Elizabeth Pacy had recently celebrated her 12th birthday when she appeared as a witness to "witchcraft" at the Bury Assize in March 1662. She was baptised at Lowestoft on 29 January 1650, the second child of Samuel and Elizabeth Pacy.
As with her younger sister Deborah, she survived here ordeal as a victim of "witchcraft" but little is known about her short life.
She married a Lowestoft mariner named Henry Ward (a distant relation) probably in the Spring of 1677. Elizabeth was 27, Henry was 34. They settled in Stepney, London despite the fact that Henry owned property in Lowestoft. He and Elizabeth possibly moved to Stepney after their marriage because it was a convenient location from which to reach London Docks and the Thames.
Henry Ward made his Last Will and Testament at Stepney in June, 1677 - it was witnessed by his father-in-law, Samuel Pacy. In the preamble to his Will he writes that he was:
" . . . . going to sea . . . not knowing how soon it may please God to take me out of this Fraile and transitory life . . . "
There is no mention of children in the Will, but in it he makes provision for any children as yet unborn. It seems likely that Elizabeth was pregnant when he drew up his Will.
Less than two years later Elizabeth was a widow.
The date of her husband's death is not known, but his Will was proved on June 31st, 1680. No record of his burial has been traced and it is possible that he was drowned at sea. Elizabeth, now with an infant girl bearing the same name, returned to Lowestoft where she took up residence in one of her father's cottages.
Her father died that September leaving a healthy financial investment for his grand-daughter when she reached the age of 18. She would never receive it. Just four months later in January 1681 Elizabeth Pacy's infant daughter died and was buried at Lowestoft.
Elizabeth herself died at Lowestoft in December 1684. She was not interred inside the church of St. Margaret with the rest of her family possibly because she was laid to rest in the churchyard with her daughter . . . . She was one month away from her 35th birthday.
There is no monument or memorial to mark Elizabeth Pacy's last resting place and the location of her grave is not known . . . .
