Born to Joseph and Martha Peck in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, Mary married John Butterworth, son of a British captain in 1710.
Butterworth allegedly organized her counterfeiting operation into a cottage industry, sternly overseeing the work of the entire family.
In 1722 colonial authorities became suspicious of Mary Butterworth after her husband John purchased a large, expensive new home for the family.
Under the legal code of 1710 in colonial Rhode Island[2] if any of the Butterworth family had been convicted of the crime of counterfeiting they would have faced severe punishment.
[The offender] was to suffer the pains of having their ears cropped, to be whipped or fined at discretion and imprisoned as the nature of the offense requires, and to pay double damage to the persons defrauded.