1638: The melancholy Dorothy Talby
December 6th, 2008 Headsman
On this date in 1683, Dorothy Talby was hanged in Boston for breaking the neck of her baby daughter (aptly named “Difficulty”) “in order to save the child from future misery.”
Though not the first execution of a woman in the territory of the future United States, it is the first that is reasonably well-documented … and for a disturbed, possibly insane, woman striking out against her troubled family life, a case that resonated for later Americans like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Oliver Wendell Holmes.
For those of us, post-Andrea Yates, for whom “post-partum depression” has become a sadly familiar term of criminology, it is likely to resonate as well.
Mrs. Talby was esteemed for godliness, etc., but after the birth of the child she became melancholy and possessed of delusions. She sometimes tried to kill herself and her husband by refusing to eat “meat” and not permitting them to eat it, saying it had been so revealed to her. (Source)
Take a break from the Headsman’s noodlings and instead enjoy the thoughtful treatment given Talby’s case by crime blogger extraordinaire Laura James.
Also On This Date
Possibly Related Executions
- 1786: Hannah Ocuish, age 12
- 1630: John Billington, signer of the Mayflower Compact
- 1789: Rachel Wall, female pirate
Entry Filed under: 17th Century, Abortion and Infanticide, Capital Punishment, Common Criminals, Crime, Death Penalty, Diminished Capacity, England, Execution, Hanged, Massachusetts, Milestones, Murder, Public Executions, USA, Women
Tags: 1638, 1680s, andrea yates, boston, december 6, depression, dorothy talby, filicide, nathaniel hawthorne, oliver wendell holmes, post-partum depression
2 Comments Add your own
1. Maggie Taulbee | August 1st, 2009 at 9:36 pm
I am a direct descendent of Dorothy, who came with her husband, John, and children from Lincolnshire, England to Salem around 1630. My daughter has had vivid “memories” of this event all her life, even before I told her of the incident and our ancestry. DNA?
2. Rob Cline | December 5th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I am also I directly related to the Taulbee family. My mother just came across the relation yesterday on Ancestry.com. My Grandfather Paul Cline is the direct relation. It was very suprising and a little ironic because my girlfriend just wrote a paper on Andrea Yates and the whole family was talking about the history of post-partum depression. We didn’t think it would have hit so close to home.
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