WEB construction--a collection of notes

This dataset includes historical records concerning executions, homicide, slavery, racial violence, child death, infanticide, sexual exploitation, pregnancy, mental disability, and other forms of severe violence. Some variables contain transcribed or summarized language from historical sources that may include racist, dehumanizing, outdated, or otherwise offensive terminology. Such language is retained only when necessary to preserve the wording, classification practices, and evidentiary context of the original source material. Its inclusion does not reflect the views or terminology of the dataset creator. Users should exercise care when reading, quoting, analyzing, or reproducing this material. There are numerous errors and inconsistencies—such as incorrect crime types, misspellings, mistaken identities, and cases where execution status cannot be confirmed—and that some entries have been corrected or clarified using more recent historical scholarship and archival research. And the best resource is still WEB. Occasionally I will describe ongoing work to develop variables that capture demographic information, crime categories, victim information, and contextual factors. Some variables, such as race or age, remain incomplete for early historical cases and require additional genealogical work. The Espy index cards are a starting point, supplemented by archival materials, court records, compensation claims, and established historical research. Every variable is manually coded, with attention to transparency about uncertainties or conflicting sources.

A Selection of dataset notes pertaining to changes/additions (6/18)

Much more care needs to be given to the identification of indentured indigenous women. There are a number of excellent resources, however, to draw from the Colonial Society of MA, like Margaret Sewall's essay that argues that Native American slavery and servitude were central to colonial New England, even though they have often been treated as marginal in histories of the region. It shows that New England colonists enslaved Native people from the earliest decades of settlement, especially through war captivity during conflicts such as the Pequot War and King Philip’s War. Although outright enslavement of local Indians declined after 1700 as colonial governments began to recognize Native communities as legal subjects, Native servitude persisted through other mechanisms, including imported Indian slavery, debt bondage, forced apprenticeship, and court-ordered “judicial enslavement.” The essay also emphasizes that these practices helped shape racial categories in early America: colonial laws increasingly grouped Indian, African, and mixed-race servants and slaves together as people of color, restricting their rights and treating them as property. In this way, Native slavery in New England contributed both to the development of chattel slavery and to the legal construction of race. https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/1397

The earliest woman recorded as executed appears to have been sentenced for an extramarital relationship with a Black man. According to the source material, her sentencing occurred in 1630. The Espy card, however, lists her as charged with infanticide in the Virginia Colony in 1633. Multiple historians—Ann Jones (Women Who Kill, 1980) and Julia Cherry Spruill (Women’s Life and Work in the Southern Colonies, 1938)—cite Hening’s Statutes at Large (Vol. I, p. 209) and the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (Vol. XIII, p. 390). Spruill notes that Hatch pleaded pregnancy after conviction, but a jury of matrons determined she was not with child.

A later note by researcher Hearn (Dec. 9, 1989), based on the Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, offers a more nuanced view: Hatch was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter. She received a death sentence only because she failed to plead clergy—a legal right that usually prevented execution. Hearn doubted she was actually executed and recommended marking the execution as unconfirmed.

One woman described in Winthrop’s Journal (History of New England, 1630–1649, Vol. 1, p. 238) was said to be mentally ill or “possessed by spirits” and claimed Satan instructed her to kill her three-year-old child. Winthrop was likely biased, but the case is notable for the suggestion that she used elements of Hutchinson’s theology to aid her defense.

Inquiries have been sent to several archives, including the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and this portion of research is considered complete for now.

Hearn (1999, p. 10) also clarifies that V17 and V18 should be dated to 1644, not 1643. Both defendants failed the “touch test.”
Another case involved an enslaved woman possibly raped by her master (Jones, pp. 74 and 82). She was reportedly “hanged twice” because the rope failed on the first attempt.

Depression appears likely in one case involving a trial by touch; her execution date has been updated to 1648 based on Baker, though a Cotton Mather diary entry is still sought for confirmation. This case also reveals an Espy error: Mary Parsons and Mary Young were confused in the data. (See the Albany archives for details.)

In another case, a woman and her husband were both accused of witchcraft. Baker notes she did not make execution easy for the officials. Espy sometimes recorded her execution as occurring in Boston, though Suffolk is adjacent and may explain the confusion. Espy’s notes also reference rumors about her reputation (e.g., being a “harlot” or possibly committing abortion). Putnam Demos’s Entertaining Satan (1982) is cited as a valuable reference.

Mary Paine (later Parsons) was born in England, which may explain discrepancies in her reported birth year. Evidence suggests she identified two other alleged witches: Knapp and Staples.

In another entry, a book from V31 in the Espy collection confirms material where the card is missing. Several cases strongly imply execution occurred without explicit confirmation. One woman was said to have died for essentially being argumentative (Baker). Another was executed on a boat as an attempt to calm stormy seas.

A Maryland case involves a woman who served Margaret Brent and was originally Mary Lawn before marrying Dan Clocker. She received a death sentence but may not have been executed; she died the following year.

Another person appears to have been executed at sea (1654 or 1659 depending on the source). Mary Dyer, an important figure in Rhode Island’s history, was well respected, wealthy, married, and a Quaker missionary. She was close to Anne Hutchinson. Baker notes that Hutchinson’s death in 1643—traditionally blamed on an attack—may have been indirectly caused by Puritan authorities. Her daughter Susanna survived and lived with Indigenous people for four years.

Date corrections: she was executed with Rebecca Greensmith and her husband—the last witchcraft hangings in Connecticut. Execution may have been in 1661; a 1988 letter from Hearn argues convincingly that she was executed.

Possible confusion exists between Parmelia Yarber and “Parmelia” (Isabella) noted in Baker. One case was severely miscoded: the crime was arson, not infanticide.

One husband may have poisoned his first wife (Romero & Crane, 2020). Another case is part of the broader Salem witchcraft events; occupation corrected to “housewife” and county to St. Mary’s, though Baltimore is possible. Ashley Ellefson's 2009 research helps clarify some of these details.

Some cases remain marked unconfirmed pending additional verification. One involved an extramarital pregnancy with an African American man (earlyamericancrime.com was helpful). Another execution date was corrected from 1708 to 1706. One woman disemboweled her husband; others were involved in the New York slave insurrection (see note for “Unnamed,” 1708). Compensation claims appear several times, raising questions about the legal or owner-related contexts of the executions.

One may be the last public burning. If executed, the method would have been burning; V24 updated accordingly. Several women had children who died shortly after birth, sometimes involving Black fathers; some cases involve Pequot histories and early Connecticut executions.

Other corrections involve counties, alternative spellings, misattributed state data, and identification of proper victims. Some cards appear not to be in Espy’s handwriting. In one Maryland case, the Maryland Gazette notes the prisoner denied guilt until the end; she may have been pregnant in jail.

A number of women appear in the records only tangentially but are tied to major events, including war-provoking acts or highly public executions. Dent and Floyd appear on one notecard with uncertain outcomes. One woman received a gubernatorial reprieve that came too late.

