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'''Thomas Graunger''' or '''Granger''' (1625? – September 8, 1642) was one of the first people [[Hanging|hanged]] in the [[Plymouth Colony]] (the first hanged in Plymouth or in any of the colonies of New England being [[John Billington]]) and the first known juvenile to be sentenced to death and executed in the territory of today's [[United States]]. He was a servant to [[Love Brewster]], of [[Duxbury, Massachusetts|Duxbury]], in the [[Plymouth Colony]] of [[British North America]]. Graunger, at the age of 16 or 17, was convicted of "[[buggery]] with a mare, a cow, two goats, divers sheepe, two calves, and a turkey", according to court records of 7 September 1642.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130120022604/http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/colonial_life/morality_and_sex.htm Mayflower Families - Morality and Sex]</ref>

Graunger confessed to his crimes in court privately to local magistrates, and upon indictment, publicly to ministers and the jury, being sentenced to "death by hanging until he was dead". He was hanged by [[John Holmes (Messenger of the Plymouth Court)|John Holmes]], [[Messenger of the Court]], on September 8, 1642.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/recordsofcolonyo0102newp#page/50/mode/2up Records of the Colony of New Plymouth]</ref> Before Graunger's execution, following the laws set down in [[Leviticus]] 20:15 ("And if a man shall lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast"), the animals involved were slaughtered before his face and thrown into a large pit dug for their disposal, no use being made of any part of them.<ref>[http://www.chronogram.com/issue/2000/08/room_waron.htm Chronogram.com]</ref>

An account of Granger's acts is recorded in Gov. [[William Bradford (1590-1657)|William Bradford]]'s diary ''[[Of Plymouth Plantation]] 1620-1647.'' Granger's crime represents the colonies' first recorded act of [[bestiality]].

==See also==
* [[Claudine de Culam]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite book |last= Bradford |first= William |title= Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 |editor-first= Samuel Eliot |editor-last= Morison |location= New York |publisher= Knopf |date= 1952 }}
* {{cite web |last= Lauria |first= Lisa M. |date= 1998 |url= http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/plymouth/Lauria1.html |title= Sexual Misconduct in Plymouth Colony |publisher= The Plymouth Colony Archive Project }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graunger, Thomas}}

[[Category:1625 births]]
[[Category:1642 deaths]]
[[Category:Zoophilia]]
[[Category:17th-century executions of American people]]
[[Category:People executed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony]]
[[Category:People executed for sodomy]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Plymouth County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People from Duxbury, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American people convicted of sodomy]]

Thomas Granger - Revision history

imported>Bloit: Undo revision 134736 by Fbecgyyyyyyydne (talk)