My Revolutionary War Patriots, Jonathan Flint of Reading, Massachusetts

 This is Patriot #3 in this series of blog posts about my ancestors in the Revolutionary War.

My 5th great grandfather Jonathan Flint was born on 11 August 1730 in Reading, Massachusetts, the son of Jonathan Flint (b. 1689) and Mary Collston Hart.  Mary was the daughter of Elizabeth Collston, who was only 16 when she was accused of being a witch during the 1692 witchcraft hysteria.  She was arrested along with her mother, Mary Duston Collston, and grandmother, Lydia Dustin.  Lydia died in prison in Cambridge, Massachusetts before being exhonorated. Elizabeth escaped twice, once from the Cambridge prison, and a second time while being transported to the courthouse in Charlestown.  

On 1 August 1751 Jonathan Flint married Lydia Proctor in Salem, Massachusetts.  By coincidence, Lydia was the great granddaughter of John Proctor who was hanged as a witch in 1692.  John Proctor was the protagonist in the famous play "The Crucible" written by Arthur Miller. Lydia had several relatives involved with the witch hysteria, including the grandparents William Buckley and Sarah Smith.  Her grandmother Sarah was arrested on 14 May 1692 for witchcraft and imprisoned. Two pastors spoke to her innocence, but she still spent eight months in prison until found not guilty in January 1693.  

Jonathan and Lydia had eight children between 1751 and 1767.  They lived in North Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, not far from Lexington and Concord.  When the alarm rang out for the British regulars attacking Lexington on 19 April 1775 Jonathan was 44 years old.  As a corporal in Captain John Batchelder's Company, his militia responded to the alarm and marched towards Lexington.  The company arrived after the battle, but Jonathan re-enlisted again in 1776.  The musket he used in the American Revolution was supposed to be preserved in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society, but they have no record of this artifact. 

Captain John Batchelder's Company was part of Ebenezer Bridge's Regiment, also known as the 11th Massachusetts Regiment. This regiment fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill and served in the Siege of Boston until it was disbanded in December 1775. This regiment had eleven companies, including Batchelder's company.  I don't know if Jonathan Flint saw action at Bunker Hill. 

Jonathan returned to his life as a farmer in the North Precinct, now called North Reading and died around 1800 at about age 70.  The exact date is unknown and I have not found a grave for Jonathan.  I descend from his son, John Flint, who was born in North Reading on 3 April 1761 and died there on 26 August 1836. John married his cousin, Phebe Flint, daughter of George Flint and Hannah Phelps.  Phebe had eight children with John, and died in 1846.  John was also married to Mehitable McIntire, daughter of Archelaus McIntire and Abigail Felton, who had two children with John Flint.  

My 5th great grandmother, Lydia Proctor,  must have died before 1794.  I have found no death record for her, nor a grave site.  On 24 June 1794 Jonathan Flint remarried to Sarah Smith.  They had no children.  I have not found a death record for Sarah, or a grave site. She did not apply for a widow's pension for Jonathan's Revolutionary War service. 

For the truly curious:

A Genealogical Register of the Descendants of Thomas Flint, of Salem, by John Flint and John H. Stone, published by Warren F. Draper, Andover, Massachusetts, 1860, see pages 9 and 14. 

#1 in this series Colonel Joshua Burnham of Milford, New Hampshire:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/02/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-colonel.html  

#2 in this series Major Andrew Munroe of Lexington, Woburn, and Danvers (now Peabody), Massachusetts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-major.html  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Revolutionary War Patriots, Jonathan Flint of Reading, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 24, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-jonathan.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ HUTCHINSON of Charlestown, Massachusetts

HUTCHINSON

I wrote a blog post on 5 November 2016 about Richard HUTCHINSON (1602 – 1682) of Salem Village, Massachusetts , my 9^th great grandfather.  I have another 9^th great grandfather, Thomas HUTCHINSON of Charlestown, Massachusetts who came to New England in 1630 with the Winthrop Fleet.  He was listed as a member of the church in Charlestown on 30 July 1630.  He must have died soon after, and his wife, Anne, remarried to Adam Hawkes in 1631.   Anne, with her Hutchinson children, and her new husband all removed to Lynn as one of the first settler families in the area.  Anne died in 1669 and Hawkes remarried to Sarah Hooper in 1670.  Sarah was 19 years old and Hawkes was 65 years old.

Their only daughter (they also had four sons), was my 8^th great grandmother, Elizabeth Hutchinson, who married Isaac Hart of Lynnfield.  They had seven children.  Elizabeth was accused by Ann Putnam of being a witch.  She was imprisoned in May 1692.  Her son, Thomas, sent a petition for her release five months later stating she was “inflicted from lying in Miserie, and death rather to be Chosen than a life in her Circumstances”.  Another daughter, Deborah Hart, was married to Benjamin Proctor, son of the accused witches, John and Martha Proctor (famous from the play “The Crucible”)and also my 10th great grandparents in another lineage - see the genealogy below.  Elizabeth stayed in jail in Boston until December of 1692, when the trials and arrests were stopped by the Governor.

I descend from their son, Adam Hart (1666- 1745), the youngest son and my 7^th great grandfather.  He married Elizabeth Collson, and was made guardian to Elizabeth’s illegitimate daughter, Mary (who was named as his child).  Not only was Elizabeth Hart, his mother arrested for witchcraft, but also arrested were Elizabeth (Collson) Hart,  Adam’s wife, and her mother, Mary (Dustin) Collston,  and her grandmother, Lydia Dustin.  You can read about the Collston family arrests HERE.  Elizabeth was only 16 years old, and she made a daring escape from jail and was recaptured twice. Lydia, Mary and Elizabeth (all accused and imprisoned, were my 9th, 8th and 7th great grandmothers. 

This branch of the family oozes with witch craft accusations and imprisonments, but the only one who was actually hanged was John Proctor.

For more information on this HUTCHINSON family see the Great Migration Begins, Volume II, page 1056, and also Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 - 1635, pages 253 - 257 (sketch of Adam Hawkes).  Annals of New England, by Thomas Prince, 1755, Part II, page 69.  Salem Possessed, by Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1974.  There is an article "Isaac Hart and Samuel Hart (Both of greater Lynn but not related)" in the Essex Genealogist, Volume 18, pages 40 - 46. 

My HUTCHINSON genealogy:

Generation 1:  Thomas Hutchinson, died about 1631 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; married Ann (possibly Browne?).  She was born about 1600 and died 4 December 1669 in Lynn.  Five children.

Generation 2: Elizabeth Hutchinson, died 28 November 1700; married about 1650 in Habstown (now Reading), Massachusetts to Isaac Hart.  He was born about 1614 and died 10 February 1699 In Lynnfield.  Seven children. 

Generation 3: Adam Hart m. Elizabeth Collston

Generation 4: Mary Collston m. Jonathan Flint

Generation 5: Jonathan Flint m. Lydia Proctor (great grandson of John Proctor, hanged as a witch)

Generation 6:  John Flint m. Phebe Flint

Generation 7: Olive Flint m. Luther Simonds Munroe

Generation 8: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10:  Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ HUTCHINSON of Charlestown, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 12, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/11/surname-saturday-hutchinson-of.html: accessed [access date]).

19 August 1692, Five People Hanged for Witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts

On this date in 1692 five people were executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.  Only one was a woman, contrary to popular belief.  On this particular day George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, the Reverend George Burroughs, John Proctor, and John Willard were hanged on Gallows Hill.   Five innocent people.  

One month earlier the upstanding citizens Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good, and Sarah Wildes were executed.   Two months earlier, on June 10, Bridget Bishop was hanged in Salem as the first official execution of the Salem witch trials.    Over that summer, nineteen innocent lives were lost to gossip, heresy and lies. 

What has been learned since then?  Did anyone change their ways because of this?  Did we see the follies of our ways and become kinder and more forgiving to our neighbors? Did we become accepting of the "different" and less fortunate?

In 2015, modern “witches” have taken over Salem, Massachusetts- people like Laurie Cabot, who exploit the deaths of innocent people for their own profits.  My daughter’s AP History Class took a field trip to the “Witch Museum” in Salem after reading Miller’s play The Crucible.  I was shocked to hear myths being re-told during the presentation, and then the narrator invited the school children to the back of the museum to see a display of modern pagan witch artifacts “by the descendants of the original witches!”   I was flabbergasted, as a chaperone, to know that these myths persist.  

The truth is that none of the original nineteen people were witches, nor were they practicing witchcraft.  The people of Salem were Puritans, however they did believe the Devil dwelt amongst them in Massachusetts.  They falsely believed that witches lived among them, the cause of their problems and troubles. The Devil’s work was truly the gossip, lies and heresy told by neighbors and friends, and not the work of witchcraft.  Over the years these innocent victims have all had their records expunged from the criminal court system. 

If you want to see any actual sites related to the trials of 1692, you are better off going to Danvers, Massachusetts to visit the Archives where some of the original documents can still be read, or the memorial to the victims on the site of the original meeting house, or the well preserved Rebecca Nurse Homestead.   In the city of Salem, there is a memorial (cenotaphs) to the executed victims, Judge Corwin’s house, and the disputed site of Gallows Hill.  In Salem you will also find several museums of dubious quality and inaccurate displays.  You are better off touring the world class Peabody Essex Museum in Salem than any of the other witch museums, and thank goodness the PEM has removed the display of George Jacob’s finger bones.

On this date in 1692 two of those five people hanged on Gallows Hill were my 9x great grandfathers, George Jacobs and John Proctor.  Sarah Averhill Wildes was my 9x step great grandmother (I descend from her husband's first wife).  Bridget Bishop was my 9x great grandmother.  In 1992 the descendants of George Jacobs removed his body from where it had been secretly buried on the Jacobs homestead, because the land was being sold for commercial development.  We had his body re-interred with a very nice reproduction 17th century style headstone at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, Massachusetts.   Laurie Cabot, nor any of the merchants profiting from “witchcraft” in modern Salem, did not donate a penny towards the re-internment.  It is the only actual gravesite of a witch trial victim, since the others were buried in a crevice, and not allowed to be buried in the town burial grounds.  Rebecca Nurse was reburied in secret on the grounds of the family farm.  No one knows where she is located exactly, and hopefully she has been at peace ever since 1692.

George Jacobs
"Because I am falsely accused. I never did it."

Bridget Bishop
"I am no witch. I am innocent. I know nothing of it."

Margaret Jacobs
"... They told me if I would not confess I should be put down into the dungeon and would be hanged, but if I would confess I should save my life."  [note:  Margaret was forced to confess and to accuse her own grandfather, George Jacobs, of witchcraft]

Engraved on a cenotaph to Rebecca Nurse, at the Nurse Family Burial Ground in Danvers, Massachusetts:

“O, Christian martyr!  Who for truth could die,

When all about thee owned the hideous lie!

The world, redeemed from superstitions sway

Is breathing freer for thy sake today.”

By John Greenleaf Whittier

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Originally posted 19 August 2011 at Nutfield Genealogy at this link:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/08/august-19-1692-salem-massachusetts.html 


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "19 August 1692, Five People Hanged for Witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 19 August 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/08/19-august-1692-five-people-hanged-for.html : accessed [access date]). 

Draco Malfoy actor may be descended of a real “witch”?

wikimedia commons photo
Tom Felton at Fan Expo 2011 in Toronto.
|Source =http://www.flickr.com/photos/44775455@N00/6129560080/ |
Author http://www.flickr.com/people/44775455@N00/ |Date =August 27, 2011

According to genealogist David Nelson, Tom Felton, the actor who played the evil wizard Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, is a distant relative of John Proctor.   This is also stated in the forward of Emerson Baker’s new book A Storm of Witchcraft, published 2014.  This is extremely interesting to me since John Proctor is my 8th great grandfather, but he was also hung as a witch in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts.  You might know John Proctor as the protagonist in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

This got me to thinking, since I am also a FELTON descendant.  The Felton family lived in Salem, and my ancestor’s home still stands in what is now the town of Peabody, Massachusetts.  The Felton family was allied to John Proctor, and many members of this family signed a petition in his favor.  This was a brave gesture, since many who supported the accused in 1692 Salem were also accused themselves.  Was Tom Felton, the actor, also a Salem Felton descendant?  This is important because it would be fun to involve the younger members of the Felton family at the next reunion with a lineage chart and short lecture on the subject. 