Slaves were sometimes executed alongside spouses; some cases involve additional victims, transfer of bodies to medical colleges, or county-level corrections. Several cards reference compensation amounts (e.g., $350, $387.50, $400, $600). Some women were noted for repeated trials, prison escapes, or self-defense claims. Others were recorded as innocent by later review.

Some women were described as turbulent, mentally impaired, or extremely young. A few were labeled suspected serial killers. A number of entries involve pregnancy, delayed executions, or unclear racial classifications (verification needed). Espy’s file often appears to be the sole surviving documentation for some 20th-century cases. In several, boyfriends or family dynamics contributed directly to the circumstances of the crime.

Later entries (e.g., Velma Barfield, Betty Lou Beets) reference modern legal appeals. Ross (2017) discusses links between carpentry and witchcraft accusations. Additional heavily detailed cases (including those involving poisoning, child deaths, and exploitative relationships) come from Hearn, Baker, Meacham, Streib, and others. Many original index cards can be found in the Albany digital collections.

Summary description of changes made to the database that uses the Espy Papers as a starting point 7/30/2026)

July 30, 2026 The addition of enslavers’ names to the newest version (12 not YET posted on Zenodo but available upon request) now contains almost 100 records substantially expands what can be known about many enslaved women who were executed. Earlier records frequently identify an enslaved woman only by a first name—or, in some instances, simply as “unnamed.” Connecting each woman to the full name of the person who enslaved her provides an additional identifying marker that may help distinguish her from other women with the same name, locate her within a particular household or community, and guide future searches of court records, probate files, tax lists, estate inventories, newspapers, and family papers. Although an enslaver’s name does not restore the identity that the historical record denied to these women, it provides an important point of entry for learning more about their lives and the circumstances surrounding their executions.

The earliest women in this group include Judith, enslaved by Edward Harris and executed in 1741, and an unnamed woman enslaved by William Simmons, who was executed in 1751. Jenny, enslaved by Joseph Strother, was executed in 1760, followed by Rachel, enslaved by Ludwell Grymes, in 1761. Rose, enslaved by Matthew Rabour, was executed in 1766; Esther, enslaved by John Wise Jr., in 1767; and Betty, enslaved by Alice Coleman Smith, in 1769. Jenny, enslaved by John Lewis, and Rachel, enslaved by Lockey Collier, were both executed in 1777. In 1779, Esther, enslaved by James Blount, and Poll, enslaved by John Bobbitt, were executed. Violet, enslaved by Sampsons Sawyer, was executed in 1780; Penelope, enslaved by Peter Copeland, in 1781; and Moll, enslaved by James Clark, in 1783.

Daphne and Nelly, both enslaved by Colonel Champion Travis, were executed in 1793. Chloe, enslaved by Richard Randolph, was executed in 1795. Two years later, an unnamed woman associated with an enslaver recorded as Glare and Jenny, enslaved by Isaac Haywood, were executed. Mary, enslaved by Edward Tath, was executed in 1798. In 1799, Fanny, enslaved by Henry Field, and Amey, enslaved by John Gresham, were executed. Chloe, enslaved by Andrew Carothers, followed in 1801. Sarah, enslaved by Hiram Mills, and Chastity, enslaved by Thomas Lawson, were executed in 1803.

Several women were executed in 1806: an unnamed woman enslaved by Silas Myhan; Elizabeth Rimby; Sally and Creese, both enslaved by Daniel Morrisitty; and Charlotte, enslaved by William Pentross. Nancy, enslaved by Walter Rhodes, was executed in 1808. Sue, whose enslaver’s name appears to have been recorded as “Lege,” and Flora, enslaved by Joseph Jackson, were executed in 1809. Amy, enslaved by James Tate, was executed in 1812. Isabelle, enslaved by James Hildreth, and Sally, enslaved by Mortecil Cohen, were executed in 1814. Jenny, enslaved by Peter Stratton, and Delphy, enslaved by Thomas Mitchell, were executed in 1816. Sarah, enslaved by Robert Berkeley, was executed in 1818, followed by Chaney, enslaved by Henry Barnes, in 1820.

Jenny, enslaved by Sally Dashiell, was executed in 1821, and Elizabeth Owens was executed in 1823. Patsy, enslaved by Elijah Gorman, was executed in 1825; Milly, enslaved by Gabriel Hanley, in 1826; and Molly, enslaved by George Long, in 1827. Mary, enslaved by George Caldwell, was executed in 1830. Harriett, enslaved by Hector P. Lewis, and Lucy, enslaved by John Barrow, were executed in 1831. The women executed in 1832 included Lucy, enslaved by Louis Bouligny; Lucy, enslaved by William Wells; Elizabeth Freeman; Elizabeth, enslaved by Archibald Allen; and Renah and Fanny, both enslaved by Henry Dawson.

In 1836, Delsey, enslaved by Martin Harkins; Fanny, enslaved by James Stevenson; and Caroline, enslaved by Joseph Roberts, were executed. Sarah, enslaved by Robert Dye, and Jane, enslaved by Elizabeth Gorman, were executed in 1837. An unnamed woman enslaved by Isaac Jones was executed in 1840. Nancy, enslaved by Parker S. Beasley, was executed in 1844. Sophie, enslaved by James Hayes, and Emaline were executed in 1845. Celia, enslaved by Jacob Bryan; Lucy, enslaved by Lewis Hamilton; and Maria, enslaved by a person recorded as Brooks, were executed in 1848. Cicely, enslaved by a person recorded as Longgon, was executed in 1850.

The women executed in 1851 included Malinda, enslaved by William T. Burns; Ellen, enslaved by Marten Chancedec; Jeanette, enslaved by Carlisle Villere; and an unnamed woman enslaved by a person recorded as Watson. In 1852, Anarchy, enslaved by Sarah Burnaman; Jane Williams, enslaved by Joseph Winston; Mahalia, enslaved by William B. Mason; and Molly, enslaved by Charles B. Champion, were executed. Ailey, enslaved by Elijah McMichael, was executed in 1854, followed by Martha, enslaved by Thomas Walker, in 1855.

In 1857, Eliza, enslaved by Eliza Burrows; Massy, enslaved by Louis B. Norwood; Catharine, enslaved by Maria Thompson; and Betsy, enslaved by George E. Green, were executed. Eliza, enslaved by W. L. Chamberlain, and Jenny, enslaved by Elizabeth Hall, were executed in 1858. June, enslaved by Alfred Jones, was executed in 1860. Mary Naylor, enslaved by Robert Carr; an unnamed woman associated with an enslaver identified only as Mary; and Harriet, enslaved by Hetty A. Cooley, were executed in 1861. Carolina, enslaved by Flora Cobb; Ann, enslaved by James J. Whittington; and Clara Ann were executed in 1862.

Bet, Jane, and Sarah, all enslaved by General Dillard, were executed in 1863. Emma, enslaved by Mr. T. Cabell, was executed in 1864, and Amy, enslaved by Major A. C. Spain, was executed in 1865.

These additions demonstrate the cumulative value of historical data reconstruction. A record that once identified a woman only as “unnamed” can now be connected to William Simmons, Glare, Silas Myhan, Isaac Jones, Watson, or Mary. Even when her personal name remains absent, she is no longer represented solely by an execution date. The enslaver’s identity may connect her to a specific plantation, household, county, estate, or body of archival records. Similarly, women identified only by common first names—such as Jenny, Rachel, Lucy, Sarah, Fanny, or Eliza—can be distinguished through their association with particular enslavers. This additional information does not eliminate the silences produced by slavery and historical recordkeeping, but it narrows them. Each recovered name and relationship creates another avenue for establishing who these women were, where they lived, and how their cases became part of the history of lawful execution in the United States.

July 29, 2026 A number of variables were removed/changed altogether given that they were becoming obsolete. Baker (2016) noted compensation cases (what was identified as V29) but, given their small number, and the fact that I am collecting data on compensation amounts and to whom these amounts were paid for, I have removed this variable and changed it to "Espy link" which is simply the link to the Espy card as provided by the Espy Papers Archive. V30 is now the transcription of the Espy card. V31, which contained both the transcription and additional sources is now a variable that includes additional sources only.

The updated dataset on Zenodo contains counties for at least 22 women. The affected cases were Eleanor Evans (Kent); Nance Chapman (Adair County); Jane Tygart (Monroe); an unnamed woman associated with Roe (Edgefield); Sandy Boyer (Hanover County); Mary Caldwell (Jessamine County); Nancy, associated with George Moss (Wilkinson); an unnamed woman (Cassville); Maria Brooks (Lowndes); an unnamed woman associated with Davis (Ashley County); an unnamed woman (Woodford); two unnamed women associated with Belvins (Houston); Eliza Chamberlain (Yalobusha County); Rebecca McCormick (Westmister); Fanny Stewart (Edgefield); Rose Singleton (St. Landry); Patience Edclon (Avoyelles); Matilda Jones (Plaquemine); Jenny Chapman (Newport); an unnamed woman (Queens County); and an unnamed woman associated with Gerard (Beaufort). These entries should be reviewed to determine whether the differing values represent more precise geographic information, alternate place names, or data-entry inconsistencies.

The recorded crime of execution differed since the last file for 61 cases. Most discrepancies involved offenses against enslavers or members of enslavers’ families.

The 37 cases classified as murder or poisoning of a master or family member were Kate (John Fowler); Nance (Joseph Chapman); an unnamed woman associated with Alexander Roach; an unnamed woman associated with Jane Reynolds; an unnamed woman associated with Samuel Roe; Sandy (William Boyer); one additional unnamed woman; an unnamed woman associated with Davis; Ailey (Elijah McMichael); Clarissa (Col. B. Wilson); two unnamed women associated with Belvins; Caroline (Dement); Alice Ryley, possibly Riley; Martha Bassett; Mary Powell; Phillis (Captain John Codman); Esther (John Wise); Mary Kennedy; Winny (John Knox); Annis (Henry Ormond); Sarah Clark; Kitty (William Baker); Celia (Henry Daughtry); Pat (Martha Farris); Sophie, identified as White; Cicily (Longgon); Lucy (Joseph Dougherty); Nancy (Clark Frizel); Bet, Jane, and Sarah, each associated with Dillard; Esther Anderson; Sally and Creese, both associated with Morrisett; Jenny (Chapman); and Phyllis (Henry Ormond).

The nine cases classified as attempted or conspiratorial murder of a master by poisoning were Judy (George Plater); an unnamed woman associated with Bisland; one additional unnamed woman; Sarah (Benjamin Gates); Fanny (Phillip Goode); Elizabeth Allen; Annie (Green); Polly (Drury Ragsdale); and Jenny (Haywood).

The remaining discrepancies included four cases classified as child murder—an unnamed woman, Rebecca McCormick (William Orendorf), Margaret (Butt), and Margaret Houghtaling, also known as Peggy Densmore—and three classified as infanticide: Eleanor Evans, Sall (John Loftain), and an unnamed woman. Nelly, Caroline, and Josephine, all associated with William Rogus, were classified as having been executed for participation in a slave revolt. Modeste (Lese Thibodeaux) and Pauline McCoy were classified under robbery-murder. The remaining cases consisted of Poll (Bobbitt), classified as murder; Molly (Col. Stanfield), classified as arson; and Lucy (Colcomb), classified as escape from slavery and murder in self-defense. These records should be reviewed to determine whether the more specific historical categories should be retained or harmonized with the broader crime-coding framework used in the other file.

July 21, 2026 (as of)..found 10 more Espy cards for enslaved black women. Accomplice data and victim data almost complete for the website in its entirety though I'm still only posting a partial version due to the sensitivity of the data. Full dataset available upon request.

There were a couple of executions that were removed from the dataset, specifically WEB ID 444 (Margaret, 1863), WEB ID 406 (Rebecca, 1825), WEB ID 353 (Arden, 1795), and WEB ID 582 (Millie Robe, 1798).

All except for Arden were removed because they had somehow been double-counted. Arden was removed because I believe it was mistakenly coded due to a typographical error in the original dataset. It appears that the individual should have been coded as Arder—specifically Sally Arder, also known as “Spanish Sal.”

To date, I have only made changes to the dataset for Black women. Notably, there have been approximately a dozen additions. These new cases are denoted by a different identifier. Rather than using the long, zero-padded identifiers found throughout the rest of the dataset, the new cases begin with WEB_001 and continue sequentially. For example, the first execution I added is an unnamed woman executed in 1664, who is identified in the Espy card transcription and assigned WEB_001. The next addition is WEB_002, and so forth. This makes it easy to distinguish newly added cases from the original records because they do not contain the much longer identifiers.

I have complete transcriptions available upon request. For now, I am listing only the link to the corresponding Espy index card so that anyone interested can consult the original source. As additional information becomes available, I will continue updating these records.

I have also compiled additional information on victim characteristics, crime characteristics, and accomplice characteristics. As with the full Espy card transcriptions, these materials are available upon request because of the sensitive nature of the data.

The newly uploaded dataset represents a significant improvement over previous versions. In particular, West Virginia had somehow fallen through the cracks and was substantially underrepresented. Updated descriptive statistics will be posted as I have time to prepare them. I also hope that the new website will provide a much more user-friendly and intuitive experience.

The remaining additions include an unnamed enslaved woman executed in 1737. This case has not yet been confirmed by an Espy card transcription, but it is accompanied by an Espy card. The recorded crime is infanticide.

The next addition is Kate, owned by Joshua Davison, who was executed in 1754 for an unspecified felony. An Espy card is also available for this case.

Dido, owned by George Garington, was executed in 1756 for the attempted murder of her owners, specifically by attempted poisoning.

Abigail, executed in 1761, was already documented on the Espy card for Rachel, who was also executed in 1761. Abigail appears to have been overlooked because she did not have her own individual Espy card. She was likewise condemned for attempting to murder a slave owner.

Another addition is an unnamed enslaved woman who was reported to have killed her own child. According to the historical account, she stated that she did not want the child to become enslaved by her owner, identified only as Mr. Gross.

In 1800, an enslaved woman was executed for killing her slave owner.

Case WEB_008 is an unnamed enslaved woman belonging to the enslaver John Mills. She was executed in 1800 in Wilkes County, Georgia, apparently for the murder of her enslaver.

Case WEB_009 is Diana, who was executed in 1841 for attempted poisoning. Her enslaver was not identified on the Espy card.

A particularly surprising omission from the original dataset was Virginia Christian.

The last Espy index card that I located, almost entirely by happenstance, documents the execution of Sally in 1854 in Halifax County, New York. According to the record, two women were convicted of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. However, only Sally is identified by name on the Espy card. It is therefore possible that there were two women executed, although only one can currently be identified.

Older changes:

703 total and the (semi) completion? of data for black women: One double-counted case was found and a recent potential contribution looks promising and suggests that the dataset can be updated for black women within the coming months.
Dataset Verification Progress: Over 100 additional women verified across multiple updates; total executions now stand at 704, with at least 100 involving murder or attempted murder of slave owners or their families.
County & State Data Expanded: County of execution now identified for 550+ cases; 20+ new counties added across updates; Virginia confirmed with the highest total (134 executions).
“Firsts” & Historical Benchmarks: Multiple new historical “firsts” identified and added; corrections made to execution dates
Enslaved Women Focus Expanded: Substantial additions to enslaved Black women cases, including verified executions, slave owner identifications (200+), compensation claims, and new Espy index cards.
Variable Revisions & New Coding: New variables added (e.g., compensation claims), major recoding of victim race and offense categories, and correction of misapplied terms (e.g., “family annihilation”).
Dataset Notes & Documentation Improved: Dataset Notes page expanded to explain complex changes not visible in spreadsheets; variable construction page retired and integrated into notes.
Zenodo & Data Access Updates: Dataset now primarily distributed via Zenodo, with periodic updates and reformatting underway to improve readability before public reposting.
Corrections & Clarifications: Execution methods clarified in previously unknown cases; unknown race fields standardized (e.g., witchcraft cases marked n/a).

Summary of major activities and priorities by date (8/1/2026)

July2026

Verification of remaining cases.
Recovery and transcription of Espy archival materials.
Expansion of county-level, demographic, and offense-specific data.
Continued identification of enslaved women, Indigenous women, and other historically under-documented populations.
Preparation of the database for broader public dissemination and scholarly use.
Assembly of the team to officially begin Fall of 2026! Preparation for site migration to Wordpress.

June 2026

The dataset was fully recoded and updated for use in both SPSS and Stata.
Website content, including project descriptions and collaborator pages, was revised and expanded.
Continued archival research led to newly identified cases, revised statistics, and expanded historical context.
The project entered a new phase emphasizing data accessibility, methodological transparency, and preparation for migration to a dedicated public platform.

6/2/2026

A summary as we move into the summer. Since mid-2025, the Women’s Execution Database (WEB) has undergone substantial expansion, verification, and refinement. Much of this work has focused on revisiting the M. Watt Espy Papers and related archival sources to identify previously undocumented cases, verify existing records, recover missing demographic information, and improve the accuracy of historical coding. Throughout the project, numerous women have been added or verified, including enslaved women, Native American women, and women whose executions were absent or incompletely documented in earlier datasets.

A major emphasis of the project has been the reconstruction of historical context surrounding executions. This has included identifying counties of execution, documenting slave owners and compensation claims, refining crime classifications, and improving variables related to race, victim characteristics, accomplices, and methods of execution. Ongoing archival research has resulted in the identification of hundreds of additional data points, including execution locations, compensation records, and contextual information concerning slave revolts, infanticide, witchcraft prosecutions, and murders involving slave owners and their families.

The website has evolved alongside the database. New sections have been added addressing topics such as infanticide, Native American women’s executions, enslaved Black women, death-row sentencing patterns, and the research process itself. Additional pages now provide visual examples of original Espy index cards, document methodological decisions, describe variable construction, and showcase the archival materials that informed the development of WEB. The project has also incorporated historical “firsts” and “lasts,” expanded bibliographic resources, and added numerous case-specific references to assist future researchers.

During 2025 and 2026, the project increasingly shifted toward transparency and accessibility. Updated datasets were made available through Zenodo, later supplemented by downloadable and user-friendly formats, including versions coded for SPSS and Stata. Extensive notes were added to explain major revisions to the database, particularly where WEB diverges from the original Espy File. These revisions included correcting dates, identifying duplicate cases, recoding variables, refining race and victim classifications, and documenting cases that were previously missing or inadequately described.

Recent work has concentrated on verifying remaining cases, expanding historical context, and updating preliminary findings as new evidence emerges. The project now includes substantially more information on enslaved women, Native American women, execution counties, compensation claims, and state-level execution patterns. New tables, maps, graphs, and statistical summaries have been added to reflect these developments. At the same time, the website is being prepared for migration to a new platform and domain, with ongoing efforts focused on improving usability, expanding public access, and facilitating future scholarly collaboration.

As research continues, WEB remains an evolving database. New cases, archival discoveries, and methodological refinements are incorporated on an ongoing basis, ensuring that the historical record of women’s executions in the United States becomes increasingly comprehensive, transparent, and accurate.

5/11/2026

A note about the variable "occupation" and slavery status. I added a table to the site to list exact dates. The northern states generally abolished slavery earlier through a combination of constitutional provisions, judicial rulings, and gradual emancipation laws. Vermont became the first state to prohibit slavery in 1777, while states such as Pennsylvania, New York, and New Hampshire adopted gradual emancipation policies that ended slavery over time. Other northern states, including Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Maine entered the Union or abolished slavery as free states through constitutional or legislative action.

In contrast, southern slave states such as Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky did not abolish slavery until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in December 1865. Maryland abolished slavery slightly earlier through its 1864 state constitution, while Louisiana began partial abolition under its 1864 constitution before full emancipation was finalized nationally in 1865.

5/8/2026

Most additions/modifications to the dataset and variable construction have been documented in the excel spreadsheet but I thought it would be helpful to start documenting some of the more substantive changes of note. In some cases, like this next entry, I simply deleted the row.

5/7/2026

During verification of the 1741 New York conspiracy execution records, it was determined that Margaret Kerry had been listed twice in the dataset under multiple aliases and spelling variations, including “Peggy Kerry” and “Marget Soubiero.” Because “Peggy” was a common diminutive for Margaret and eighteenth-century records frequently contained inconsistent spellings and phonetic renderings of surnames, these entries initially appeared to represent separate individuals. However, archival reconciliation and cross-referencing demonstrated that the records referred to the same woman. Correcting this duplication reduced the verified number of white women lawfully executed in the dataset and further underscored the importance of case-level verification when working with colonial execution records.

May 2026

State-level tables documenting the execution of Black and white women were added.
New statistical summaries were incorporated into the preliminary findings section.
Additional enslaved Black women were identified and documented.
Duplicate cases were identified and removed, improving overall data accuracy.
New historical context and archival findings were incorporated into the database.
Research notes and resource pages were updated to reflect continuing discoveries.

