Embedded Files
Historical and qualitative research certainly exists, quantitative data that are ready for analyses are limited. The initial published preliminary findings concerning gender and the death penalty can be found in the link. The below categories will be updated from time to time with the most recent noteworthy changes dated.
"Firsts" and "lasts:" Executions of historical significance
"Firsts" and "lasts:" Executions of historical significance
As with WEB data, the Espy papers and his cited resources are used first. The resources below are additional sources of interest that visitors of the website might find of interest. For a list of all resources, see WEB.
June (Jane?) Champion The first woman to be executed in what would be become the United States in 1632
See A Manual for the Publick Gaol by Collier C. Harris as part of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library Research Report Series - 1628 at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library, page 43
Alse Young was the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in Connecticut and perhaps in New England overall (1647)
Hall, David. Witch-hunting in Seventeenth Century New England: A documentary history 1638-1693 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1991)
Mary Barnes and Elizabeth Greensmith were the last to be executed for witchcraft in Connecticut
Alice Bishop, in 1648, was the first and only woman to be hanged in Plymouth Colony, MA
Margaret Jones was the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in MA in 1648
Winthrop, John. History of New England from 1630-1649. Little Brown & Company, 1853
Hale, John. Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft. B. Green, and J. Allen, 1702
Catherine Bevan was (supposedly) the last public execution by burning in 1731
Walker, S. (1998). Popular Justice: A History of American Criminal Justice. Oxford University Press
Sarah Simpson and Penelope Kenney became the first two persons executed in New Hampshire in 1739
Espy Papers
Eve (owner Peter Montague) was actually the last burning by execution in 1746
(Va. Mag., III, pp. 309-310)
Sarah Bramble was the only white person to be executed in what was New London in 1753 (for neonaticide of an "illegitimate" child).
Bathsheba Spooner was the first woman executed in American colonies by colonial citizens (rather than the British) in 1778. She was also the first woman of the highest social status to be executed. According to Ann Jones (2009) book, her execution might have ended the practice of treating all infanticides as "worse than murder."
Paige Robinson, L. (1883). History of Hardwick, Massachusetts: With a Genealogical Register Houghton, Mifflin, p. 757
Rachel Wall, in 1789, was the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts.
Susanna Cox, in 1809, was the last woman to be publicly hanged in Massachusetts due to overall public empathy for her plight.
"Unnamed" though the first person to be hanged in Christian County in 1812 was a young black girl, potentially innocent, of neonaticide, she is unnamed.
First person to be executed in Clay County, MO was a black woman, Annice, for the murder of her children. Espy card
Catherine Cashier, along with James Johnson, were the last New York public executions in May 7, 1829
Mary Andrews was the first and maybe ONLY *white* woman to be executed in Missouri in 1834
Young, W. (1910). Young’s history of Lafayette County, Missouri (Vol. 1). B.F. Bowen. This edition was digitized by the Missouri State Library and is available through the Missouri Digital Heritage Collection
Jane (owner Elkins), a slave, becomes the first woman to be legally executed in the State of Texas where she was hanged on Friday, May 27, 1853 next to the Dallas county court house.