At the website Bloodlines of Salem, www.bloodlinesofsalem.org , there is a list of famous descendants of the “witches” of Salem.  The princes of England, including Prince William, heir to the throne, and his infant son George, are on this list, as well as President George W. Bush,  comedienne Lucille Ball, and Red Cross founder Clara Barton.  The closest I could find to an answer to this question is in Tom Felton’s biography at the Internet Movie Data Base ( www.imdb.com ) where it states “The London Sun claims he is related to John Proctor, one of the accused witches in the 17^th century Witch Trials in Salem, Massachusetts (see the link below).  Proctor’s son Thorndike Proctor married a Hannah Felton.”   This is also repeated nearly word for word in Tom Felton’s Facebook page.  Of course I am skeptical because there were no "witches" in Salem to begin with, only innocent folks who were accused of this lie by their conniving neighbors. 

As both a descendant of John Proctor and as a descendant of Nathaniel Felton (Hannah’s father),  I know many facts about the 1697 marriage between Thorndike Proctor (1672 – 1759) and his bride Hannah Felton.  I don’t know about you, but as a genealogist I would think that any children of this Proctor-Felton marriage would carry the Proctor name, not the Felton surname, wouldn't you?  I needed more proof that a British actor is descended from colonial New England settlers.  I drew up a brick wall on Tom Felton’s connections, since there seemed to be no lineages available online or in genealogical journals. 

So, next I tested the theory that Prince William was descended of a witch.  The Bloodlines of Salem website gave no clues other than naming Princes William, Harry and George as descendants.  So I turned to my favorite genealogist of the stars, Gary Boyd Roberts.

I knew from a private conversation with Gary Boyd Roberts that I shared a common COGSWELL ancestor with Lady Diana.   John Cogswell (about 1592 – 1669) lived in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the same town where John Proctor, the witch trial victim hung in 1692 lived.  His article online at NEHGS’s website http://www.americanancestors.org/princes-william-and-harry/ from 27 April 2011 doesn’t mention Tom Felton at all, nor does it connect the princes with anyone from the witch trials.  This was a big clue that the Bloodlines of Salem website was possibly off track with their claims.

I did find this chart on line that shows how Prince William is related to Rev. George Burroughs, who was hung as a witch in 1692.  It does have sources if you mouse-over the names.  And it goes back to a common ancestor who died in England in 1472. You’re your own with this one since I have not checked the sources: http://famouskin.com/famous_kin_chart.php?name=6104+prince+william&kin=11991+george+burroughs 

I left two messages via the contact email on the Bloodlines of Salem website, and received no replies.  I also consulted with Margo Burns, an author who has written about the Salem Witch Trial era, and she agreed that the Felton name was a red herring [my words].  Emerson Baker did not reply to my message on line asking for clarification about the Tom Felton claims, except to refer me to the Sun newspaper link listed below. And if there is an allied kinship, not descendancy from the personalities in the 1692 Witch Hysteria, I’d still like to hear about it from the Bloodlines of Salem administrators.

For the truly curious:

“Harry Potter star related to witches” Metro UK, 22 June 2007
 http://metro.co.uk/2007/06/22/harry-potter-star-related-to-witches-479722/

Also, see this link which was Emerson Baker’s source for Tom Felton being related to real witches:  http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/238447/Draco-Malfoy-is-a-witch.html 

A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience, by Emerson W. Baker, 2024, also available on line at Google Books.  See page 12 in the forward for mention of Tom Felton.

A well written article by Gary Boyd Roberts of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) “Notable Kin- the Progeny of “Witches” and “Wizards”: Some Descendants of Rev. George Burroughs and William and Joanna (Blessing) Towne, Parents of Mary Estey and Rebecca Nurse” published date 2 August 1992 http://www.americanancestors.org/the-progeny-of-witches-and-wizards/     This is one I can trust.  No mention of Tom Felton [of course, it was written well before the movie franchise]. 

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/draco-malfoy-actor-may-be-descended-of.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Emanuel Downing of Salem, Massachusetts

from the Peabody Essex Museum, dated about 1819
The Emanuel Downing mansion on Essex Street in Salem,
This house was taken down in 1753. 

DOWNING

Emanuel Downing (1585 – 1658), my 10^th great grandfather, is a fascinating ancestor who seemed to be related to lots of historic figures from New England history.  Because he touched so many historic events and knew so many important figures, it is easy to find information on his life and genealogy.  His lineage goes back to the time of the Magna Carta in 1215, and he descends from one of the sureties Saire de Quincy, Earl of Winchester.

Emanuel Downing graduated from the University of Cambridge in England.  He first married Ann Ware in 1614 and had three children.  He then married Lucy Winthrop, sister of Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his famous son, George, was born in 1623.  George Downing, brother to my 9^th great grandmother, Lucy Downing (1625 – 1697), graduated from Harvard and was the Ambassador to the Netherlands under Cromwell and Charles II.  He lived at Number 11 Downing Street, which is now the residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.   Samuel Pepys was his clerk.  George Downing was knighted in 1661 and became Secretary to the Treasury.  He became a baronet in 1663.

One of Emanuel’s daughters, Anne, married first to Joseph Gardner, and second to Governor Simon Bradstreet.  Simon was a Cambridge University graduate, and a founder of Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He was Secretary of the United Colonies of New England, and an envoy to King Charles II in 1661.  He was deputy Governor of Massachusetts from 1673 – 1679, and Governor from 1679 – 1686, and again from 1689 to 1692. 

Emanuel Downing lived in Salem, in what is now Peabody, Massachusetts.  He had a tavern on the Ipswich Road, and a house in Salem he bought from Governor Simon Bradstreet.  He returned to England in 1656 and rented his tavern in what is now Peabody to John Proctor (1631 – 1692).  John Proctor is also my 8^th great grandfather, and was hung as witch on 19 August 1692 during the Witch Hysteria.

On a sad note, Emanuel Downing is infamous for penning a letter in 1645 to his brother-in-law, Governor John Winthrop, "A war with the Narragannsett is verie considerable to this plantation... if upon a Juste Warr the Lord shall deliver them into our hands, we might easily have men, women, children enough to exchange for Moores... For I doe not see how we [white men] can thrive until wee get into a flock of slaves sufficient to doe all our business".  He advocated trading the native Indians of New England for black African slaves. [Emanuel Downing to John Winthrop, August 1645, Massachusetts Historical Society Collection,  Winthrop Papers, 5: 38 - 39]

After Emanuel Downing returned to England he was made Clerk of Council of State to Scotland. He removed to Edinburgh, where he died on 26 September 1660.  He was buried at St. Martin’s in the Field in London.  Lucy, his wife, removed to England to live with her son Sir George and died in London on 10 April 1679. Emanuel Downing had several famous descendants, including William Tecumseh Sherman,  US President John Quincy Adams, and Vice President Aaron Burr (who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804).  He is also the ancestor of Reverend Johnathan Edwards, Puritan theologian. 

