Tammy Younger, the Witch of Dogtown

Thomasine Younger was born in 1753 to William Younger and Lucy Foster. Her brothers grew up to be seamen, which is not surprising. Her younger brother, Levi, is my 5x great grandfather. Gloucester was a major fishing seaport in New England, famous for the Gorton’s frozen fish packing plant and the statue of the fisherman’s memorial. The majority of men in town were sailors or fishermen, the lucky few were ship builders, merchants and sea captains, and the paupers of Gloucester lived in Dogtown. For some reason, unknown to anyone, Tammy Younger became a resident of Dogtown.

Gloucester today is built up around the harbor. However, in the earliest days of its settlement the colonists hid inland and up on a hill, away from pirates and the native tribes. When the conditions became safer, especially after the war of 1812, the townspeople took advantage of moving to the water front and built their town at one of the best deep water harbors in Massachusetts. The abandoned town became home to sailor’s widows, vagabonds and free blacks, who were either too poor or not accepted in town society. When the last of these people died, only abandoned dogs were left, and the area became known as Dogtown.

Some of these last old women in Dogtown were known as witches. They probably didn’t deserve the epithet; they were poor, old and had no family or husband to defend them. Tammy lived on Fox Hill in Dogtown, and she was so poor that she would lie in wait for passing wagons, and “place a curse” on the oxen until the driver gave her food.

Little more is known about Tammy Younger, except for anecdotes in local history books. It is unknown whether she had children, or what happened to her husband. It is my guess that he died at sea, and this sad event started her downward spiral into poverty. She died intestate (of course!) Supposedly money and a snuff box were found in her cellar hole.

Today, if you visit Dogtown, it is forested and part of the town of Gloucester’s Conservation Land. The streets are now walking trails, dotted with cellar holes that have been numbered to identify the original owners from Babson’s book “The History of Gloucester.” Babson’s grandson employed Italian stonecutters during the Great Depression to carve inspirational quotations on dozens of boulders. It is a fun hike through Dogtown today, to look for the cellar holes and to find the “Babson Boulders.”

Today, visitors approach Dogtown by Cherry Street, going uphill to the parking area. This is Fox Hill where Tammy Younger once lived with her aunt, Luce George. This is the hill where she bewitched the oxen struggling to carry corn or dried fish from Gloucester Harbor. Poor Aunt Luce was also reported to be a witch, since she begged for fish at the wharves, and threatened the fishermen with curses until they gave her a portion.

I previously wrote about the Younger family on my blog posting on January 14, 2010 in the posting “Levi Younger, Mariner and Prisoner of War” at

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/01/levi-younger-mariner-...

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For more information:

“History of Gloucester” by John James Babson and Samuel Chandler, published by the Proctor Brothers, 1860 (a book of “Notes and Additions” was written by Babson in 1876.

“In the Heart of Cape Ann; or The Story of Dogtown” by Charles E. Mann, 1896 - This book described the inhabitants of Dogtown, with maps showing the cellar holes

"The Last Witch of Dogtown" by Francis Blessington, The Curious Traveller Press, 2001.

“The Last Days of Dogtown” by Anita Diamant, published by Scribner, New York, 2005. A novel based on the history of Dogtown, and the characters are based on the inhabitants named in Mann’s book, including Luce George and Tammy Younger.

“Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town” by Elyssa East, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2009. This is the most recent book about Dogtown, Gloucester, Massachusetts.

http://www.thedacrons.com/eric/dogtown/index.php A website on the history of Dogtown, with maps to the “Babson Boulders” and cellar holes

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo