This one page article by Robert Anderson appeared in the TAG sometime after 1981, since he cites David Greene's 1981 article, in October, p 207. I don't have the complete citation. His address was 5069 Cottonwood Lane, Salt Lake City, UT 84117. Bridget Bishop was the first of the witches to be exectued in the 1692 Salem witchcraft craze, and also the first to be treated by David L. Greene, FASG, in his systematic study of those unfortunates (TAG 57: 129-38). As Dr. Greene tells us, "We first meet Bridget Bishop in Salem on 26 July 1666, when, as Bridget Wasselbe, widow, she married Thomas Oliver. No evidence has as yet been found about her previous history or about the identity of her presumably-first husband, ___ Wasselbe." Casual browsing in the published Boston vital records turned up a clue to Bridget's origin, and eventually recods of her earlier life in England. In the listing of Boston births for 1665, we find "Mary of Sameul Dec. and Bridget Wesselbee late of Norwich in England born Jan. 10" (Boston Record Commisioners' Report 9 [1883]: 98). A systematic survey of the parish registers of Norwich, co. Norfolk, unearthed the following two records in the parish of St. Mary-in-the-Marsh: Samuel Wasselby and Bridget Playfer were married April 13, 1660 1663 Benjamin the son of Samuel Waselby and Bridget his wife was baptized Octob[er] 6th. No record was foudn to tell whether Samuel Waselby died in England or New England. There is no record of the probate of his estate in the appropriate jurisdictions in England or Massachusetts. Also, no further record has been found of Samuel and Bridget's two children. Likewise, no earlier record of Bridget has been found. There is no baptism of a Bridget Playfer in St. Mary-in-the-Marsh, an event which most likely would have taken place in the 1630's, nor is she mentioned in any of the Playfer wills probated in teh seventeenth century in the Consistory Court of Norwhich, the Archdeaconry Court of Norwhich or the Archdeaconry Court of Norfolk. Thomas Oliver himself, Bridget's second husband, was also from Norwhich (John C. Hotten, Original Lists of Persons of Quality [New York 1874], p. 295). There is evidence that Thomas Oliver returned to Norwhich for a few years, and it may be that he became acquainted with Bridget at that time, resulting in her immigration to New England after the death of her first husband (Savage 3:311; Records of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Mass. [Salem 1911-75] 3:385). End of article. I wonder if possibly the reason why Bridget Playfer cannot be found in the records is that she already had been married; it sounds like Robert Anderson did not check on this possibility. Otherwise this suggests she was of some line of the Playfer family that was not stable enough for her to be mentioned in wills, maybe her family had cast her or her father off; or that did not have their children baptized, or possibly Bridget was baptized in a church that was not recognized. Since there were Playfer's around and they were propertied and wealthy enough to leave wills, it isn't likely that her family were vagrants from somewhere else. The name is unusual and I don't think it is likelyt aht Bridget of Norwhich County shared it with the Playfers of Norwich County by accident. Yours, Dora Smith

someone wrote to me to ask for the citation of David Greene's TAG article, as she wanted to go to the library I think today and get it, and I thought it wsn't on the article but thought it was 1981. Actually it was on the article. It is the other article I stumbled on at the same time about Bridget's origins that I'm about to post that doesn't have the citation on it. The citation is, The American Genealogist, Whole Number 227, Vol 57, No. # 3, July 1981. pp 129-138. Yours, Dora Smith

David Greene states that Edward Bishop the husband of Bridget and Edward Bishop Sr of Beverly/ Salem Village signed their names with different marks. He gets much of this from certain receipts. On Jan 21, 1695, he gave receipts to Job Hilliard and Susanna Mason, on which he signed his name with "X". Greene states that Edward Bishop Sr of Beverly signed his name with a mark too, but a different mark; "EB". Does anyone know where one would view these signatures? The different marks would arouse my suspicion that they were different people, but is not conclusive evidence, since I have found that there really isn't any pattern to how people who could not write their names signed them. Signatures with an X and initials are not necessarily two different people. I can't find any underlying logic to why someone who could form letters, as in "EB" didn't learn to write their names, and suspect that these people could write but thought it beyond their proper status or something, especially when they were women from families I know had mood disorders, which describes the Bishops and also everyone Bridget Bishop ever connected to by marriage, and everyone they connected to by marriage. I know that people often learned only to sign their names in order to appear literate or to sign documents; my grandmother as an Episcopal missionary in an isolated Appalachian village around 1914 once spent an evening teaching all of the men of the village to sign their names so that they could sign bank documents. I have ancestors who followed this pattern of making hieroglyphs that consisted partly of as many as four well formed letters. Often it is clear that someone else made the "X", and often it is clear from the handwriting that the clerk signed an illiterate man's document for him in his name, which was done very often with men's signatures. If they did that, they could have signed X and EB depending on the inclination of the particular clerk. There may be more information to be had by examining the receipts; for instance, one may be able to see if the two marks were made by people with quite different personalities, or if the clerks even sometimes made the marks. Yours, Dora Smith

Thanks to those who defined sawyer for me. That's what I thought it meant, simply fromt eh way the word sounds. Someone who chops down trees or a carpenter. Thanks for that Salem Story reference; I believe I have access to that book and will check it out. Unless this is the piece I've been looking at! Does it happen to have a chapter entitled, "June 10, 1692"? Because taht author claims he presents a connection Greene didn't. I checked. Yup. It has pages 72 through 75. Thanks; one source I don't have to plow through all those books in the library again to identify! Who is the author? (I didn't know I was going to be in a SCHOLARLY debate on this when I zeroxed all that stuff on Bridgett Bishop and the witch trials!) This gets to Kathy's point; yup, this helps - and it adds confusion! The author of "Salem Story" states that on April 12, John Athorne and Jonathan Corwin odered a group of people to jail. These included Edward Bishop "of Salem village Husband". The document is torn, and his wife's name is missing; but the next line unambiguously refers to Bridget Bishop, "the wife of Edward Bushop of Salem Sawyer" (SWP II: 474). This document appears to order the arrest of both Bridget and Edward Jr and Sarah at the same time. But I had thought that Kathy's version is the truth. It matters, because as I wrote before, this document does more to support the notion that Bridget was of the same family as Edward Jr and Sarah than to support the notions that Bridget lived in Salem Town and that Edward Bishop Sr of variously Salem Village and Beverly (and darned close to Salem Town) was not Edward Bishop the sawyer. On that latter point, I'd actually be surprised if Edward Bishop Sr was not at some times and in some respects a sawyer; the man, who owned a good sized farm in the woods, made a living at all manner of things including, it appears, stealing from his neighbors. Salem Story on the previous two pages also relates the story of Christian the wife of John Trask, her quarrel with the Bishops and complaint to Reverend Hale, her clearly pathological emotional state, and her suicide, which was blamed on Sarah Bishop and not on Bridget until the girls got going. The girls had Sarah and Bridget the wives of the two Edwards confused into one person. The question then is, is this Christian the wife of John Trask the same person as Christian Oliver the daughter of Bridget? Christian Oliver may also have used the name Bishop. Is there any evidence either of the identity of the man Christian Oliver/ Bishop married, or of the maiden name or family of John Trask's wife? Things stranger happened among my ancestors who were involved in the Salem witch trials, then a woman with severe depression blaming her inability to sleep on noisy neighbors who happened to be related to her mother by her mother's marriage, becoming distraught, getting in a fight with them over whatever came to mind, complaining to authorities, getting more distraught, and recanting and trying to make up. Other family members who were in on getting people condemned and typically executed did not have obvious mental illness to explain their actions! For instance, the entire family John Willard married into, and Elizabeth Balch's testimony against Bridget and Sarah Bishop. Elizabeth Balch was closely related to Bridget and not at all controversially to Sarah by marriage, as well as being Edward Sr's next door neighbor. She testified that she saw Edward Bishop jr try to throw Sarah from his horse and then rave that she was a witch, and as the woman made no attempt to argue with this, she thought it must be true. She was one of only three or four people whose testimony got the pair condemned to die! They didn't die, because shortly after Bridget was executed they elected to escape from jail. Elizabeth Balch's father in law is supposed to have been helping people escape! William Raymond Jr the father of Paul and son of William who married the daughter of Edward Bishop Sr, testified that for some ungodly reason, he was visiting with Dr. Griggs who was a close member of the Putman faction one afternoon (the Bass River families were supposedly "not in sympathy" with the Puritans, but then none of them ever seem to have felt the same way about anyone or anything especially each other for longer than five minutes), and he saw Dr. Grigg's servant niece have one of her fits! He testified that he found it a most convincing fit. Has anyone ever named a soap opera after Salem? My ancestor William Raymond married for the second time Hannah the daughter of Edward Bishop Sr by his first wife. His grandson, Paul, married a daughter of Freeborn Balch; I think it was Freeborn's brother or his father's brother who married Elizabeth. Then Paul's son, William Raymond, picked up a line from Sudbury descended from a sister, aunt or close cousin of John Willard, and from a first cousin of Rev. Nicholas Noyes. Meanwhile, one of my female direct ancestors took for her second husband, Cotton Mather! Yours, Dora Smith

In a message dated 8/4/99 10:43:55 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [email protected] writes: > The question then is, is this Christian the wife of John Trask the same > person as Christian Oliver the daughter of Bridget? Does anyone have any information on this John Trask, I have three from this time period and wondered if he may be one of them. Thanks! Trish

I found this in Torrey's New England Marriages Prior to 1700: MASON, Thomas & 1/wf Christian OLIVER; b 1687, Salem MASON, Thomas & 2/wf Abigail (CURTIS) GREENSLITT/GREENSLADE (1664- ), w John, m/3 Thomas HORTON 1717; 1 Nov 1693; Salem This would indicate that Christian was dead by 1 Nov 1693 but no mention of TRASK here. Also note that Abigail was the widow of John GREENSLITT/GREENSLADE. John was the son of Ann PUDEATOR, another executed "witch". This would make a dau. in law of one who was executed marrying the son in law of another which would be typical..... Kathy Buffington Willett [email protected]

Cindy: I will appreciate you looking up for me what you have. But this tale rings a bell; I wonder if there could be two similar tales that came up at the time of the witch trials. I'm posting this to the list (not with your letter to me) because others may have more information or be able to help establish if Christian Trask was Christian the daughter of Bridgette. I thought it was one of the girls and young women who had claimed to be bewitched, and I'm pretty sure that such a tale happened to the neighbor of Edward Jr's and Sarah's tavern who had complained to Reverend Hale that the tavern was corrupting the morals of the community besides keeping her awake all night and also got into an altercation with Sarah and thrown shuffleboard pieces into the fire; later tried to recant and make up with the Bishop's, but when it came time to do so was too distraught, and then was found (in jail?) having stabbed herself in the throat with a pair of scissors. Bridget was supposed to have bewitched her, onthe theory that the woman couldn't have made those wounds herself with that pair of scizzors. Too many wounds, wounds too deep, or something. It is pretty clear that I'll soon find out that woman's name. It would be pretty amazing if that woman was Bridget's daughter! To the rest of the list; this concerns Christian Trask, Bridette's daughter. I know for a fact that Bridgette had a daughter named Christian; do people know who she married and what became of her, and also about any controversy on how exactly she was related to Bridgette Bishop (Oliver when she had Christian)? Also, did more than one woman stab herself to death with a pair of scizzors in Salem around the time of the witch trials or else that the matter was brought up then? Yours, Dora Smith _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com

I've just discovered this line of my ancestory and am in the process of verifing all of my information. I am decended from Edward Bishop III and his wife. My information lists her as Susannah Putman. daughter of John Putman. The Puttenham web pg list Susannah with a different husband, but after emailing they verified that my information was correct and that Susannah did marry Edward Bishop III son of Edward Jr and Sarah Wilds. If this information is correct then Susannah's father John Putman Jr, filed the complaint against Bridget, Edward III's step grandmother, and Susannah's unkle filed the complaint against Edward lll's parents, Edward Jr and Sarah Wilds Bishop. Susannah and Edward III were both born in 1670, so were probably already married when the complaints were filed. Does anyone have any information on this line, or any poss. explaintion for the bad blood in this family? I am also decended from Susannah North Martin ( her g-g-grandson m. Edward and Susannah's grandaughter [my line]) and would love any information on that line. Thanks, Susan