For more information:

You won’t find Emanuel Downing in any of the volumes of The Great Migration series by Anderson, but you will find several of his children there.  He is mentioned in several local history books, including The History of Salem by Sidney Perley, and in books about the Winthrop and Bradstreet families.

Emanuel Downing, by Frederick Johnson Simmons, 1958 

The Ancestry of Dr. J. P. Guilford, Volume I: Seventeenth Century New England Colonials, by Joan S. Guilford, Orange, CA, 1990, pages 253-258 are about Emanuel Downing.

The American Genealogist, Volume 74, pages 161-174, and 299 – 308) for the English ancestry of Emanuel Downing.

My DOWNING genealogy:

Generation 1: Emanuel Downing, son of Reverend George Downing and Dorcas Bellamy, was born 12 August 1585 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, died 26 July 1658 in Scotland; married first on 7 January 1614 in Edinburgh, Scotland to Anne Ware (three children); married second on 10 April 1622 in Groton, Suffolk, England to Lucy Winthrop (five children).  Lucy was the daughter of Adam Winthrop and Anne Browne.

Generation 2: Lucy Downing, daughter of Emanuel Downing and Lucy Winthrop, born in 1625 in Salem, Massachusetts, died on 2 May 1697 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married to William Norton, son of William Norton and Alice Browest.  (five children)

Generation 3: Bonus Norton m. Mary Goodhue

Generation 4: Elizabeth Norton m. Benjamin Swett

Generation 5: Elizabeth Swett m. David Batchelder

Generation 6: Elisha Batchelder m. Sarah Lane

Generation 7: Jonathan Batchelder m. Nancy Thompson

Generation 8: George E. Batchelder m. Abigail M. Locke

Generation 9: George E. Batchelder m. Mary Katharine Emerson

Generation 10: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

Generation 11: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/08/surname-saturday-emanuel-downing-of.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ VARNEY of Ipswich, Massachusetts

VARNEY

William Varney married "within the Castle of Windsor" on 7 April 1629 to Bridget Deverell.  She was the daughter of Robert Deverell and Grisell Button, baptized at Hurley, Berkshire, England on 7 April 1629.  History does not say why this marriage took place in such a famous location!

By 1649 the Varney family was settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts.  William Varney, my 10^th great grandfather died intestate in 1654 and the inventory of his estate mentions his wife, Bridget, three sons and one daughter.   His widow sold her land in 1669 and removed to Gloucester.  She died in 1672 and left a will:

I Bridget Verney |of Glocester in ye County of Essex in New England| being by Gods Providence Cast upon my Bed of Sickness & weaknesse & not knowing how neare the time of my death & departure out of this world may be at hand yet knowing that all men are borne to dye & depart out of this world doe therefore declare & make knowne this my last will & Testmanet in manner & forme following. And first I commit & commend my Soule into the hands of God the Father of Spirits & my Body to the Grave to be decently buryed by my Suruining Freinds. And for my Goods and Estate I give & bequeath in the first place unto my Sonne Humfrey Verney the Summe of twenty Pounds to be payd by my sonne Jeffrey Parsons of this Towne in foure yeares. five pounds per Annum during the space of foure yeares after my decease.

Item I give & bequeath unto my Daughter Rachel Vinson (the wife of William Vinson) twenty Pounds to be payd out of my estate according as hee the sayd william vinson my sonne in Law Can best order it for Her And this to be for my sayd Daughter after my decease

Item I give and bequeath unto my sonne Thomas Verney Seaven Sheepe after my decease. And for the rest of my goodes or estate besides what is above mentioned & bequeathed I leave in the hands of my Sonne in Law william vinson as he shall see meet And to the end this my Last will & Testament may be duely & truely performed in manner and forme abovesayd I doe hereby

appoynt constitute & ordayne my sayd Sonne in Law william vinson to be sole Executor. In wittnesse whereof I the sayd Bridget have hereunto Set my Hand

& Seale the tenth day of this instant November Anno Dom. one thousand Six

hundred & Seaventy one.

Bridget (her B mark) Verney (SEAL)

Witness: John Emerson, William Ellery, William (his + mark) Winson, Joh

(his mark) Row.

Proved in Salem court 27:9:1672 by William Ellery and John Row.

The inventory was her estate was taken on November 21, 1672 by Thomas Millett Sr., and John Collins Sr.

"Tow Cowes and two hefer Calves, £8; nine sheepe, £3 10s; Twp swine, 16s; Three akers of marsh in Chebacco, £4; beding, £1 5s; Paire of sheets, 15s; wearing Clothes, £3 14s; Linen Clothes, £2; box and two Loks, 6s; woole and yearne, £1; old timber vesels, 3s; debts oweing her, £4 2s; total £66 11s."

Attested in Salem court 27:9:1672 by William Vinson, executor.

For more information:

A Genealogy of Some of the Descendants of William Varney of Ipswich, Mass 1649 and more Particularly of his son Humphrey Varney of Dover, NH, 1659 by Herbert Clarkson Varney, 1949

Thomas Varney of Boston and his Descendants, by George W. Varney, 1995 manuscript at the New England Historic Genealogical Society library in Boston. [Mss A 528]

"William Varney of Ipswich and Gloucester, Massachusetts" by Kathleen Canney Barber and Janet Ireland Delorey, The American Genealogist, Volume 81, No. 3, July 2006

My VARNEY genealogy:

Generation 1: William Varney, born about 1599 in England, died 1 March 1654 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married to Bridget Deverell.  She died 25 October 1672 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Generation 2: Thomas Varney, born about 1630, died 4 December 1692 in Ipswich; married Abigail Proctor, daughter of John Proctor (hung as a witch in 1692) and Martha Harper.  She was born about 1639 and died 1 March 1732 in the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich. Thomas married second to Mary Lovering before 1679 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Generation 3: Mary Varney, born 1699 in Ipswich, died 19 November 1733 in Ipswich; married in 1690 in Ipswich to Thomas Choate, son of John Choate and Ann Unknown.  He was born about 1671 in Ipswich and died 31 March 1745 in Ipswich.

Generation 4: Anne Choate m. John Burnham

Generation 5: Jeremiah Burnham m. Abigail Andrews

Generation 6: Abigail Burnham m. Isaac Allen

Generation 7: Joseph Allen m. Judith Burnham

Generation 8: Joseph Allen m. Orpha Andrews

Generation 9: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears

Generation 10: Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

Generation 11: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/06/surname-saturday-varney-of-ipswich.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ ANDREWS of Essex, Massachusetts (Ipswich’s Chebacco Parish)

Ipswich, Massachusetts town seal

(see the story below for an explanation)

ANDREWS

Here is another ancestor from whom I descend from three sons.  It is a tangled lineage (scroll to the bottom for genealogy information.

Lieutenant John Andrews was born about 1620 in England.  His parentage is unknown.  Also, there are many Andrews families in Ipswich in the 1600s, and it is unknown if Lt. John was related to Captain Robert Andrews.   He was granted 8 acres of land for his service during the Pequot War in 1637.  He lived “in the part of Ipswich which in 1679 was organized as Chebacco Parish and in 1819 incorporated as the town of Essex, Mass.” [NEHGS Register, Volume 70 (1916) page 103]

Lt. John Andrews was a house carpenter and farmer by trade, and also served in several town offices.  He also participated in the unusual Ipswich tax rebellion of 1687.  “…the inhabitants of Ipswich in 1687 resisted the order of Sir Edmund Andros [no relation] and his council for levying a tax on the King’s subjects… John Andrews was at that time chairman of the selectmen of Ipswich, and John Appleton was town clerk.  They, with John Wise, the minister, and others, called a meeting, at which the command of the Governor to choose a commissioner to assist in assessing the tax was discussed; and at the town meeting the next day (23 Aug.) the town considered that by the laws of England it was enacted “that no Taxes should be Levied upon the Subjects without consent of an Assembly chosen by the Freeholders.”  For this act of the town Mr. Wise, John Andrews, John Appleton, William Goodhue, Robert Kinsman, and Thomas French were arrested, brought before the court at Boston, and tried.. [and found guilty]  This act of resistance has been called “the foundation of American Democracy” and was the beginning of those events which eighty-eight years later culminated in the Revolutionary War.  It is commemorated in the seal of the town of Ipswich, which bears the motto “The Birthplace of American Independence 1687” [NEGHS Register, Volume 70 (1916), page 103]

Of all the men mentioned above, I descend from Lt. John Andrews, William Goodhue and Robert Kinsman.  I also descend from John Proctor of Ipswich, who was hung as a witch in 1692.  Lt. John Andrews and his four sons, along with many Ipswich men, signed a petition in support of John Proctor and his wife during their trials in Salem.  The petition was unsuccessful, and John Proctor was hung, although his wife escaped execution because she was pregnant.

Of John Andrews’ four sons, I descend from William, Thomas and Joseph.

Generation 1:  John Andrews, born about 1620 in England, died 20 April 1708 in the Chebacco Parish; married about 1645 to Jane Jordan, daughter of Stephen Jordan and Susannah Unknown.  She was born about 1622 in England and died after 1705 in the Chebacco Parish.  Five children.

Lineage A:

Generation 2: William Andrews, born 1649 in the Chebacco Parish, died 7 February 1716/7 in the Chebacco Parish; married on 20 October 1672 in Ipswich to Margaret Woodward, daughter of Ezekiel Woodward and Anne Beamsley.  She was born 24 February 1655 in Boston and died 22 May 1716 in Scarborough, Maine.  Twelve children.

Generation 3: John Andrews, born 2 February 1676 in Ipswich, died 25 March 1753 in the Chebacco Parish; married on 11 January 1706 in Ipswich to Elizabeth Story, daughter of Seth Story and Elizabeth Cross.

Generation 4: Abigail Andrews married 2 December 1736 in Ipswich to Jeremiah Burnham, son of John Burnham and Ann Choate.

Generation 5: Abigail Burnham m. Isaac Allen

Generation 6: Joseph Allen m. Judith Burnham

Generation 7: Joseph Allen m. Orpha Andrews (see below)

Generation 8: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears

Generation 9: Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maud Batchelder

Generation 10: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

Lineage B:

Generation 2: Thomas Andrews, born about 1654 in the Chebacco Parish, died 22 March 1718/9 in the Chebacco Parish; married on 9 February 1681 to Mary Belcher, daughter of Jeremiah Belcher and Mary Lockwood.  She was born 21 July 1660 and died on 31 March 1731 in Ipswich.

Generation 3: Thomas Andrews, born 1682 in Ipswich, died 13 February 1746 in Ipswich; married on 8 April 1711 in Ipswich to Mary Smith, daughter of John Smith and Elizabeth Unknown.  She was born 27 September 1685 in Ipswich, and died 31 March 1731 in Ipswich.  Thomas Andrews married second to Rebecca Cole.

Generation 4: Mary Andrews, born about 1712 in Ipswich; married on 16 August 1735 in Ipswich to Stephen Burnham, son of Thomas Burnham and Susannah Boardman.  He was born about 1715 and died 1790 in Milford, New Hampshire. Thirteen children.

Generation 5: Colonel Joshua Burnham m. Jemima Wyman

Generation 6: Jemima Burnham m. Romanus Emerson

Generation 7: George Emerson m. Mary Esther Younger

Generation 8: Mary Katharine Emerson m. George E. Batchelder

Generation 9: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

Generation 10: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

Lineage C:

Generation 2: Joseph Andrews, born 1657 in the Chebacco Parish, died between 13 February and 5 March 1724/5 in the Chebacco Parish; married on 16 February 1680/1 in the Chebacco Parish to Sarah Ring, daughter of Daniel Ring/Rindge and Mary Kinsman.  She was born 17 August 1659 in Ipswich and died after 1714.

Generation 3: John Andrews, born 1 June 1691 in the Chebacco Parish, died October 1762 in the Chebacco Parish; married on 6 December 1716 in Gloucester to Elizabeth Wallis, daughter of James Wallis and Martha Stanford.  She was born about 25 February 1694 in Beverly, died before 7 November 1757 in Ipswich.  John married second to Margaret Crafts on 7 November 1757.

Generation 4: John Andrews, born 1717, died 3 May 1779 in Ipswich; married on 1 March 1747/8 in Ipswich to Martha Cogswell, daughter of John Cogswell and Sarah Brown.  She was born 1 January 1719 in the Chebacco Parish, and died 23 December 1809 in Ipswich.  John had been previously married to Mary Burnham on 5 January 1741/2.

Generation 5: James Andrews, born 13 November 1763 in the Chebacco Parish, died 19 October 1857; married on 15 July 1788 in Ipswich to Lucy Presson, daughter of William Presson and Abigail Sargent.  She was born in May 1763 in Gloucester and died 5 September 1852 in Essex, Massachusetts. Ten chlldren.

Generation 6:  Orpha Andrews, born 3 February 1804 in the Chebacco Parish, died 20 April 1869 in Peabody, Massachusetts; married on 28 October 1824 in Essex to Joseph Allen, son of Joseph Allen and Judith Burnham.  He was born 31 July 1801 in the Chebacco Parish, and died 2 August 1894 in Beverly, Massachusetts.

Generation 7: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears (see above)

For more information on Lt. John Andrews:

The Descendants of Lieut. John Andrews of Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts by Betty Andrews Storey, 2009 on CD ROM

New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Volume 70 (1916), page 102-103

also

The Will of Lieut. John Andrews

" In the name of God, Amen, in the thirteenth Day of March one Thousand Seven Hundred adn five, I John Androse, Senior of Sebacco in Ipswich of ye Countie of Essex within ye province of Massachusetts being in New england yeoman being at this time of perfect mind and memory thanks be given unto god; But calling unto mind ye mortallity of my body and knowing yt it is appointe for men once to Dye. Do make and ordine This my Last will and Testament-that is to say principally and first of all. I give and Recommend My Soul is not yet in the handes of god yet give it and my body I Recommend to ye Earth, to be Buried in decent Christian Burial at ye Descression of my Executors; nothing Doubting but At ye Genneral Resserection I shall receive ye same againe by ye mighty power of god, and As touching Such worldly Estate wherewith it hath pleased god to bless me in this Life. I give Demise and Dispose of ye same in the following manner and forme.

Imprimis. I give and bequeath unto my Eldest Son Jn Androse ye sum of five shillings to be levied out of my Estate adn paid by my executor unto him after my Desease allso Confirming to him what I have alred given him by Deed of Gifte. -

Item. I give adn bequeath to my second son William Androuse one fourthe part of my whole esstate both land or march which I have not allred given away by Deed of gift and allso al my moveable Estate according to a true Inventory threof taken. What shall Remaine to be clear Estate after my funeral Expenses and just Debts are paid, I freely give my Son William androse one fourth part there of only I do herebyu oblige him to pay one fourth part of ye charges of maintaning my Wife So long as Shje shall live after my Decease and when it shall please god to take her Away by Death I do hereby oblige him to pay one fourth part of ye charges of a decent funerall unto her.

Item I give adn bequeathe to my Son Thomas androse one fourth part of my whole Estate both lands or marsh and al other Estate which shall be cleare according to inventory after my funerqall expenses and just Debts are paid onely I do Here by oblige him to Pay one fourth part of ye charges in maintaining my wife so long as she shall live after my Decease and to pay one fourth part of ye charges of Her funerall when God shall please to take her away by Death.

Item. I given and bequeth unto Elizabeth my Daughter wife of James Giddinge one fourth part of my whole Estate both Real and personal as landes marsh or any other Estate according to inventory as shal appear to be clear after my funerall expenses and just Debts Are paid onely I oblige her to pay one fourth part of ye charges for maintaining my funerall expenses and just Debts Are paid onely I oblige her to pay one fourth part of ye charges fo maintaining my Wife So long as she shall live after my Decese and to pay one fourth part of ye charges of her funerall when god shall please to Deprive her of her Naturall lifed allso, I do hereby order and Desire yt my Wife shall Dwell with my Daughter Elizabeth giddinge after my Decease so long as she lives; (further more I do hereby order ordaine and appoint my Trusty friend William Gidding of Sebacco Cordwinder to be my soule executor of this my Last Will and Tesstamernt. ) and I Do hereby utterly Disallow Revok and Disanull all and Everry other former testaments Willes legacyes and bequestes adn executors by me in any wayes before named Willed and bequeathed Ratifying and confirming this and no other be my last Will and testaments in Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and Seale by Day and year above written."

John Andrews "Signed Sealed published pronounced and declared by ye same Jn Androsuse Seniour as his Last Will and testament in ye presentes of us subscribers.

Witnesses: Nathaniel Goodhue, Job Giddings, Solomon Giddings

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/05/surname-saturday-andrews-of-essex.html

Copyright 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A Lawsuit over a Carpet, 1675, Massachusetts

No, this is not the carpet from the lawsuit

There once was a rug that crossed the ocean in 1635,  survived a ship wreck and several lawsuits, and was passed on as a family heirloom for years and years.   This is the story of that carpet.

In 1675 John Cogswell sued his uncle, William Cogswell over his father’s estate.  A will could not be found, and the local Essex County, Massachusetts court decided in John’s favor for about 54 pounds plus court costs.  Uncle William appealed, and in 1676 the higher court in Boston reversed the judgement and charged John 13 pounds 4 shillings.  John refused to pay, and asked for a hearing.  On 29 May 1677 the whole case was heard again in William’s favor.

John Cogswell (1650 – 1724) is my 7^th great grandfather.  His grandparents, John and Elizabeth (Thompson) Cogswell, were my 9^th great grandparents.  They came to America with the Winthrop Fleet, on board the ship Angel Gabriel, which was wrecked in Pemaquid harbor, Maine during a big hurricane in 1635.  The carpet in question survived the voyage, the shipwreck, and the 40 years before the lawsuit.

Deposition by William Thompson, 1677, aged about 28 years, who lived with John Cogswell in Ipswich. 

“I did frequently see a Turkey-work carpet which my uncle and aunt had:  and I have heard them say it was theirs in Old England, and used to lie on their parlor table there; and I heard my father, Doctor Samuel Thompson, say that he did well remember that my uncle had a Turkey-work carpet, which used to lie upon their parlor table in Old England, and took it away with them.”

More depositions in the 1676 case can be read at this page:   http://kristinhall.org/fambly/Cogswell/John3Cogswell.html

Why was the Turkish carpet on the table?  Well, in the 17^th century carpets were much too valuable to walk on, even in England.  They were usually hung on the wall like a tapestry, or hung over a table or bed.  Why was the original judgement overturned?  Someone must have been fibbing, since several witnesses mentioned the goods owned by Cogswell, as well as the carpet.   

