Joan Wright

Goodwife Joan Wright (born c. 1596, date of death unknown), called ''Surry's Witch," is the first person known to have been legally accused of witchcraft in any British North American colony. Background Wright was born around 1596 in Hull, Yorkshire, England. In 1610, she married Robert Wright, and they later emigrated to the Colony of Virginia, originally living in Elizabeth City. They had two sons, William and Robert. She was a self-professed healer and described as a "cunning" woman, the term used for those who practiced "low-level" or "folk" magic. She was also left-handed, which deemed her untrustworthy and suspicious by the day's standards. Wright lived and worked as a midwife in Surry County and was referred to as "Goodwife Wright". Witch trial In 1626, the Allington family refused to have Wright as their midwife because she was left-handed. The mother fell ill with a breast infection and the newborn baby died shortly after it was born. Quickly, the family and neighbors began to accuse Wright of the infant's demise.