{"id":92063,"date":"2023-06-09T08:08:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T12:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=92063"},"modified":"2023-12-22T14:19:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T19:19:34","slug":"salem-witchcraft-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/salem-witchcraft-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"Salem Witchcraft (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about the Salem witch trials of 1692, focusing on the preservation efforts of Sarah Elizabeth Hunt. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue my story on the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials and preservation. To recap: My last story covered Abner Cheney Goodell, who owned the largest collection of witchcraft books in the world. He published scholarly works on the 1692 Salem witch trials<\/a> and lived at 4 Federal Street in Salem, Massachusetts, the location of the original jail that held many of the accused \u201cwitches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abner\u2019s home became more famous after his death, when his son Alfred Putnam Goodell unearthed the old jail and made the home into a museum known as the \u201cOld Witch Jail and Dungeon.\u201d Read more: Salem Witchcraft (part 1)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Sarah Elizabeth Hunt. Courtesy of Richard Trask, archivist at the Danvers Archival Center at the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Abner married Martha Page Putnam, daughter of Alfred Putnam and Mary Page. Martha\u2019s mother married Dr. Ebenezer Hunt after Mr. Putnam died, and the couple had a daughter Sarah Elizabeth Hunt (1849-1930), who lived with Abner and Martha at the Federal Street home.<\/p>\n

Sarah was a passionate preservationist. One of her big projects was saving the Townsend-Bishop House, better known as the Rebecca Nurse Homestead (also spelled Nourse), located at 149 Pine Street in Danvers, Massachusetts.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Rebecca Nurse Homestead. Courtesy of the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, Pine Street, Danvers, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rebecca Nurse<\/a> was accused of practicing witchcraft and was held in the Salem jail. She was found guilty and ordered to be hanged on 19 July 1692.<\/p>\n

The descendants of Rebecca who formed the Nurse Family Association gathered in July 1885 to unveil a monument to honor the memory of their ancestor.<\/p>\n

Richard Trask<\/a>, historian and archivist at the Danvers Archival Center at the Peabody Institute Library<\/a>, kindly shared a photo of this event. (Other archival source material may be viewed at Americana-Archives<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: descendants of Rebecca Nurse gathered around the Rebecca Nurse Memorial, erected 1885, located in the homestead cemetery, Danvers, Massachusetts. Courtesy of Richard Trask, archivist at the Danvers Archival Center at the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The inscription on the monument reads:<\/p>\n

Rebecca Nurse, Yarmouth, England, 1621. Salem, Mass., 1692. \u201cO Christian Martyr\/who for Truth could die\/When all about thee\/owned the hideous lie! The world redeemed\/from Superstition\u2019s sway\/Is breathing freer for thy sake today.\u201d From the poem \u201cChristian Martyr\u201d by John Greenleaf Whittier.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When the Nurse homestead needed restoration and a new owner in 1906, Sarah Hunt stepped in to raise funds and support. Richard Trask noted Sarah was ahead of her time when it came to preservation and was very skilled at it.<\/p>\n

To fundraise, Sarah used her connections with the societies she was active in, which included the Massachusetts branches of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Society of the Colonial Dames of America.<\/p>\n

Shortly before she campaigned to restore the Nurse house, Sarah helped save the Dorothy Quincy Homestead<\/a> in Quincy, Massachusetts, named for Dorothy Quincy<\/a>, who became the wife of John Hancock.<\/p>\n

Here is a 1904 news clip from the Boston Herald<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 24 April 1904, page 5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The same steps used to restore the Dorothy Quincy Homestead were applied to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead \u2013 including employing an expert architect of old houses, Joseph Everett Chandler, to do the restoration work.<\/p>\n

I found two 1906 ads Sarah placed in the Danvers Current<\/a>, in which she appealed to the residents to look upon the Nurse house as an auspicious business investment because the historic home would attract visitors to the town, supplying revenue for all.<\/p>\n

In December of 1906 the Boston Herald<\/em> reported on the fundraising effort.<\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 16 December 1906, page 31<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A couple of weeks later, the Boston Herald<\/em> published this update.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 2 January 1907, page 14<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In February 1907 the Boston Globe<\/em> reported that Sarah had been successful.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), 16 February 1907. Courtesy of the Boston Public Library Archives via Mary Devine of the Roslindale Branch Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this article, William Crowninshield Endicott Jr.<\/a> was mentioned as the elected treasurer of the Rebecca Nurse Memorial Association who would assist in raising funds needed to restore the site. Sarah was the secretary.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Rebecca Nurse Memorial Association newsletter. Courtesy of Richard Trask, archivist at the Danvers Archival Center at the Peabody Institute Library, Danvers, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first meeting of the association was held on 8 April 1909 at the office of Hon. Alden P. White. Other members mentioned in a later newsletter were as follows: Mrs. Wallace P. Hood, Mrs. Alfred Hutchinson, Mrs. George W. Fiske, Mrs. Henry Newhall, Alice M. Putnam, Lyman P. Osborne, and George B. Sears.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 20 September 1910, page 7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this article, Sarah was recognized for her conservation efforts, and was set to attend the Southwick Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution meeting in 1910, hosted at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead.<\/p>\n

The article reported that Sarah, \u201cto whose activities the restoration of the house is largely due,\u201d was among the speakers that day.<\/p>\n

Also noted was Mrs. George Warren Towne<\/a>, a researcher on witchcraft, especially on the subject of her ancestor Rebecca Nurse.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more about Sarah E. Hunt\u2019s preservation efforts!<\/p>\n

Further reading: Chronicles of Danvers<\/a><\/p>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> witchcraft trial at Salem Village. The central figure in this 1876 illustration of the courtroom is usually identified as Mary Walcott. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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