Court cases such as this help fill out the story of our ancestor’s lives beyond birth and death dates.  Since the early colonial residents of New England were particularly litigious, there is a good chance you might find your ancestor mentioned in a court record, as a witness, defendant, plantiff, judge or juror.  This particular case is interesting because of the descriptions of the household goods owned by the Cogswell family.

John Cogswell of Ipswich, Massachusetts is also known for bravely signing a petition in favor of John and Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor during the Salem Witch Hysteria in 1692.  John Proctor was the witch trial victim immortalized by the play “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller.  John Proctor and his first wife, Martha Harper , are also my ancestors.   This was considered a brave act, because in 1692 many of the friends and family of the accused had the finger of guilt pointed back at themselves, especially if they tried to prove their loved one’s innocence.

You can still visit the Cogswell family land in the town of Essex, Massachusetts (formerly the Chebacco parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts).   Cogswell's Grant is now a museum home operated by Historic New England. 

For more information:

The Cogswells in America, by E. O. Jameson, published in Boston in 1884 (can be read online at archive.org)

Cogswell Family Association    www.cogswell.org

The Cogswell Family Association blog  http://cogswellfam.wordpress.com/

Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts,  Volume VI, 1675 – 1678, page 156 mentions the “turkey work” carpet.  Available to view online at Google Book Search.

Cogswell’s Grant, a historic property managed by “Historic New England”.  It was first owned by John Cogswell (1592 – 1669), born in Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, England, who came to New England in 1635 aboard the Angel Gabriel with his family.  The Angel Gabriel was wrecked, and they lost 5,000 pounds sterling of property, but all survived.  He called his property in Essex, Massachusetts (Chebacco Parish), Westberry Lee” after his birthplace.   It was passed down in the Cogswell family from 1636 to 1839, when it was sold to Adam Boyd, a prominent shipbuilder.

http://www.historicnewengland.org/historic-properties/homes/cogswells-grant

The image above of the carpet is from Wikimedia Commons, Lotto Carpet design Usak 16th century, photographed at the Museum of Islamic Art, World Imaging, 2009. 

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The URL for this post is

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-lawsuit-over-carpet-1675-massachusetts.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

19 August 1692, Five People Hanged for Witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts

The gravestone of George Jacobs
Danvers, Massachusetts

On this date in 1692 five people were executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts.  Only one was a woman, contrary to popular belief.  On this particular day George Jacobs, Sr., Martha Carrier, the Reverend George Burroughs, John Proctor, and John Willard were hanged on Gallows Hill.   Five innocent people.  

One month earlier the upstanding citizens Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, Sarah Good, and Sarah Wildes were executed.   Two months earlier, on June 10, Bridget Bishop was hanged in Salem as the first official execution of the Salem witch trials.    Over that summer, nineteen innocent lives were lost to gossip, heresy and lies. 

What has been learned since then?  Did anyone change their ways because of this?  Did we see the follies of our ways and become kinder and more forgiving to our neighbors? Did we become accepting of the "different" and less fortunate?

In 2011, modern “witches” have taken over Salem, Massachusetts- people like Laurie Cabot, who exploit the deaths of innocent people for their own profits.  My daughter’s AP History Class took a field trip to the “Witch Museum” in Salem after reading Miller’s play The Crucible.  I was shocked to hear myths being re-told during the presentation, and then the narrator invited the school children to the back of the museum to see a display of modern pagan witch artifacts “by the descendants of the original witches!”   I was flabbergasted, as a chaperone, to know that these myths persist.  

The truth is that none of the original nineteen people were witches, nor were they practicing witchcraft.  The people of Salem were Puritans, however they did believe the Devil dwelt amongst them in Massachusetts.  They falsely believed that witches lived among them, the cause of their problems and troubles. The Devil’s work was truly the gossip, lies and heresy told by neighbors and friends, and not the work of witchcraft.  Over the years these innocent victims have all had their records expunged from the criminal court system. 

If you want to see any actual sites related to the trials of 1692, you are better off going to Danvers, Massachusetts to visit the Archives where some of the original documents can still be read, or the memorial to the victims on the site of the original meeting house, or the well preserved Rebecca Nurse Homestead.   In the city of Salem, there is a memorial (cenotaphs) to the executed victims, Judge Corwin’s house, and the disputed site of Gallows Hill.  In Salem you will also find several museums of dubious quality and inaccurate displays.  You are better off touring the world class Peabody Essex Museum in Salem than any of the other witch museums, and thank goodness the PEM has removed the display of George Jacob’s finger bones.

On this date in 1692 two of those five people hung on Gallows Hill were my 9x great grandfathers, George Jacobs and John Proctor.  Bridget Bishop was my 9x great grandmother.  In 1992 the descendants of George Jacobs removed his body from where it had been secretly buried on the Jacobs homestead, because the land was being sold for commercial development.  We had his body re-interred with a very nice reproduction 17th century style headstone at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, Massachusetts.   Laurie Cabot, nor any of the merchants profiting from “witchcraft” in modern Salem, did not donate a penny towards the re-internment.  It is the only actual gravesite of a witch trial victim, since the others were buried in a crevice, and not allowed to be buried in the town burial grounds.  Rebecca Nurse was reburied in secret on the grounds of the family farm.  No one knows where she is located exactly, and hopefully she has been at peace ever since 1692.

George Jacobs
"Because I am falsely accused. I never did it."

Bridget Bishop
"I am no witch. I am innocent. I know nothing of it."

Margaret Jacobs
"... They told me if I would not confess I should be put down into the dungeon and would be hanged, but if I would confess I should save my life."  [note:  Margaret was forced to confess and to accuse her own grandfather, George Jacobs, of witchcraft]

Engraved on a cenotaph to Rebecca Nurse, at the Nurse Family Burial Ground in Danvers, Massachusetts:

“O, Christian martyr!  Who for truth could die,

When all about thee owned the hideous lie!

The world, redeemed from superstitions sway

Is breathing freer for thy sake today.”

By John Greenleaf Whittier

Originally published on 19 August 2011 at the Nutfield Genealogy Blog

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "19 August 1692, Five People Hanged for Witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 19, 2013, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/19-august-1692-five-people-hanged-for.html: accessed [access date]).

