JONATHAN SINGLETARY ALIAS DUNHAM

Abra Ca Da-Barack

In 1664, Obama's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather Jonathan Singletary was found guity of slander and defamation in a colonial Massachusetts court for accusing John Godfrey of witchcraft.

"Is this witch on this syde Boston Galloes yet?" Singletary had said.

It was 30 years before the famous Salem witch trials, but Singletary was already fingering an enemy as a witch.

During an earlier legal dispute between Godfrey and another man, Singletary testified in 1662 that Godfrey was in cahoots with the prince of darkness.

Singletary told a fantastic tale of Godfrey mysteriously appearing in a jail cell where Singletary was held during the proceedings. First came a horrendous "noyese" that Singletary said sounded like a bunch of cats climbing the "prizen" walls, "board ends or stooles" being thrown about and men "Crackleing & Shakeing" like a "hous would have falen upon me."

The bolt shot back, and Godfrey appeared. And, after they spoke, he "went away I know not how nor which way," Singletary testified.

The jury didn't buy it. They found Singletary guity and ordered him to "make public acknowledgement at Haverill or to pay a fine."

A couple of years later, for reasons lost to the clouds of history, Singletary changed his last name to Dunham, going by Singletary alias Dunham. He built a grist mill in Woodbridge, N.J., and became a prosperous businessman. He also held a variety of local elected offices, including serving in the Woodbridge, N.J., General Assembly.

But by 1677 Singletary alias Dunham was back in trouble. He and another man were arrested for taking things from the governor's home. Then, he separated from his wife and 10 children and moved to the Plymouth Colony, according to an article written by Audrey Shields Hancock and Sam Dunnam and published in the Dunham-Singletary Family Connections newsletter.

In Plymouth, Singletary alias Dunham was accused of "drawing away" another man's wife "and doing as she bade him to do."

Which included killing another man's dog, making a fire and throwing "the dog upon" it, burning some of the man's possesions and firing a gun in his house.

He was sentenced to a public whipping and banished from Plymouth.

"Jonathan's life was one of conflict, contentiousness, questionable behavior, and -- paradoxically -- also of honor and notable accomplishment," Hancock and Dunnam write. "What the records show of him reflects something approaching a dual personality."

Obama is one of tens of thousands of his descendants who now live in America, according to the Dunham-Singletary Family Connections association.

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In 1662, Jonathan Singletary testified in court about supernatural doings he experienced while being held in prison during litigation with John Godfrey.

Here is the text of Singletary's testimony, taken from the transcriptions in Records and Files of the Quarterly Court of Essex County, Vol. III: 1662-1667. The original misspellings and lack of punctuation were preserved, but it's broken into paragraphs to make it a little easier to read. It's available in a fuller court account of the trial online.

"I being in ye prizen att Ipswitch this night last past Bettwene nine & tenn of ye clocke att night after ye bell had runge I being sett in a Corner of ye prizen upon a suden I heard a greate Noyese as if maney Cattes had bine Climbeing up ye prizen Wales & Skipping into ye house att ye windows & Jumping about ye Chamber And a noyese as if board ends or stooles had bine throwne about, & men walkeing in ye Chambers & a Crackleing & Shakeing as if ye hous would have falen upon me

"I seeing this & Considering what I knew by a young man ye kept att my hous, last Indian Haruist & upon som diferanc wth John Godfre he was prsently severall nights in a strainge maner Troubled & Complaineing as he did & upon Consideration of this & other things yt I knewe by him I was att prsent something affrigthed

"yett Considering wt I had lattly heard made out by mr mitchill att Cambridg yt ther is mor good in god then there is euell in sin & that all though God is ye greatist good & sin ye greatest eivell yett ye first Being of evell Can nott weare ye scales of ouer power ye first being of good so Considering yt ye author of good was of greater power Then ye athour of evell god was pleazed of his goodnes to keepe me From being out of measuer frighted so:

"this noyese aboue sd held as I sopoze about a quarter of an houer & then seased & prsently I heard ye boult of ye dore shoott or goe back as perfitty to my thinkeing as I did ye next morning when ye keeper Came to unlocke it & i could nott se ye Dore oppen but I saw John godfre stand wth in ye Doore & said Jonathan Jonathan

"so I lookeing on him sd what have you to doe with me

"he sd I come to se you are you weary of yor place yett

"I answered I take no delight in being here but I will be out as soone As I Can

"he sd if you will pay me in corn you shall Com out

"I Answd no if yt had bine my intent I would have pd ye marchall and never have Com hither

"he knocking of his fist at me in a kind of threatening way said he would make me weary of my partt & so: went away I know not how nor which way & as I was walkeing about in ye prizen I triptt upon a stone wth my heele & tooke it up in my hand; thinking yt if he cam againe I would stricke att him

"so as I was walkeing about He Caled att ye window

"Jonathan sd he if you will pay me corne I will giue you two years day & we will com to an agremt

"i answered him saying why Doe you Com desembling & playing ye diuels partt here youre natteur is nothing but enuie and malis wch you will vent Though to yor owne loss and you seeke peace wth no man

"I doe nott desemble sd he I will give you my hand upon it I am in earnist so:

"he put his hand in att ye window and I tooke hould of it wth my leftt hand & puled him to me & wth ye ston in my right hand I thout i strocke him & went to recuoer my hand to stricke againe & his hand was gone & I would have strock but ther was nothing to stricke & how he went away I know not for I could neaither tele when his hand went out of mine nor se which way he went."

A good overall account of Singletary (including a cleaned up version of his court statement) can be found on Audrey Hancock's Web site.