Sylvia's Great Adventure

I am pleased to send you a guest post from Sylvia who is traveling in New England and exploring the Salem Witch Trials.  Hopefully she will be back for our Genies meeting on April 15.

From Sylvia:

I’ve just had the most chilling experience since I stood in the very well-equipped medieval torture chambers at Warwick Castle. What you see – and what I touched with my own hands (surprising, since the Houghton Library at Harvard makes you wear the white gloves for anything older than three months!!!) – is an original record of the examination and conviction of Mary Easty (Esty). Yes, the actual document of the trial transcript from 1692! Having just the day before had lunch with Mary’s 7th great-grandson, an old friend of mine, it was especially chilling to read the words that were penned over three hundred years ago on that very parchment and to realize how seriously they took it all then and that it led to the murder of Mary and numerous others. Frightening!

The records of the trials of all of the accused are extensive and held at the Peabody Essex Museum in a brand-new climate-controlled building in Rowley, Massachusetts. If you know of anyone who might be descended from anyone connected to the trials, there is a wealth of genealogical records, and they welcome people (in person like me or online) who are researching their family history. They were very helpful. All of the documents they have from the Oyer and Terminer trials are digitized and can be found at the Peabody Essex Museum Phillips Library website, along with other related documents.

It is definitely addicting digging up the past! Today I'm exploring the Candlemas Massacre in York, Maine that happened around the time of the witch trials, and then more info on the 'stone throwing devil of New Castle that happened a decade earlier. Both played a role in the Salem incident and like Salem involved local people. Those with family history in this area are lucky. Records are very detailed and go back over three centuries. New England preserves its past well!

Those who know they have family who were in Boston or the north shore at that time period might be surprised to find they are related to villagers in Salem or the area.

Happy hunting all! I’m having fun but also looking forward to getting back and picking up my own research!