Joseph Marble Sr.

Biography

About 1650–1728

Joseph Marble was a mason associated with Andover (in northeastern Massachusetts). He married Mary Faulkner in 1671, and their son Joseph was born there in July 1673.

The elder Joseph appears in a particularly consequential record from the Salem witchcraft prosecutions. On January 13, 1692/3, Francis Faulkner and Joseph Marble appeared before Chief Justice William Stoughton and jointly undertook a recognizance of £100 for Dorothy and Abigail Faulkner. The girls had been committed on suspicion of witchcraft. Joseph is specifically described as a mason of Andover.

The obligation put the men's lands and goods at risk if its conditions were not met. It required the girls to appear before the next court, answer the matters brought against them, and remain until formally permitted to depart. A note on the reverse records their appearance on May 10 and their clearance by proclamation upon payment of fees.

Joseph’s family record gives his death as August 2, 1728. His presence in the recognizance preserves an individual act during the crisis: he placed his own property behind the required court appearance of two imprisoned children.