Few people realize that the small town of Brookfield in Central Massachusetts is responsible for raising the first woman to be executed in the new America republic. However, Spooner Well, a sad and lonely spot on the old Boston Post Road, commemorates the occasion with a single lone marker.
It’s the place where Joshua Spooner was beaten to death at the instigation of an unfaithful wife and then dumped to the bottom of the farmhouse well.
It’s sounds like a classic tale of love gone wrong, but was it?
A Traitor and Adulterer in Colonial Central Massachusetts
While the intimate details are sparse, we do know that Spooner’s wife, Bathsheba Ruggles Spooner, was no fan of the new American colony. It was well accepted in documented histories that her sympathies remained with the old mother land after the revolution despite being raised in Central Massachusetts.
Because of her outspoken attitude, townspeople regarded her warily and regularly questioned her loyalties. Some say it made her easy pickings when authorities came looking for someone to blame for her husband’s death. Others suspect that rumors of domestic abuse played against her, providing motive for one of the first juries to try a woman for murder in the new land.
In retrospect, the facts themselves stand as a strong case for her guilt.
She was 32, considered a middle-aged woman in colonial central Massachusetts, when Ezra Ross fell ill at her doorstep. Ross, a 16 year-old soldier was traveling home from George Washington’s winter camp in Morristown New Jersey when he met Mrs. Spooner.
She nursed him back to health and then into her bed. The result was her fifth pregnancy.
Since it was well known around town that the Spooners weren’t on the best of terms, her pregnancy would have raised eyebrows and elicited gossip. Still, it would have been impossible for area residents to prove her infidelity unless Spooner himself revealed it.
Would he have given up his wife’s treachery? Some consider it likely given their strained marital relationship. Ross must have believed it, or was too smitten by the charms of the elder Mrs. Spooner to refuse her, because he was easily swayed into joining the murder plot his faithless lover hatched.
Who Was Joshua Spooner
While his wife gets most of the notoriety, Joshua Spooner was a well known citizen in colonial Massachusetts, if not highly respected.
He was born in 1741 in Dartmouth. His father was 45 and his mother was 31 at that time of his birth, getting rather long in the tooth for rearing up a child in colonial America. In fact, his mother would die less than five years after his birth, leaving his father to raise him alone.
Whether this early tragedy was to blame for his adult nature is impossible to say, but by the time Bathsheba was consorting with young soldiers, Joshua Spooner was largely regarded as a retired lumberman who found no qualms in drinking to excess and abusing his wife. At least that’s how history paints him. With little recorded history prior to the murder to be had, we have only his wife’s opinion to use as judgement.
Planning the Murder of Joshua Spooner
What we do know is that Bathsheba conspired with the young soldier in her care to poison her husband, and when he later got cold feet, found success with two deserters. Swayed with promises of rum and sexual favors, the men were all too happy to meet her husband as he returned one night from the tavern, beat him to death, and toss him in the well.
Townspeople may have been none the wiser if the two deserters had kept to themselves but bandying the tale about the surrounding taverns meant that justice would soon be served. In this case, it took less than 24 hours from the time of Spooner’s murder until the arrest of his wife.
However, local accounts from the time indicate that Bathsheba was not very concerned with secrecy herself. A newspaper report indicates that she told one house servant about the murder shortly after it occurred and sent another to fetch water to clean the bloody clothes of the killers. Both servants were reported to be “very much affected” by the news of Mr. Spooner’s murderous passing and were likely willing witnesses against Bathsheba’s treachery.
As for Bathsheba, she was not one to waste time on remorse. Reporters were critical of her demeanor during the trial, considering her “little affected” even when sentenced to death. “…And it is to be witnessed that there may be, in the other convicts, more signs of repentance, before their execution, than has yet been observed in her,” said the reporter.
Five months pregnant, Bathsheba pleaded for a stay of execution until after the baby was born but was denied clemency. She was hung beside her co-conspirators on July 2, 1778.
Largely Unknown, Even in Central Massachusetts
Despite her treachery and notoriety as the first woman to be executed in the new America republic, Bathsheba Spooner isn’t widely known. A search for the first woman executed in the U.S. turns up results for Mary Surratt, noting her role in the assassination of President Lincoln, and a list of women hanged between 1632 and 1900, a listing that omits Spooner altogether.
It might be possible to think of the murder of Joshua Spooner as a long-enduring urban legend if it weren’t for the lonely marker on the Boston Post Road left to remind us of the tragedy and to memorialize the first woman to be executed in the new American colony.
Visiting Spooner Well
If you’re visiting Central Massachusetts, the site of Spooner well is easy to find if you know what you’re looking for. Located off of Route 148 in Brookfield, you’ll find the marker on the left side of East Main Street as you travel northeast, less than a quarter of a mile past the turn off.
Look for a slab that protrudes from the ground about six feet off the edge of the road. In summer, the poison ivy grows thick, so approach with caution.
There is no parking at Spooner Well monument, and property adjacent to it is privately owned. As we parked to take some quick photos and pay our respects, we were under appropriately watchful eyes, but no one interfered with our mission. If you don’t loiter too long and act respectfully, no one is likely to bother you.
Continuing north east on the old Boston Post Road, you’ll find placards commemorating the roadway as the first mail route established in the U.S. under the auspices of British King Charles II, as well as some interesting specimens of early colonial architecture.
Extending Your Trip Beyond Spooner Well
While an interesting destination, Spooner Well is not a trip in and of itself. Fortunately, this area of Central Massachusetts is filled with other side trips and things to do.
You could easily spend your day traveling back roads and discovering well-marked historic sites like Spooner well, but if you’re looking to combine your discoveries with some definitive destinations, try Rock House Reservation in nearby West Brookfield.
If you’re traveling north as you do some sightseeing, look up Doane’s Falls in Royalston, Massachusetts near the Vermont state line.
For more information on Bathsheba Ruggels Spooner, you can read this book written by Deborah Navas and sold on Amazon. If you should decide to make a purchase, we make a small earning from Amazon and thank you for your support of Seconds to Go.
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