Page 8 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 54 Late Spring 2025

new lives in Wallingford was that Mercy
and Samuel were in mourning over the
recent loss of their 2-year-old daughter,
Abigail. We know that Simon returned
to Wallingford around 1682, married
a local girl, Abigail Beach, and raised a
family of six children. His remains lie
today in Center Street Cemetery. Mer-
cy and Samuel Brown returned around
1685, soon after matriarch Elizabeth
Tuttle died in New Haven. They built or
acquired a house for their family of 6
children and seemed to blend into the
community.

Though I have been unable to locate
the whereabouts of David Tuttle during
these years, I discovered that he de-
scended into some kind of madness as
a young man, possibly in reaction to his Location of Simon Brown’s allotment #7
brother Benjamin’s murderous act. He
never married and was mostly under her usual morning chores, building the of the murderer so that the father could
the care of his older brother Thomas, fire and preparing breakfast. Seeing tend to his poor son.
who managed his estate which might that the fire had gone out, she left the
have included his allotment in Walling- house to fetch some embers. In retro- The damage had been done, and there
ford. David probably lived with brother spect, this was perhaps the first indica- would be no miraculous recovery. Sam-
Thomas and his family in New Haven tion that something was amiss. Keeping uel Brown, Jr. died of his wounds six
and may never have actually resided the embers alive in the hearth was one days later, a victim of his own mother’s
in Wallingford. He died an “invalid” in of the most important tasks of a good- frenzied assault.
New Haven in 1693 at the age of 54. wife in Colonial times. On this day, Mer-
Additional research could be done to cy walked to Neighbor Beach’s house THE CASE AGAINST MERCY
determine more about David and his and asked for a torch to reignite her TUTTLE BROWN
original plot in Wallingford. fire. The Beach family later testified that This seemed an open and shut case. As
Records show that by 1685 Simon and Mercy seemed “distracted” and ner- Mercy was led away from the scene of
Abigail Tuttle had lived in Wallingford vous during this visit. Carefully blow- her crime, devastated by the enormity
for three years, probably on Simon’s ing on the flame, Mercy successfully of it all, she immediately admitted to
original lot #13 (near Moses Beach got the torch home and rekindled her murdering her son. She never retracted
School). Mercy and Samuel Brown now fire. After milking the cows and turning the confession and there were witness-
lived here as well, though their location them loose to graze in the meadow, she es. No one could understand why she
is not currently known. Their original calmly picked up an axe that lay waiting had done this, and Wallingford was full
allotment #7 west had been reassigned under her apron on a kitchen chair, and of gossip and speculation in the follow-
to John Moss. Perhaps the Browns took walked upstairs to the chamber where ing days.
over David Tuttle’s property at #16 east several of her children were sleeping.
(near Choate tennis courts). At any rate, The complications presented in the case
the Brown family was living somewhere What followed was as horrendous as of Mercy Brown involved motive and
along Main Street on the fateful day of any modern slasher movie, Mercy ap- mental health. While Mercy languished
June 20, 1691. Wallingford was now a proached the bed in which her sons in a Hartford jail, her family attempted
town of 73 families and 400 inhabitants Samuel, Jr. (17) and Francis (12) lay to prove to the court that she was men-
living mostly within easy reach of Main asleep and savagely attacked Sam- tally ill. Even in the late 1600s, a person
Street. Unbeknownst to these hearty uel with the axe. Awakened by the could enter a plea of not guilty by rea-
pioneers, their beloved town was about blood-curdling screams, Samuel, Sr. ran son of insanity. Neighbors, friends, and
to witness a devastating act of violence. into the room to find his wife standing family were interviewed by the author-
by the bedside, axe in hand, ready to ities. Most agreed that in recent weeks
MURDER MOST FOUL! strike another blow to Samuel’s head. she had been “very much distracted
WALLINGFORD, 1691 The sheets were dripping with blood [an early word for crazy] and out of her
The following information is taken from and gore. Mercy raised her arm and head.” Only a few days before, Mercy
original court testimony as relayed in struck again, as Samuel, Sr. unsuccess- had apparently been much concerned
“The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle”, by Ava fully tried to restrain her. Finally twist- with her children’s future. She said she
Chamberlain. ing the weapon from her hand, he held would like to “have them buried in the
her as she continued to struggle and barn”. She implied that she could pro-
On the morning of June 20th, all ap- wrench herself free to finish the job. tect them from some terrible fate by
peared just like any other day. Mercy One can only imagine the carnage of killing them herself. In her troubled
Brown arose before dawn and began this scene, and the eventual subduing mind, death became a means of salva-

8 WALLINGFORD MAGAZINE - LATE SPRING 2025