Page 9 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 54 Late Spring 2025

tion and protection. Mercy’s husband Samuel Brown’s life collapsed under the act of murder in 1691, further tarnish-
Samuel, Sr. touched on this when he pressure of Mercy’s extended trial and ing Edward’s own rising legal career.
stated in court, “Her understanding be- imprisonment. He was forced to sell his Now he had the ammunition for a suc-
ing darkened, she conceived it the best possessions, including his Wallingford cessful divorce petition. Claiming his
way to provide for his [Samuel, Jr.’s] house, home lot, and farmland, prob- marriage was the victim of the Tuttle
eternal benefit.” It was quite likely that, ably to cover court and related costs. family curse, the judge finally approved
beginning with Samuel, Jr., she would He died a month after the conclusion of and dissolved Richard and Elizabeth’s
have pursued her tragic mission to mur- the trial, not knowing the ultimate fate marriage. In the interest of fairness it
der all her children. [Note: this opinion of his wife. It is presumed he was buried has to be said that this summary of the
from her husband was in opposition to in Wallingford, but the details are not Edwards divorce presents only one side
his earlier comments that Mercy was yet known. of the story. Divorce records exist with
not a raving lunatic and had behaved much detail written by Richard defiling
in a perfectly acceptable manner before To the relief of her family, Mercy re- the character of his wife; but there are
the murder. He later admitted to her ceived a compassionate sentence. The no existing documents revealing Eliza-
true mental state.] court had apparently understood the beth’s story. I imagine they would have
complicated nature of this case and revealed quite a different picture. There
Some offered the suggestion that Mer- instead of the expected sentence of are also no records of Elizabeth after
cy had been tempted by the Devil to death, assigned her to be held in cus- the divorce, including the date or place
commit this desperate act. The debate tody in New Haven at the home of an of her death. Richard’s career blos-
about mental illness and culpability is officer of the court. Since there were somed and his and Elizabeth’s grandson
nothing new to us today. Susan Smith no mental health institutions in Con- Rev. Jonathan Edwards became one of
from South Carolina and Andrea Yates necticut this seemed a fair solution. It the most prominent preachers, phi-
from Texas are modern examples of is unclear with whom Mercy spent the losophers, and theologians in Colonial
mothers who committed infanticide. remaining years of her life, whether she America.
Yates, who stated, “Satan ordered me was permitted to see friends and fami-
to kill them to save them from eternal ly, or what the exact date of her death CONCLUSION
damnation” had much in common with was. In her final years, Mercy must have The interesting case of the Tuttle fami-
Mercy Brown. In a strange coincidence, struggled mightily with her demons: ly is largely unknown today. It is mostly
during this very same time, Wallingford the loss of her husband and son and absent from history books, including lo-
was grappling with another Satanic situ- her home, and the possible estrange- cal Wallingford references. Charles Da-
ation in the accusation of witchcraft and ment of her other children. She was vis’s seminal 1000 page History of Wall-
subsequent trials of Winifred Benham no doubt perceived by her New Haven ingford entirely omits the story. Social
and her daughter Winifred who lived neighbors as a crazy woman possessed psychologists, genealogists, and eugen-
on South Main Street. For a detailed ac- by the Devil. Mercy faded into the mists icists would have a field day exploring
count of the Benham witchcraft story, of history and it is unknown today when all the ramifications of mental illness
see my 3-part article from the Walling- she died or where she was finally laid found in the Tuttle family tree. The
ford Magazine, Issues 25, 26, and 27. to rest. sickness appeared to begin with Benja-
min causing the murder he committed
Seventeenth Century women defen- MORE SCANDAL: against his sister Sarah. The psycho-
dants were not provided with lawyers AN UGLY DIVORCE logical damage resulting from that act
to represent them, so Mercy had to One more Tuttle scandal completes the spread throughout the family, impact-
defend herself. When asked whether sad chain of events that brought down ing siblings Mercy, David, and Elizabeth,
she was guilty or not guilty, she chose this family. Soon after Mercy and Sam- and no doubt many more Tuttles. The
neither option, but instead said, “I am uel married in 1676, Elizabeth Tuttle, spouses were not immune either as the
guilty of the fact but not of the mal- Mercy’s older sister, married Richard tragic vein in the family led to Samuel
ice in it.” This plea acknowledged the Edwards. According to a biographer, Brown’s death and Richard Edwards’s
harm done but not the criminal intent. “Edwards had been inveigled into mar- divorce.
Friends and neighbors came from Wall- riage by a rich and attractive New Ha-
ingford to present evidence of her men- ven girl.” It was apparent to all that This story has all the hallmarks of a 60
tal illness. A respected legal authority of Elizabeth was pregnant at the time of Minutes TV program: murder, mayhem,
the time, Gersham Bulkeley, took an in- her marriage with much debate among madness, and divorce; and the worst of
terest in the case and pointed out to the the townsfolk as to the identity of the it happened right here in Wallingford.
court irregularities in the procedure. father. The resulting child, Mary, was
But to no avail, the prosecution made rejected by Edwards, and raised by her Note: That this story took place so long
a convincing case for conviction of the maternal grandparents. With this di- ago presents a challenge for research-
felony of domestic homicide; and the sastrous start, the marriage eventually ers. So little hard information is avail-
jury returned a guilty verdict. Because faltered due to Elizabeth’s occasional able. Court, birth, death, and marriage
of the complex issues surrounding this adultery and evidence of mental illness. records provide vital facts; but much is
case, the court decided to postpone Edwards twice applied for a divorce, but missing. The Internet contains pieces
sentencing to a later date. was rejected by the courts as divorces of the story, but the sources are some-
were rarely granted in the 17th Century. times dubious. Errors are possible. I
Mercy was again incarcerated, and And then the final blow: Edwards’ sis- hope my rendition of the events in the
spent 18 additional months in jail. Sadly, ter-in-law Mercy committed her brutal Tuttle family tells the true story.

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