Abner Cheney Goodell

author

Abner Cheney Goodell

1831–1914

A Salem lawyer turned devoted historian, he spent decades rescuing early Massachusetts records and stories from obscurity. His writings open a vivid window onto colonial law, New England society, and the people behind the documents.

1 Audiobook

The Trial and Execution, for Petit Treason, of Mark and Phillis, Slaves of Capt. John Codman Who Murdered Their Master at Charlestown, Mass., in 1755; for Which the Man Was Hanged and Gibbeted, and the Woman Was Burned to Death. Including, Also, Some Account of Other Punishments by Burning in Massachusetts

The Trial and Execution, for Petit Treason, of Mark and Phillis, Slaves of Capt. John Codman Who Murdered Their Master at Charlestown, Mass., in 1755; for Which the Man Was Hanged and Gibbeted, and the Woman Was Burned to Death. Including, Also, Some Account of Other Punishments by Burning in Massachusetts

by Abner Cheney Goodell

About the author

Born in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, on October 1, 1831, and raised in Salem, Abner Cheney Goodell Jr. built a career that joined law, scholarship, and local history. He practiced as a lawyer, but he became especially respected as an antiquarian and editor of early Massachusetts sources, bringing patience and precision to records that many readers would never otherwise have seen.

Goodell is best remembered for his work on the Acts and Resolves of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay and for historical studies connected with colonial New England. He wrote and edited material on legal history, genealogy, and episodes from early Massachusetts life, and he was active in learned societies devoted to preserving the region’s past.

He died in Salem on July 19, 1914. For listeners interested in the foundations of New England history, his work still offers something valuable: not just facts, but the careful recovery of voices, laws, and everyday struggles from the colonial era.