Name: Elizabeth Kennit/Kennet, alias Smith
Location: Stepney, Middlesex
Date: 1659
Accusations: Elizabeth was accused of bewitching Sarah Rose on 1st April 1659. Sarah was “wasted, consumed, pained and lamed”, and was still in the same lamentable condition in June of that year when Elizabeth was before the courts. Interestingly, it appears that the widowed Elizabeth married Lawrence Kennet less than a month after the death of his first wife, Rhoda, which might have contributed towards the accusations against her.
Outcome: Luckily for Elizabeth, perhaps largely due to the wane in witchcraft prosecutions, on 29 June 1659 she was found not guilty of the charges against her and presumably set free. A woman by that name was buried in Stepney 24th October, 1683.
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