Sources: State of Texas vs. Jane, a Slave, Case #188; Terry Baker. Hangings and Lynchings in Dallas County, Texas: 1853 to 1920 (Fort Worth, Texas: Eakin Press, 2016): 1; See also the Human Rights Dallas: https://www.humanrightsdallasmaps.com/files/show/6
Chipita Rodriguez was the last woman (and first Hispanic woman) to be legally hanged in Texas and the last until 1998
Lena Miller was, in 1867, the first (known) woman to commit murder in the county of Clearfield, Pennsylvania, the first to be convicted of murder in the county, and the first person to hang in the county. Reportedly she went to her death "calmly and smoking a cigarette" see: https://paoddities.blogspot.com/2020/01/lena-miller-pioneer-murderess-of.html
Susan Eberhard, last white woman to be executed in the state of Georgia in April 11, 1873 until 2015 with Kelly Gissendaner (note, black women were, however, executed)
Silena Gilmore in 1930 was the first (black) woman electrocuted in Alabama in 1930. (Earle Dennison (Crime does not pay) was the first white woman electrocuted in Alabama in 1953--a fact that tends to receive more attention)
Anna Marie Hahn, first woman in Ohio to die in the electric chair in 1937
Toni Jo Henry-only woman to be executed in Louisiana's electric chair in 1942
Rhoda Bell Martin was the last pre-Furman execution in Alabama in 1957 (electrocuted)
Karla Faye Tucker was the first woman executed in Texas (1998) since the Civil War Karla Faye Tucker: From Pickaxe Killer to Death Row Conversion in Texas | Texas Happens
Lisa Montgomery was in 2008 the first woman executed in Indiana
Amber McLaughlin was the first openly/known transgender woman executed in the United States Missouri Set to Execute Amber McLaughlin on January 3 in First U.S. Execution of a Transgender Person | Death Penalty Information Center
Reasons for execution (as of 1/29/2026)
Reasons for execution (as of 1/29/2026)
Of the cases identified to date, 93 women were executed for infanticide, 53 for arson (all committed by enslaved or indentured women), 51 for spousal murder, 41 for the murder of children generally in their care, and 32 for witchcraft. At least 100 women have been identified as executed for the murder of slave owners and/or members of their families, with an additional 24 executions for attempted murder in such cases. While a number of enslaved women were executed for killing their own children, these figures remain provisional and often require careful contextual interpretation. In one case, an enslaved woman was executed for child murder, but closer examination reveals that the victim was her grandchild, who drowned accidentally during an attempted escape from slavery as she tried to save him.
Overall, 164 women are currently classified as having been executed for murder without further detail. While this designation is often legally accurate, it obscures critical distinctions related to victim–offender relationships and offense context. As part of ongoing data refinement, cases involving poisoning are being re-coded to reflect these relationships more precisely. At present, 28 cases remain unverified; preliminary review suggests that poisonings overwhelmingly involved either husbands or slave owners and their families. Finally, 24 women have been identified as executed for burglary, the majority of whom were white women, with most cases concentrated in the early to mid-eighteenth century.
Race of the executed (as of 1/28)
Race of the executed (as of 1/28)
Of the verified executions identified to date, 439 involved Black women. An additional 224 women were identified as white, 17 as of unknown race, 12 as Native American, three as Hispanic, two as Spanish, and one woman was identified as Hawaiian. Although the research remains ongoing, further ethnic identifications have been documented, including Irish (two), Italian (one), German (two), Mexican (one), Oneida (one), and Pequot (two), as well as one woman identified as Panis. In addition, several Quaker women were executed, often in direct connection to their religious beliefs. These overlapping racial, ethnic, tribal, and religious identities are analytically significant, as they shaped both the nature of the charges and the conditions under which executions occurred, and therefore warrant explicit inclusion in the dataset.
Jurisdiction (1/10)
Jurisdiction (1/10)
The vast majority of identified cases—421 women—were executed under state jurisdiction. I added 5 women as being executed on a "naval ship." Only two women were executed under Spanish jurisdiction: Maria Francisca and Maria Josefa, both in 1779 in New Mexico. In Josefa’s case, the killing of her husband was reportedly carried out at the urging of her daughter. Given the relatively small number of women represented in the dataset, I have also elected to include the two executions carried out under federal authority as well as the single execution categorized as “military,” in order to present the most complete accounting possible. Moreover, jurisdiction is not a priority at the moment so I cannot be sure about the accuracy of the above until I have completed the coding.
Methods of Execution 1/29
Methods of Execution 1/29
Among the women identified in the dataset, 494 were executed by hanging, 25 by electrocution, 27 by burning, 16 by lethal injection, four by quartering or dismemberment, seven by asphyxiation or gas, and three by gibbetting followed by hanging; the remaining 121 cases involve executions for which the method remains unknown. When assessed in comparison to figures from the Espy File, these patterns suggest that certain execution methods—specifically firing squad, breaking on the wheel, bludgeoning, and pressing—were used exclusively on men. Notably, enslaved women were at times subjected to additional post-execution punishments intended to serve as public examples, such as decapitation following hanging.
Hanging likewise emerges as the dominant method of execution for men, accounting for approximately 58 percent of cases. It is important to note that the Espy File total of 8,957 executions includes individuals whose gender was not recorded. Among men, the second most frequently used method of execution was electrocution.
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