A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials, by Laurie Winn Carlson . Ivan R. Dee, Chicago. 1999. Here's a new title on my bookshelf -- actually, it hasn't even hit my bookshelf yet, because as soon as the lettercarrier delivered it to my hands, it hit the top of the "must read" pile and I finished it off in record time this morning. :D It's scheduled to be released in October, but I placed an advanced order with Amazon.com on 7/28, expecting to wait, but it arrived yesterday, 8/2... :D This is essentially an historical epidemiological study of encephalitis lethargica, placed in a sociological context, i.e., how the people explained the phenomenon of the disease in their social context, specifically in Salem in 1692 when they called it witchcraft and possession. Oddly enough, Carlson says it is practically the same illness which afflicted the patients who didn't die (or recover, for that matter) from a strange global epidemic in the 1920s -- which you may know a little about already: Oliver Sacks wrote about treating those patients in the 1960s with L-dopa in his well-known book (and subsequent movie) "Awakenings." Carlson looks not only at Salem, but at other witchcraft accusations in New England (primarily in Connecticut) in the 17th century, the witchcraze in Europe, as well as migratory bird patterns (why some places but not others?), weather (wet or dry conditions for mosquitos?), concurrence with influenza epidemics, and documentation of strange deaths of livestock -- finally putting the onus on mosquitos and ticks carrying the virus from the birds to horses, cattle -- and humans. I think she makes a pretty good case for explaining the symptoms of many (I won't go so far as to say all...) of the afflicted. Here's an interesting comparative list of the symptoms from the book (p. 124): SALEM, 1692 <---> ENCEPHALITIS EPIDEMIC, 1916-1930 fits <---> convulsions spectral visions <---> hallucinations mental "distraction" <---> psychoses pinching, pricking <---> myoclunus of small muscle bundles on skin surface "bites" <---> erythmata on skin surface, capillary hemorrhaging eyes twisted <---> oculogyric crises: gaz fixed upward, downward, or to the side inability to walk <---> paresis: partial paralysis neck twisted <---> torticollis: spasm of neck muscles forces head to once side, spasms affect trunk & neck repeating nonsense words <---> palilalia: repetition of one's own words Elsewhere in the text, she does mention suggestibility as a symptom of the people with encephalitis -- which might help explain both the way they accepted suggestions for the names of witches, and the group behaviors which swept through the afflicted so dramatically. I found the book compelling and convincing, but I encourage anyone else out there with a medical background to take a look and let me know whether you think it's bunk or not. Cheers, Margo Margo Burns, Webweaver [email protected] http://www.ogram.org Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously." -- Chomsky

In response to the Bridget Bishop issue, I strongly believe that David Greene has it right. For some discussion of this, along with a piece of evidence that he didn't happen to include, check Salem Story, pp. 71-74.

Hi Dora, The following website, among other things, has a list of "Old Time Occupations". It lists a sawyer as, "One who saws; carpenter" Hope this helps. http://www.genrecords.com/forms.htm Regards, Judy

Dora Smith wrote: (snip) > wife, SArah (Wildes) Bishop. It was Edward Jr with his wife who ran the > tavern. But he also argues that there was a fourth Edward Bishop "sawyer". (snip) > It would be useful, though, if someone would tell me waht a sawyer was. Greetings, list. A sawyer was "A workman whose business it is to saw timber, esp. in a saw-pit" (Oxford English Dict.). Various wood-boring long-horned beetles in the USA are called sawyers. Michael K. Oliver (Rebecca Towne Nurse was my 8th great grandmother, through her daughter Mary and the Tarbells) -- Michael K. Oliver [email protected] "The Cichlid Fishes of Lake Malawi, Africa" http://www.connix.com/~mko/ "This is the page of a man obsessed; One of Connecticut's Top 50 Web sites" - Connecticut Magazine, 4/98 (along with Yale University, Martha Stewart, ESPN, & Supermodel.com) ********************************************************************** Coleopterists Society: http://www.nhm.ukans.edu/ksem/beetles/ Connecticut Entomological Soc.: http://www.peabody.yale.edu/other/ces/

Dora, According to my _Concise Oxford Dictionary_, a "sawyer" is a person who saws wood for a living. According to the same book that I mentioned before, _The Devil Discovered_ by Enders A. Robinson, the complaint was filed against Bridget on April 18 by John Putnam, Jr., Ezekiel Cheever. She was accused along with Giles Corey, Abigail Hobbs, and Marry Warren. They were accused of afflicting Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, Jr., Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and Elizabeth Hubbard. Edward Bishop, Jr. and Sarah Bishop were accused in the next complaint, dated April 21. They were accused along with William Hobbs, Deliverance Hobbs, Nehemiah Abbot, Jr., Mary Easty, Sarah Wildes, Mary Black, and Mary English. The complaint was filed by Thomas Putnam and John Buxton. The afflicted in this case were Ann Putnam, Jr., Mary Walcott, and Mercy Lewis. Hope this helps, Kathy

Kathy: What you state that book says is exactly what the TAG article I have by David Greene says. I gather that this article by David Greene is credited with straightening out very old confusion between Bridget Bishop and her husband, Edward Bishop Sr, and Edward Bishop's son, Edward Bishop Jr and his wife, SArah (Wildes) Bishop. It was Edward Jr with his wife who ran the tavern. But he also argues that there was a fourth Edward Bishop "sawyer". I am still going over David Greene's logic. Some of it isn't standing up. For instance, the notion that Edward Bishop the husband of Bridget OR Edward Bishop Sr had no dealings witht he Topsfield men, the notion that Bridget Bishop's or Edward Bishop Jr's and Sarah's character are incapatible with that of Edward Bishop Sr and his first wife Hannah. (Actually, Edward Bishop Sr and Hannah were at one point arrested and fined for stealing fruit or corn and a knife from a neighbor and then lying about it.) I am presently looking at the exact location of Edward Bishop Sr's house. (It was in Beverly in the Bass River near the Balch and Raymond homes, in an area that was sometimes called Salem, because the geography of the area changed so much over time, but precise location, what streets ran by it, name of the farm across the street, etc., matters.) Also, one piece of testimony at the witch trials that identified the name of Bridget's husband was the testimony of two men who had been hired by Bridget and her husband, Edward, to do some work in the cellar of a house she once owned, and claimed to have found poppets. The way I understand it, a third man who made claims about the poppets recanted his testimony. It is unreasonable to think the two workmen were confused as to the indentity of Bridget and her husband and did not recognize which was the correct Bishop in court. While one is inclined to think they lied, it is not impossible that they really found poppets with pins stuck in them in Bridget's old cellar; today people throw darts at peoples' pictures instead. Bridget did apparently dabble atleast in white magic and she was a rather cantankerous and irreverent woman. What do people think of the chances that the two workmen LIED about the name of Bridget's husband - perhaps to back up the entire chain of testimony that very much had Bridget confused with her daughter in law Sarah. Anyone know exactly where was the Cherry Street Farm? This group of villages changed so tremendously o9ver time that what was the huge Balch lands (adjacent to Edward Bishop Sr's land, I guess, since he bought the land from the Balches), today is a nicely kept house on two respectable town streets! In context it sounds like it was the tavern owned by Edward Jr that was across from this farm, but that is not clear. Edward Bishop is also the husband on record as one of two men who posted bail for Bridget Bishop formerly Oliver when she was accused of stealing brass, several years before the trial. Anyone know of more places where he is identified? The famous document ordering the arrest of Edward Bishop Jr of Salem Village and of Bridget Bishop the wife of Edward Bishop of Salem sawyer actually doesn't prove much because Edward Bishop Jr's wife's name is missing, it is not clear that Salem Village and Salem are not the same place or that Salem means Salem Town, and these people all had a complex occupations and more than one occupational title and their occupations and their titles, community appointments, et cetera, changed over time. Anyone know if Bridget Bishop and Edward Bishop and his wife Sarah were all arrested at the same time? This document seems to order the arrest of all three of them, and all three were jailed and tried, but I thought at different points in time. If they were named together and on adjacent lines of this document, then this supports the notion that they were blood relations, since groups of people charged together at the Salem witch trials were usually closely associated in some respect or other, most commonly by close kinship ties, and this largely governed who was targeted after who happened to have crossed or alienated Rev. Parris and the Putnams, and the small farmers of Salem Village. It would be useful, though, if someone would tell me waht a sawyer was. Yours, Dora Smith _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com

McMillen, Persis W., Currents of Malice - Mary Towne Esty and Her Family in Salem Witchcraft, New Hampshire, 1990 states at page 371, "Bridge Bishop was selected from this list to be tried by the court on June 2nd, 1692. She had led a checkered life. She had been married first to a Goodman Wasslebee, and it was rumored that she had bewitched him to death. She then married Thomas Oliver. In 1679 Bridget Oliver was accused by John Ingersoll's negro of harassing him with apparitions. This, he said, significantly made it impossible for him to do his assigned chores. He blamed Bridget when his horse ran into a swamp, and he claimed that her shape came to him when he was in the hay house, and he was obliged to chase it away with a pitchfork. During Bridget Bishops second marriage, she was brought to court on charges of witchcraft. The records of that trial before the court of assistants do not exist,... Her choice of a third husband, Edward Bishop was unfortunate for Bridget. Before her marriage to him, Edward had been keeping an inn at Salem Village...."the Bishops were alllowing drunk and disorderly behavior at their establishment. Even on the Sabbath, the Bishop children and their servants engaged in 'lewd and uncivil carriages' to their neighbors...The Villagers were able to get the court to revoke Edward's license to operate the inn,...thereafter he moved his household and began to operate another inn, this time on the Ipswich Road which divided Salem Village from that part of Salem Town called then 'The Royal Side.' Soon after this move, Bridget Oliver became Bridget Bishop." And at p 272, "Sarah and Edward Bishop had lived in Topsfield until 1690 where they were members in full communion....They removed to Salem Village in that year....Like so many of the accused, they had close family ties with others of the accused. Sarah Bishop was the daughter of John Wilds by his first wife. His second wife, Sarah Wilds, was apprehended on the same day as her stepdaughter. Even more to the point, her husband, Edward Bishop, Jr. was the step-son of Bridget Bishop, soon to be the first of the accused to be hanged...." Cathy Brinkman

Dora, I have a book, _The Devil Discovered_, by Enders A. Robinson. In it he states that there is a lot of confusion over the identity of Bridget's last husband, because there were four men in the area by the name of Edward Bishop. Three of them were related to Edward Bishop of Beverly. The fourth was a sawyer of Salem, with no known relationship to the Bishops of Beverly; he was the husband of Bridget. I don't know how accurate this is. I have another book that talks about Bridget's marriage, but I can't lay my hands on it right now, as it is packed away. It is _The Devil in the Shape of a Woman_, by Carol F. Karlsen. If I remember correctly, in it the author stated that her last marriage raised eyebrows because her husband was quite a bit younger than she. This book is well researched and could be worth looking into. Regards, Kathy Smith

I have a American Genealogist article that argues that Bridget Bishop's husband was not Edward Bishop of Beverly, father of Edward Bishop who married Sarah whosit of Topsfield. I'm still analyzing it. But a key part of his logic is that the husband of Bridget Bishop was identified by name only once, during the trials, by a witness who clearly had Bridget confused with Sarah Bishop the wife of Edward Bishop Jr. The fact taht some of the witnesses had Bridget Bishop confused with Sarah the wife of Edward Bishop Jr is now recognized. I need peoples' help on this; is the husband of Bridget Bishop identified by name anywhere else? I vaguely remember that Bridget Oliver was in trouble for something, I'm not sure if it was the earlier witchcraft charge or something else, but she was not brought to trial because in the ensuing time she had remarried. I think that in connection with that or some court record there is a point well before 1692 when Bridget's new husband is identified. Anyone know about it - or anywhere else where Bridget's husband is identified by name? If Bridget's husband is never identified by name except during the Salem witch trials by someone who had her confused with Sarah the wife of Edward Bishop Jr., then it seems to me that not only do we not know that her husband wasn't Edward Bishop Sr of Beverly, we don't know her husband's first name was Edward! Yours, Dora Smith (Sally and Phyllis: I can't remember which of you had the interest in this.) _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com

All, I'm new to your list and would just like to say hello. I was born in Salem and am a descentant of John Proctor (b 1595) via his son John Proctor and Martha Harper, and their son Benjamin........ I'm now in the process of verifying my mother's records of 25 years ago, where she did research in her home town of Danvers for her ancestors. She has a note indicating that John Proctor's (1595) FIRST wife was Martha WAINWRIGHT with 2 children and his SECOND wife was Martha ______ with 6 children, but records at the LDS don't show this Wainwright, nor can I find it anywhere else. Anyone have any info on this?? LDS also has John [SR] married to a Martha Harper in 1630, and John [JR] married to a Martha Harper in 1652.......is this accurate? Bruce Farrar

Is anyone researching Thomas WADE who , I believe, was a justice of the peace in Ipswich during the trials ? His wife was Elizabeth COGGSWELL. Kelley Dickinson

I am still trying to locate e anyone that has information regarding the marriage of Abigail Proctor and my forefather Thomas Varney.Can anyone tell me if the have copies of these transcripts during the Salem Witch trials Flora