4/9/2026

The accomplice notes reveal that what initially appears to be a simple “presence or absence” variable is actually a multi-dimensional construct capturing several distinct features: whether accomplices existed, how many there were, their relationship to the woman, their legal outcomes, and the degree of certainty in the historical record. A dominant pattern across the data is the frequent identification of “none,” suggesting that many women were recorded as acting alone, though this may reflect limitations or biases in documentation rather than actual isolation. When accomplices are identified, they are most often relational—husbands, lovers, family members, or co-enslaved individuals—indicating that co-offending is embedded in social and household contexts rather than occurring between unrelated actors. A particularly striking pattern is the consistent gender asymmetry in outcomes: male accomplices are frequently described as being acquitted, pardoned, escaping, or receiving lesser punishments, while the women are executed, pointing to a systematic disparity in how co-defendants were treated. The data also include clusters of collective prosecution, especially in cases involving witchcraft or enslaved populations, where multiple individuals were accused and punished together; these cases differ fundamentally from typical accomplice scenarios and should be analytically distinguished. Finally, the notes repeatedly reflect uncertainty—through terms like “supposedly,” “unknown,” or contradictory accounts—highlighting the importance of incorporating evidentiary confidence into the dataset. Overall, the material suggests that accomplice involvement in women’s executions is best understood not as a single variable but as a relational and legal process shaped by gender, social ties, and uneven historical documentation.

March–April 2026

The database was reformatted to improve usability for researchers.
SPSS-compatible versions of the dataset were completed.
Preliminary findings were expanded with new statistical summaries and research notes.
Preparations for future collaborations and website expansion continued.

2/2/2026

On Variable 13, The "occupation variable" (which is far from complete. The occupational data for executed women reveal a striking concentration in statuses associated with legal dependency, economic precarity, and constrained social power rather than skilled or autonomous labor. Most notably, enslaved status dominates the occupational record, appearing far more frequently than any other category. In these cases, “slave” functions less as an occupation in the modern sense and more as a totalizing legal condition that collapsed labor, identity, and personhood into property. Even when enslaved women performed skilled or caregiving labor, such as nursing or midwifery, their occupational identity was overwhelmingly subsumed under enslavement rather than recognized as independent work.

Beyond slavery, the next most common classifications are housewife, servant, and variants of marital or relational identity such as widow, spinster, or single woman. These labels emphasize women’s domestic, reproductive, and dependent roles rather than wage labor or professional standing. The frequent use of “housewife” without further specification reflects the historical expectation that women’s labor was unpaid, private, and socially invisible, even in cases that resulted in capital punishment.

A substantial portion of the records list occupation as unknown, which is analytically meaningful. This absence reflects both archival silence and a broader historical disinterest in documenting women’s economic lives, particularly for enslaved women, poor women, and those executed in earlier periods. The prevalence of unknown entries suggests that occupation was often considered irrelevant unless it reinforced existing social hierarchies.

When paid or semi-paid labor is identified, it is overwhelmingly gendered and low status, including domestic service, caregiving, food service, laundry work, textile production, agricultural labor, and tavern work. These occupations highlight the narrow range of economic opportunities available to women, especially those who were poor, immigrant, or racially marginalized. A smaller subset of cases includes stigmatized or criminalized forms of work, such as sex work or theft, which appear more frequently in later records and may reflect changing documentation practices rather than substantive shifts in women’s labor.

Professional or autonomous roles, including teacher, nurse, midwife, innkeeper, landlady, or business owner, are rare and often accompanied by qualifiers that diminish independence, such as identification through marital status or enslavement. Even when women occupied skilled or entrepreneurial positions, their labor was frequently reframed through dependency on a husband, household, or owner.

Taken together, Occupation (V13) demonstrates that women executed by the state were overwhelmingly drawn from populations with minimal social, legal, and economic power. The dominance of enslavement, domestic dependency, and occupational ambiguity underscores how capital punishment intersected with gendered labor norms, racial hierarchy, and structural vulnerability, rather than reflecting a broad cross section of women’s work or social standing.

February 2026

The complete listing of executed women was made available through downloadable resources.
New pages were added illustrating original Espy index cards and demonstrating how archival evidence informed database construction.
Additional case studies and supporting documentation were added throughout the site.
Ongoing verification efforts continued to refine both the database and accompanying website materials.

1/29/2026

Variable 7 details additional crime details.

Additional crime details coded in V7 are often sparse, uneven, and highly contextual, with concealment emerging as the most frequently documented ancillary behavior, particularly in cases involving infanticide and neonaticide. Many cases reflect efforts to hide pregnancy, birth, or the body of a newborn, including burial, disposal in wells, swamps, pigpens, or waterways, and delayed discovery precipitated by third-party accusations rather than confession. Adultery and illicit relationships—sometimes explicitly framed through biblical or moral codes such as Leviticus 20:10—appear repeatedly as both alleged motive and aggravating context, especially when pregnancy threatened economic survival or social expulsion.

A substantial number of cases involve enslaved or servant women whose offenses were embedded in coercive domestic arrangements marked by sexual exploitation, abuse, or forced labor. In these cases, V7 frequently records retaliatory or expressive violence against masters, mistresses, or their children, including poisoning, arson, and child murder, sometimes explicitly framed by the accused as revenge or resistance. Poisoning in particular appears as a recurring method associated with domestic access, long-term abuse, and attempted family annihilation, though many records remain unclear as to victim outcome or intent.

Mental distress, including postpartum conditions, psychosis, or prolonged trauma, is suggested in several cases by contemporaneous observers or later historians, though rarely acknowledged in legal proceedings. Witchcraft accusations, religious nonconformity (notably Quakerism), and reputational conflict also surface as contextual drivers, with some executions later understood as persecution rather than punishment for a discrete criminal act. Several cases remain contested or ambiguous as to whether execution actually occurred, reflecting inconsistencies across Espy cards, court records, and later compilations.

Overall, V7 highlights the limits of categorical offense coding by revealing how gender, enslavement, domestic power relations, moral regulation, and evidentiary uncertainty shaped both criminalization and punishment. Many entries require ongoing verification, re-coding, or narrative annotation to accurately capture victim–offender relationships, intent, and the broader social conditions under which these women were condemned.

1/6/2026

My primary focus has been on data for the “Enslaved Black Women” preliminary findings page presents early results from the Women’s Executions Project documenting enslaved Black women who were executed in the United States and whose cases have been historically undercounted, misclassified, or omitted from standard datasets. Drawing heavily on Espy index card materials and corroborating archival sources, the page identifies individual women—such as Elizabeth (1856), Amy (1832), Grace (1693), Chloe (1737), and Jane (1858), among others—while noting that many cases remain partially documented, with years, locations, or circumstances still under verification. The findings emphasize that enslaved Black women were disproportionately subjected to capital punishment, often for alleged crimes involving resistance, murder or suspected murder of slaveholders or household members, and arson, within a legal system designed to protect slavery and racial hierarchy. To date, the project has verified nearly 150 executions of Black women related to murder or suspected murder and approximately 60 executions for arson, figures that significantly alter prior understandings of women’s executions. Of the women previously missing or unaccounted for in legacy Espy-based datasets, a substantial majority are now identified as Black women, underscoring the extent of historical erasure. The page also highlights the frequent presence of compensation claims paid to slaveowners following executions, reinforcing the legal treatment of enslaved women as property. Overall, the page situates these preliminary findings as part of an ongoing effort to correct the historical record, refine racial and gendered execution statistics, and make transparent the scope and limitations of the current data while further archival research continues.

