling & mashing her head to many pieces in a barbarous and bloudy maner." Benjamin then ran away and hid in the woods, but was later apprehended and tried and convicted for the murder May 29, 1677.

An official record of the case appears in Crimes, op. cit. Document No. 80: