Dudley Bradstreet (1648 – 13 November 1702) was an American magistrate who served as the Justice of the Peace of Andover, Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials.[1] [2]
| Dudley Bradstreet | |
| Birth Date: | 1648 |
| Birth Place: | Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Death Date: | 13 November 1702 |
| Death Place: | Andover, Province of Massachusetts Bay |
| Spouse: | Anne Wood Price |
Bradstreet was born to Simon Bradstreet and Anne Dudley Bradstreet in Cambridge, Massachusetts, moving to Andover as an infant.[3] He served as a colonel in the colonial militia, a Deputy to the General Court of Massachusetts, and in the Massachusetts Governor's Council from 1698 until 1702.[4]
During the Salem Witch Trials, Bradstreet was Justice of the Peace for Andover. He issued warrants for the arrest and imprisonment of forty-eight suspected "witches", after which he refused to issue any more. As a result, Bradstreet and his wife, Anne, were accused of witchcraft and forced to flee the area.[2] In December 1692, Bradstreet's name appears atop a 1692 petition to the Superior Court of Judicature at Salem to free fellow residents of Andover from prison. Also signing this petition was Rev. Francis Dane.[5]
He was the fifth son of Governor Simon Bradstreet and his wife, the poet Anne Dudley Bradstreet. Anne's father, Thomas Dudley, was also Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.[3] One of his brothers, John Bradstreet, was also implicated in the witch trials.[2]
Bradstreet married Anne Wood Price, daughter of Richard and Anne (Priddeth) Wood and widow of Theodore Price. Their children were:[1]
Bradstreet was an ancestor of 20th-century U.S. President Herbert Hoover.[6]