January 2026

Major revisions were made to the website's structure and content.
New pages dedicated to infanticide, Indigenous women, and enslaved Black women were expanded.
More than 200 enslaved individuals were linked to identified slave owners.
County-level execution data exceeded 550 known locations.
Additional women were verified through extensive archival research, including materials from the Espy Papers and published historical sources.
Comparative analyses between WEB and the original Espy File were introduced.
The website began preparations for eventual migration to a new domain and platform.

12/29/2025

Variable 16, accomplice notes, demonstrates that accomplice involvement was often present but inconsistently acknowledged, unevenly punished, or narratively reframed in the historical record. The frequent tension between “none” in formal coding and detailed qualitative notes pointing to lovers, husbands, co-slaves, or co-defendants highlights the limitations of binary or numeric accomplice variables. These notes reinforce that archival silence, selective prosecution, gendered blame, and differential punishment are central to understanding accomplice dynamics in cases involving executed women.

Where accomplices are identified, they are most commonly intimate relations, including husbands, lovers, boyfriends, sons, brothers, parents, or other close kin. Husbands appear with particular frequency, sometimes as co-accused, sometimes as primary suspects who were acquitted, died by suicide, refused to testify, were executed separately, or otherwise escaped punishment. In several cases, women implicated husbands or male partners under duress, coercion, or retaliatory circumstances, and later recanted or complicated those accusations.

A recurring pattern involves male accomplices who were enslaved, escaped, pardoned, acquitted, testified against the woman to avoid execution, or were punished less severely. In multiple cases, enslaved male accomplices disappeared, fled, or were explicitly noted as having escaped, leading to the woman being the sole person executed. These dynamics underscore the gendered allocation of punishment even when shared culpability was acknowledged.

Some entries describe collective prosecutions, such as women executed alongside other enslaved individuals, witches, or alleged co-conspirators, where accomplice status is ambiguous because defendants were “convicted together” rather than clearly shown to have acted together. Witchcraft cases in particular reflect diffuse notions of accomplices, including unnamed “other witches,” co-accused spouses, ministers, or groups executed simultaneously, often without clear evidentiary distinctions.

Several notes document cases involving children as accomplices, including sons, daughters, nephews, or young boys, some of whom testified, received reduced sentences, or were spared execution. These cases further complicate simplistic interpretations of accomplice presence by introducing coercion, age-based mitigation, and familial authority structures.

A smaller subset of entries includes named non-family accomplices, such as fellow slaves, soldiers, foreign nationals, gardeners, or criminal associates. In some of these cases, the woman was portrayed as having been persuaded, seduced, or induced by a male accomplice, particularly in narratives emphasizing moral culpability or sexual impropriety.

12/28/2025

Race of victim was originally coded by Espy using archival descriptions found in court records, newspapers, and secondary sources. Original entries included inconsistent capitalization, ethnic identifiers, and non-racial descriptors. These were normalized into six analytic categories. A substantial proportion of cases lacked sufficient information to determine race and were coded as Unknown / Not Recorded. This missingness reflects limitations of the historical record rand cases I have not verified with Espy's records. So far, 384 cases involving white murder victims

Race of victim (V9) was coded based on archival references contained in court documents, execution reports, newspapers, and county histories. Original source material frequently employed inconsistent racial terminology, ethnic identifiers, or omitted racial information altogether. To address this, raw entries were normalized into six analytic categories: White, Black, Native American, Hispanic/Spanish, Other, and Unknown/Not Recorded. Non-racial descriptors were flagged as coding errors and excluded from analysis. Missing racial data were retained as a substantive category to reflect archival silence and uneven historical documentation.

The racial distribution of victims is heavily skewed toward white individuals, with Black victims comprising the second-largest identifiable group. However, a substantial proportion of cases lack recorded racial information. Victims identified as Native American, Hispanic/Spanish, or Other appear only rarely. These patterns reflect both population demographics and the uneven preservation and reporting of racial information in historical sources.

Victim race is far more likely to be recorded when victims are white, especially in cases involving enslaved defendants. Missing data likely underrepresents non-white victims, particularly in earlier periods. Unknown should be interpreted as archival erasure, not absence

12/26/2025

The term family annihilation was corrected where it had been inappropriately applied to cases involving slave owners and/or members of the slaveholding household. Consequently, Variable 32 (V32) is provisionally retitled Murder of Slave Owners.

12/17/2025

The dataset is being prepared for ICPSR submission and therefore the updates are only available upon request.

12/16/2025

Summary of Additional Notes (V27)

These notes document extensive archival reconciliation, correction, and verification work on early American women’s execution cases, with particular emphasis on miscodings, conflicting sources, and uncertainty surrounding executions recorded in the Espy File and related datasets. Across numerous cases, the researcher identifies systematic errors in dates, names, crimes, locations, execution methods, and even whether executions occurred at all. Several recurring themes emerge:

Frequent Misattribution and Data Errors
Many cases involve women being confused with others of similar names (e.g., Mary Parsons vs. Mary Young; Parmelia Yarber vs. Isabella/Parmelia; Elizabeth Dent vs. Elizabeth Floyd). Espy’s underlying research was often sound, but transcription or coding errors introduced inaccuracies that required correction.

Unconfirmed or Doubtful Executions
In multiple cases—particularly early colonial executions—the death sentence is documented, but actual execution remains uncertain. Researchers such as Hearn frequently recommend downgrading executions to “unconfirmed” when commutation, acquittal on capital charges, pregnancy pleas, or missing corroboration complicate the record.

Gender, Sexuality, and Social Deviance
Many women were condemned not solely for violent crimes but for perceived moral transgressions: extramarital sex, interracial relationships, illegitimacy, abortion, “argumentative” behavior, religious dissent (e.g., Quakerism, Hutchinsonian beliefs), or reputations as “harlots.” In several cases, these factors appear to have influenced sentencing severity.

Mental Illness and Coercion
Several women were described contemporaneously as mentally ill, possessed, intellectually disabled, depressed, or emotionally unstable. Others may have acted under coercion, sexual violence, or enslavement-related abuse, including rape by masters or overseers. Some killings may have occurred in self-defense.

Execution Methods and Public Spectacle
Methods varied widely—hanging, burning, disembowelment, and execution aboard boats to appease storms. Some executions were notably botched or theatrical (e.g., “hanged twice,” public burnings, plantation executions), underscoring their role as social control and deterrence.

Slavery and Compensation Claims
Enslaved women’s executions are frequently tied to compensation payments to owners, reinforcing their treatment as property. In some cases, compensation records are the primary evidence of execution. Pregnancies often delayed executions, and accomplices—especially children—were sometimes acquitted or respited.

Witchcraft and Religious Panic
Several cases intersect with colonial witchcraft prosecutions (Hartford, Salem, Rhode Island). Dates and outcomes are often unclear, but cross-referencing suggests some women were indeed executed despite later doubt. Religious nonconformity played a significant role in criminalization.

Ongoing Research Gaps
Many entries remain provisional due to missing cards, inaccessible archives, or contradictory secondary sources. The researcher flags numerous cases for further verification, particularly regarding execution dates, methods, and victim identification.

12/14/2025

V6 now has a category "48" to account for assaults on slave owners. Surprisingly, not an issue. It appears most "attempts" were just that and easily subsumed under the attempted poisoning category but, like everything, will require a thorough review. This change was made due to Mary (number 424) who was executed apparently for simply assaulting her mistress. Intent to kill was not mentioned in the Espy Card.

I have only recently noticed the amount of missing data pertaining to counties of executions...particularly for black women--mainly because these data are readily available and I assumed that, at very least, these data would be entered. Similarly, I noticed that black women were less likely to have been coded as having hanged so, the many unknowns, will need to be reviewed. A task not too arduous.

For compensation paid, pounds and dollars are often not distinguished between on the cards directly and I was more interested in getting the data coded. However, in many cases, compensation went to many people and has proved to be difficult to track down in some cases

Many women ARE on Espy cards but, in some cases, they are listed with men and therefore the title of the Espy card is, at times, a male. More a note for future researchers. Not truly a problem given that the M.E. Grenander Archives search engine is fantastic.

I copied and pasted the transcriptions of the M.E. Grenander notecards but, when the transcriptions proved too cumbersome, I would run them through ChatGPT. My intention was only to get rid of the format and not at all to rewrite any of Espy's words.

Example below: For Mary (number 424). Here is the automated transcript provided by the library for the Espy Card (see link):

MARY

Southampton County, Va., Mary, ronda, bet for eafyfen tong} te “ (SF , ass) OUP EON. TAME 5 IY = UT An pel pea Ai SB oa enWJ UNE ci 3 Loos it 9 1erift attests execution| i 9 convicted of an a an assault on Mrs, Eliza-Pond, valued at $322 & and ahi eemaaahe set place on dune @1, LoD). MARY Southampton County, Va Pond, convicted of an beth Pond, valu for June 21, took place on

the ChatGPT version:

Mary (enslaved woman). In Southampton County, Virginia, an enslaved woman named Mary was convicted of an assault upon Mrs. Elizabeth Pond. The assessed value of Mary was set at $322. The sheriff certified that the execution took place on June 21, though the year is unclear from the surviving record. Contemporary documentation indicates that the conviction and execution followed standard county procedure, with the sheriff’s return explicitly attesting to the carrying out of the sentence on that date.

the ACTUAL version:

Mary

Southampton County, VA., Mary, slave of James Pond, convicted of an assault on Mrs. Eliza-beth Pond, valued at $322, and execution set for June 21, 1833. Sheriff attests execution took place on June 21, 1833.

Occasionally, the ChatGPT version would be used but only in so far that the original wording was kept as much as possible. Still, the Espy card is ALWAYS the best resource and the transcripts were more for my own notes than for actual data coding purposes.

November–December 2025

The project experienced significant growth through the verification of dozens of additional cases and the identification of new execution counties.
New pages were added highlighting Native American women, enslaved Black women, and emerging research on gender and capital punishment.
Documentation pages were expanded to include Espy notecards, case summaries, and methodological notes.
Compensation claims, slave-owner information, and execution contexts were systematically coded.
The database surpassed 700 documented executions of women, substantially expanding upon the original Espy File.
Preliminary findings were repeatedly updated to reflect new discoveries regarding historical "firsts," "lasts," execution methods, and offense categories.
Additional hidden and work-in-progress pages were created to support ongoing archival transcription efforts.

September–October 2025

New pages were added describing variable construction, internet resources, and academic research related to women and capital punishment.
County-level execution data were expanded and corrected.
Continued verification efforts resulted in the completion of numerous individual cases, particularly among enslaved women.
Several variables were recoded and refined, including victim race and crime classifications.
Historical errors identified in previous sources were corrected through archival verification.
Death-row analyses using the Death Penalty Information Center data were added as a separate research project.

For dates preceding September of 2025, see the 2025 summer project notes

All alterations submitted to this project are considered suggestions until the book manuscript is complete. This website is open to contributions from any academic or community researcher (for a fuller definition, see Patricia Hill Collins’s Black Feminist Thought (1990)). Formal academic credentials are not required; however, contributors must provide credible evidence and reliable sources for any information they add. Numerous sources already exist for consultation, and this site highlights many of them. If you know of relevant books, archives, library collections, or other materials not yet included, please share them.

I hope eventually to see this project in book form. However, given its scope, it is essential that any issues or inconsistencies be identified early, especially considering the gravity of the subject matter and the potential impact of the data.

At present, I am releasing potential variable constructions gradually, as I am still completing the overarching data framework. I am developing variables that account for experiences such as past trauma, sexual assault, domestic violence, and mental and emotional health. It was important first to establish the backbone of the dataset by writing measurement descriptions for variables originally created in the Espy file and in Baker (2016). Additional variables are not solely of my creation; rather, they adapt or build upon the scholarly work of others to better capture women’s experiences through quantitative data. All variables are fully sourced and referenced, using original materials whenever possible (e.g., court records, correctional documents, autopsies, and other primary sources).

The formatting of the codebook follows conventions used by the ICPSR, as one anticipated outcome is the potential submission of this dataset to ICPSR in addition to its availability on the OSF website. Both the data structure and the dataset description follow ICPSR guidelines whenever possible: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/pages/deposit/index.html.

Summary Description of of the original Database Construction

The dataset is almost entirely reliant on the Espy Papers at this point. However, I'm keeping the below from earlier this year.

Importantly, for those seeking verified data for men and women in the Espy File and, as I understand it, no better datasets exist for these five states, see the Espy Project Datasets, 2015-2020. Excel spreadsheets for five states are complete! As per website "In 2016, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) funded The Digital Archive of Executions in the United States, 1608-2002: Digitization and Access to the M. Watt Espy Papers to digitize the index card summaries and reference material and make them available online. The Project attempted to digitize the index card summaries and the reference materials from the Espy Papers and unify them with the Espy File dataset created from the collection during the 1980s."

To date, there was no one electronic dataset of women and capital punishment that encompasses the many variables that affect sentencing outcomes and general treatment in the criminal justice system. And, to date, it seems the most complete listing found in one resource is still David V. Baker's (2016) book Women and Capital Punishment in the United States, to which I owe for the very framework of the dataset and the work I've since produced. As of now, the dataset the executed women as identified by the Espy File, Baker's (2016) table on pages 43-61, and the DPIC. Any new names identified by Baker were added to the Espy file (indicated in red). Crime classifications sometimes differ between Espy’s records and Baker’s interpretations, and the project aims to reconcile these differences by consulting primary sources whenever possible. Victim information is also being expanded so that infanticide cases and other forms of homicide can be more accurately understood.

The project took longer than anticipated because each variable was initially entered manually. Specifically, coding was not initially a concern because of an overestimation of the differences that existed between the Baker set and the Espy data. After completion, many similarities were observed. To facilitate comparison and given that the Capital Punishment project for the Espy project utilizes many of the same codings, relying on many of the Espy files' codings--would simplify transmissibility and comparisons between datasets. It's important to note that the correct identification of men and the legitimacy of their executions were not verified for this project. Only women executed in the United States were verified. However, the ICPSR website, frequently referenced in the code book and throughout the website, does provide an idea for those wanting to make comparisons to men.

I do apologize for the spreadsheet as producing the data are my first priority, my book is a close second, and therefore the aesthetics of it are far down the list. I would like to make the data more accessible and, should anyone inquire, it would be just the impetus I need to do so.

Data Sources and Discrepancies

Streib's 1992 article is excellent and provides a much-needed clarification as to how later estimates of women's executions were calculated and how he initially utilized the research of M. Watt Espy. The M.E. Grenander librarians and archivists created an easy guide for locating his material, much like for Espy, for the Victor L Streib Papers as housed in the National Death Penalty Archives. "Much of Streibs scholarship has been aided by Watt Espys collection of death penalty files, and Streib has stated that his work is credited to "standing on the shoulders of Watt Espy." " as quoted on the website: https://archives.albany.edu/description/catalog/apap330 for the Victor L. Streib Papers, 1908-2012, Undated. M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University at Albany, State University of New York. I was overjoyed to find the work of Hearn---a tremendous help in the initial dataset construction.

Initially I heavily depended on Dr. Baker's book, Women and Capital Punishment, specifically Chapter 2, which contains a crucial table. This table was, honestly, the very first data I entered into my Excel spreadsheet. I then compared those names to the ones in the Espy file to initiate my project. The Death Penalty Information Center's data was also used. I chose to begin with Velma in 1984. My goal was to double-check with the DPIC to ensure all data matched Baker's dataset. The only significant discrepancy I found, and am still working on, concerns Judy Buenoano. While she is also marked as White, there were some questions about her ethnicity that still need verification. Although current citations suggest she identified as White, I cannot definitively confirm her race until I receive further confirmation. For this reason, her name is also italicized, which signifies a correction to the original data in the "Additional Race" column.

My initial project idea, or rather, my book idea when starting a few years ago, wasn't to highlight discrepancies between the Espy file and the Espy papers. In fact, I had hoped to solely rely on the Espy file. It was only after encountering Professor Streib's, Hearn's, and Baker's research and conducting further investigations myself that I realized how incredibly inadequate and often sexist existing datasets for women's executions were. The Espy Papers were used as the primary starting point for variable completion.

I also relied on other research that has been critical of the Espy file, and this work is cited in my project. The Blackman and McLaughlin (2011) study, for instance, was particularly helpful in identifying names. To the best of my knowledge, the Black and Mclaughlin study has been the only real attempt to point out Espy file inadequacies: The Espy File on American Executions: User Beware. Homicide Studies, 15(3), 209-227. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088767911418054. I found that publishing papers that critique the file were met with almost immediate suspicion from journal editors. Not an entirely new experience for me as I remember the days of explaining why studies about sexual violence among Queer folk "matters." To get back to it, my research simply involves searching for one execution in a primary resource, such as the Library of Congress, and then following the leads. During these searches, I occasionally stumble upon another potential execution, especially in compensation cases (collected also by Baker). These cases require further follow-up and can be challenging to research in some areas. In certain states, for various reasons, compensation case records are not visible online, at least not as readily as they once were.

The variables (for most up-to-date notes, see dataset)

Race and Ethnicity Variables

Variable three, which I may occasionally hide from the sheets for clarity, is "Additional Race." I've marked Judy Buenoano's additional race as "Hispanic?" to remind myself to look this up, though all sources seem to indicate she identified as White. The "Additional Race" variable is used for multiracial individuals or to capture additional racial/ethnic characteristics. This variable is still in progress.

While there was considerable agreement between the Baker and Espy datasets, Baker's other work provides more detailed racial characteristics. This allows for the addition of racial attributes, especially for categories like Native American (see Baker's Registry of Known American Indian Executions 1639-2006), where tribal affiliation is known. Currently, I'm leaving most "Additional Race" fields blank because, for most individuals, they were marked as belonging to a single race. Again, Variable 3 is certainly a work in progress.

Age and Case Particulars

The variable I'm currently most interested in is age, as it's significantly under-collected. I'm finding it challenging to ascertain ages, particularly for individuals executed in earlier years. I anticipate needing to consult additional genealogical sources to determine birth dates and verify ages. For example, June Champion, the first woman executed in the United States, has surprisingly little information about her case particulars, including her age.

Crime Variables and Victim Information

The two variables "Crime Executed as per ESPY file" and "Crime Executed as per Baker" can overlap, sometimes present differences, and sometimes complementary information. For instance, in cases involving both witchcraft and murder, like Kendall Elizabeth's case, further investigation is warranted. In many cases, the Espy file overrepresented "murder" as the crime executed for so using Baker data provides more detail.

One area I'm focusing on, which I appreciate about the Baker file, is trying to ascertain the victim's identity. Given the numerous cases of infanticide in the Espy file (where they were often marked as "murder"), it's notable that the Espy file (of course I'm referring to the data entry personnel) did count "concealing a birth." This is an important historical component of why women were executed during that period. Therefore, combining "concealing a birth" with "infanticide" (as per Baker's coding) provides a more comprehensive understanding of the cases. Women were executed for known stillborn births--a subject covered by more than a few notable researchers.

Additional Sheets

For references and keeping track of any additional executions I might come across in my research. A new addition perhaps? This was taken directly from "The Witchcraft Delusion in Connecticut" provided by the Gutenberg Project:

MARY JOHNSON. Windsor, 1647.

There is no documentary or other evidence to show that Mary Johnson was executed for witchcraft in Windsor in 1647. The charge rests on an entry in Governor Winthrop's Journal, "One ---- of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch." WINTHROP'S History of New England (Savage, 2: 374).

No importance would have attached to this statement, which bears no date and does not give the name or sex of the condemned, had not Dr. Savage in his annotations of the Journal (2: 374) asserted that it was "the first instance of the delusion in New England," and without warrant added, "Perhaps there was sense enough early in the colony to destroy the record."

In all discussions of this matter, it has been assumed or conceded (in the absence of any positive proof), by such eminent critics and scholars as Drake, Fiske, Poole, Hoadley, Stiles, and others, that Winthrop's note was based on rumor or hearsay, or that it related to the later conviction and execution of a woman of the same name, next noted, and the errors as to person, time, and place might easily have been made.

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Materials on this website are part of an active research project and may include preliminary findings, working notes, or unverified data. Please do not cite, reproduce, or redistribute any content from this site without prior written permission from the author.

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