William Graves

He married November 7, 1647, in Springfield, Massachusetts. He died June 1679 in Newtown, Long Island, New York.

Accused of Witchcraft

William Graves was one of the first fifty-nine settlers of Stamford, Connecticut, receiving a house lot there in November 1642, and married in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1647. In January 1667 he visited his pregnant daughter Abigail, wife of Samuel Dibble, in Stamford, and reportedly warned her that she would die unless her labor went quickly; witnesses later testified William said things like “my Childe will dye and I shall be hanged for her.” Abigail did die, and in February 1667 William was accused of witchcraft in connection with her death, though the record does not show he was convicted — he himself suspected someone else in town, with whom he and his daughter had a history of conflict, might have been responsible. He and Samuel Dibble remained estranged over a separate dowry dispute for years afterward. William moved to Newtown, Long Island, deeding away his Stamford properties in 1667, and died there in June 1679.