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Deacon Thomas Senter, d. 1834, Hudson, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Senter Cemetery, on the corner of Robinson Road and Old Derry Road in Hudson, New Hampshire.  If you have a GPS you can find it at  USGS Nashua North Quadrangle, E30311, N474278, Zone 19 (42° 48' 51"N, 71° 24' 30"W) not far from the Londonderry town line.

IN MEMORY OF

DEA. THOMAS SENTER

DIED DEC. 25, 1834

AEt. 83

ESTHER, his first wife

DIED 1800 AEt. 62

MERCY, Second wife

DIED 1802 AEt 41

Also three children of

T. & E. SENTER

CHARLOTTE, DIED 1791

AEt. 7 Y's

BRIDGET, DIED 1793

AEt 16 Y's

CATEY, DIED 1803

AEt 27 Y's

A tender father and mothers dear,

And three beloved daughters lie here,

When Christ returns to call them forth,

The rising day will show there worth.

B. DAY LOWELL

Thomas Senter was the son of Samuel Senter and Susan Taylor, born 4 May 1753 in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and he died on 25 December 1834 in Hudson, New Hampshire. He married Esther Greeley about 1774.  She was the daughter of Ezekiel Greeley and Esther Lovewell, born 17 February 1749 at Nottingham West (now Hudson) and died in 1800 in Hudson.  They had nine children.  He also married second to Mercy Jackson, and third to Eunice White.  Thomas Senter was the deacon at the First Baptist Church in Hudson, which first met at his home on Old Derry Road before there was a baptist meeting house.  Thomas Senter also served in the American Revolutionary War in Capt. Archelaus Towne's Company for Derry, New Hampshire, mustered in 1 August 1775 for 3 months and 8 days.

1.)  Bridget, born about 1775, died 1793
2.) Catherine, born about 1776 and died 1803 AKA "Catey"
3.) Esther, born 1779, died 17 February 1828,  married James Proctor (see below)
4.) Susan, born 27 April 1781, died November 1850, married James E. Eayers
5.) Charlotte, born 1783, died 1791
6. ) Thomas, Jr., born 2 November 1784, died 10 February 1863, married Tryphena Sawyer
7. ) Nancy, born about 1786, married Isaac Lawrence
8. ) Rebecca, born 29 October 1787, died 9 March 1817, married Noah Robinson
9. ) Charles, born 18 February 1792, died 28 November 1857, married Harriet Greeley

In memory of

MRS ESTHER

wife of Mr. James Proctor

who died Feb. 17, 1828, AEt 48

Here lies the sleeping dust unconscious close confined

But far, far above, dwells the immortal mind

Eunice, died July 3, 1812, AEt, 4 Yrs.

An Infant, died, March 28, 1815.

Lydia, died March 31, 1821, AEt, 11 Yrs.

Esther W. C. died Aug. 5, 1825, AEt. 4 Yrs.

Susan H., died at Boston, June 21,

1830, AEt. 7 Yrs. 6 Mo.

Suffer little children to come unto me and 

forbid them not for such is the kingdom of Heaven

The First Baptist Church of Hudson, NH website http://www.firstbaptisthudson.com/pages/history.html 

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

August 19, 1692 and how you can help the Salem Witch Trials Memorial

On Thanksgiving 2004 I brought my Father-in-Law
from Spain to see the Witch Trials Memorial in Salem, Mass. 

On August 19, 1692 five people were hanged in Salem, Massachusetts when found guilty of witchcraft.  Their names were Reverend George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, John Proctor, and John Willard.   Jacobs and Proctor were my 9x and 8x great grandfathers.   Carrier (maiden name Martha Allen) was my first cousin 9 x removed. Willard is my first cousin 11 x removed.  Other family members include the jailor, several accusers, and many witnesses both for and against the victims. My family has lived in this area a long time, and I was born less than ten miles away from Gallows Hill.  

During this frightening summer the victims of the witchcraft hysteria were hanged on June 10, July 19, August 19, September 19 and September 22, until the Royal Governor Phips stopped the trials from proceeding with hangings.   Hundreds of people had been imprisoned, tortured, and the entire colony had been scared into blaming neighbors and even family members of the crime of consorting with the devil.

The Witch Trials Memorial in Salem, Massachusetts stands in quiet memorial to those who suffered death during the witchcraft hysteria.  It was dedicated by Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel in August 1992 as part of the 300^th anniversary of the Witch Trials.  It consists of 20 granite benches along a granite dry wall.  Each bench is inscribed with the name of one victim, along with their cause of death and the date of their execution.  Nineteen people had been hung, and one tortured to death.   The entrance of the memorial contains a threshold of granite blocks inscribed with quotes from the victims. 

John Proctor
My 8 x Great Grandfather

I have visited this memorial several times.  It is located right next to the Charter Street Burying Point, and on my regular tour of Salem when we bring out-of-town visitors.  Many tourists leave flowers and other memorials on the stone benches.  The compassionate, the descendants, and the history buffs all spend a few quiet moments inside the granite enclosure.  It is a powerful reminder of intolerance, and a place to memorize the victims because most do not have proper burial sites to visit, or gravestones. (Rebecca Nurse has a cenotaph and George Jacobs a gravestone in Danvers). 

This simple, yet elegant, memorial has suffered neglect in the past twenty years, and is in need of a facelift.   Over six million visitors have walked through the memorial, and the City of Salem has provided regular maintenance, but several stones need to be replaced by a master mason, and the walls have shifted due to weather and frost heaves. 

Quotes taken from court records decorate the entrance,
but are cleverly cut off mid sentence.
This quote from Bridget Bishop reads in its entirety
"I am no witch. I am innocent.  I no nothing of it." 

The Salem Award Foundation has begun a major fundraising drive to restore the Salem Witch Memorial.  There is an urgent need to provide maintenance to the site, before the problems with the granite walls grow worse.  Please consider donating now.  You can visit the website below to make a donation electronically, or send a check to the address.

Bridget (Playfer) (Wasselbee) (Oliver)  Bishop
My 9x Great Grandmother

The Salem Award Foundation website.

http://www.salemaward.org/the-salem-witch-trials-memorial-110.html

The Salem Award for Human Rights and Social Justice Foundation

P. O. Box 8484

Salem, MA  01971

Disclaimer:  I am not affiliated with the Salem Award Foundation, nor was I asked to write this post, nor did I receive special treatment or monetary consideration.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo