#74 SALEM WITCH TRIAL
REBECCA NURSE
Witches have a supposed ability to communicate with the dead, and Halloween was established specifically as a holiday to remember the dead.
I cast a very wide net when hunting for family kin. Rebecca Nurse is the mother-in-law of my step 10 times great uncle--but hey! Rebecca was a devout and well-respected woman in the Salem Village community, but she became one of the most tragic figures in the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. In total, 98 people in Salem were accused of witchcraft, and 18 were executed, including Rebecca.
Born in England in 1621, Rebecca Towne moved to Massachusetts with her family, and eventually settled with her husband, Francis Nurse, in Salem Village. He was a "tray maker" by trade, who likely made many other wooden items; due to the rarity of such household items, such artisans were esteemed. In 1652, Francis served as Salem's constable. In 1678, they were offered the chance to lease-to-own a 300 acre farm outside Salem. (Ownership of this land put them into dispute with the neighbouring Putnams.) Francis and Rebecca raised eight children, worked hard on their farm, and were seen as pillars of their community. It was later written that Rebecca had "acquired a reputation for exemplary piety that was unchallenged in the community."
Public accusations of witchcraft in Salem village began on February 29, 1692 . It began with strange fits and accusations from young girls who claimed they were being bewitched by local women and this led to a frenzy of suspicion, fear, hysteria, and paranoia. The first accusations were against three woman not considered "respectable"--Tituba, an enslaved native American, Sarah Good, a homeless mother, and Sarah Osborne who had a rather scandalous history.
As the hysteria grew, the finger-pointing expanded, and eventually, Rebecca Nurse—despite her advanced age of 71 and her longstanding reputation as a pious Christian—found herself accused of witchcraft. The charge against Rebecca was shocking to many in the village. She was known for her charity, piety, her kind heart, and her role as a loving grandmother. Even those who believed in the presence of witches were reluctant to accept that Rebecca could be one. But the climate in Salem had become dangerous, fueled by religious zeal and the intense fear of the Devil’s work.
On March 23, 1692, Rebecca Nurse was arrested (on charges brought by the Putnams) and brought before the magistrates. Her accusers, including young Ann Putnam Jr and her mother, claimed that Rebecca’s spirit tormented them. These accusations held weight because the Putnam family (also my distant relatives) was powerful and influential, but they had a longstanding feud with the Nurse family over land disputes and this likely contributed to their targeting of Rebecca. Rebecca was indicted for witchcraft. At age 71, she was one of the oldest accused.
Her trial began on June 30,1692. Rebecca, like others accused of witchcraft, was not allowed a lawyer and represented herself. During her trial, Rebecca maintained her innocence with dignity, stating, "I am innocent as the child unborn, but surely, what sin hath God found out in me unrepented of, that He should lay such an affliction upon me in my old age?" In the courtroom, the "afflicted' would break into fits and claim that Rebecca was torturing them; they would cry out accusing Rebecca of trying to get them to "tempt God and dye"; women claimed to be in Rebecca's thrall. Despite her protests, this spectral evidence (testimonies of dreams and visions) was used against her. This type of evidence was controversial, as it was based on the idea that a witch’s spirit could leave her body and afflict others. Many doubted its validity, yet it was accepted in the court to show that Satan was afflicting people in the community at the behest of the accused.
Witnesses testified for and against Rebecca. The jury found four other women guilty of witchcraft but not Rebecca. When the jury, however, delivered this non-guilty verdict, the accusers erupted in cries and fits. Under this pressure, the judge urged the jury to reconsider. A technicality—a statement Rebecca made that was misunderstood—became a turning point. When asked about the other accused witches, she ambiguously replied, “I can say nothing to it.” (Rebecca, who was hard of hearing, did not hear the question.) But this was taken as an admission of guilt by some, despite Rebecca’s lack of understanding of the question. The jury then changed their verdict to guilty and sentenced her to death. Faced with the urgent pleas of her family, the abundant evidence of her good character, a petition signed by 39 neighbours urging her release, and even a moving letter from the jury foreman, the Governor granted a reprieve, but it was then rescinded when he was swayed by the pressure of the escalating panic.
On July 3, days after her conviction, Rebecca was taken to the church and publicly excommunicated.
On July 19, 1692, Rebecca Nurse was hanged at Proctor's Ledge near Gallows Hill, alongside four other women. Two months later, her sister, Mary Easty was also hanged as a witch. Another sister was accused, imprisoned, but eventually released. Rebecca's husband, Francis Nurse died in 1695, two years after the trials ended.
Many people described Rebecca as "the woman of self-dignity" for the way she faced her execution. As was the custom, after she was hanged, her body was buried in a shallow grave near the gallows; she was considered unfit for burial in a Christian graveyard. According to oral tradition, Rebecca's family secretly returned after dark, dug up her body and interred it properly on their family homestead.
Although her exact resting place has never been confirmed, her descendants erected a tall granite memorial in the family plot at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead cemetery in Danvers (formerly Salem Village.)
Rebecca’s death marked a turning point in the Salem Witch Trials. Many in the community began to question the legitimacy of the accusations and the proceedings of the court. Her reputation as a devout and kind woman made people realize that if someone like Rebecca could be condemned, then perhaps others accused were also innocent. This shift in public sentiment eventually led to the end of the trials, but not before more innocent people lost their lives. Between March 1692 and May 1693, about 160 people were accused of witchcraft; 54 confessed. "If you confessed, you could save your life." Fifty-two were brought to trail; 30 found guilty. Nineteen were hung at Proctor's Ledge (mostly women and including a 4 year old girl); one was pressed (by rocks) to death and five died in jail. At least 60 Salem people claimed to be "afflicted"--i.e. supposedly possessed or tormented. (I recognized 4 ancestors on the list of those "afflicted".)
Years later, Rebecca Nurse's name was cleared, and she was declared innocent by the colony. In 1706, her accuser, Ann Putnam, Jr., gave a public church confession and expressed great remorse for her role against Rebecca and others. "I desire to be humbled before God...that I, being in my childhood, should... be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of a grievous crime, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now...I have good reason to believe they were innocent persons...it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time." The Nurse family accepted Ann's apology and reconciled with her.
In 1711, Rebecca's children petitioned the government for a reversal of charge and received a small compensation for her wrongful execution. In 1712, the Salem church reversed the verdict of excommunication that it had passed on her so that "it no longer be a reproach to her memory or occasion of grief to her children." In 1992, more than 300 years after their deaths, the Massachusetts House of Representatives issued a resolution declaring all accused as innocent.
A memorial stands in Rebecca's honor in Danvers,
Massachusetts (formerly Salem Village), as a testament to her faith, her
strength, and the injustice she endured.
REBECCA TOWNE b. Feb 13, 1621 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England m. Francis Nurse (1618-1695) in Massachusetts d. July 16, Danvers (Salem), Essex Co., Massachusetts the mother-in-law of my step 10X great uncle..(Pierson/Farnum line)
(also an ancestor of Lucille Ball and Mitt Romney)
Very informative, so much research goes into all your writings.
ReplyDelete