Alice ‘Alse’ Young – First Witch Hanging Victim in Colonial America – Legends of America

On May 26, 1647, Alice Alse Young became the first person executed for being a witch in the American colonies when she was hanged in Hartford, Connecticut. From the article:

"...The only records that are known at this time directly pertaining to this event are from the diary of John Winthrop Sr. and the Matthew Grant Diary or the Old Windsor Church Record. Winthrop’s notation in the spring of 1647 states simply “One ________ of Windsor arraigned and executed for a witch in Hartford.” The second record, listing the actual name, was not discovered until the late nineteenth century when the Matthew Grant Diary was found again after missing for over a couple hundred years. Matthew Grant wrote on the inside cover, “Alse Young was hanged, May 26, ’47” as discovered by historian John Hammond Trumbull.


Very few records exist in Connecticut pertaining to the witch trials. The hanging site for Alice and the ten other victims of the trials may have been near the Old State House when it was Hartford’s old town green or Meeting House Square. A jail was on the northwest corner of that place and the stocks and pillory were also there. However, historian and minister, William Deloss Love wrote in his book, The Colonial History of Hartford, that the hanging sites were located on a hill near Albany Ave. No records have been found to validate this statement. Others say that the site was at present-day Trinity College. However, many historians disagree with that supposition and state that it was the place of revolutionary hangings. In essence, no one has the answer to that question.

As awareness increases about Alice Young and more research is done, it is hoped that further facts will be found and added to this story and to the histories of all of Connecticut’s eleven witch trial victims. The facts conveyed in this article can be verified in primary records including Windsor Land Records and the Matthew Grant Diary."

© Beth M Caruso, submitted September 2019