>Unless the charge of Mischief means turning over people's trash cans or >causing other mayhem, until I can find what Mischief means I think the conclusion that she was there for some reason related to Witchcraft is the best assumption right now. If only I can find some other reference. Since Mischief may not be Withcraft, looking for general prison/arrest records rather than info related specifically to the Witchcraft trials may shed some light. I'd recommend looking through the records of Middlesex County courts to see what you can find about prosecution of people charged with mischief. There must be some people in the sourt records whose cases were actually prosecuted and the record survived. There should be a description of the crime and testimony from witnesses. As far as lists of "witches": I'm persuaded that no "list" will ever be complete because we know that we do not have complete records. For example, records are clearly incomplete for two of the women I'm iinterested in. The case of Goody [possibly Ann] Glover is known from the accounts of Cotton Mather and Robert Calef, not court records, yet she was hung. The court records must have been lost. In letters my ancestor, William Morse, wrote to the magistrates with regard to the prosecution of his wife, Elizabeth Morse, he mentions earlier cases in which Elizabeth was accused and they, in turn, countersued for libel and won. Records of these earlier cases have not survived. I vaguely recall reading about other accused women whose surviving records referred to earlier court actions that have not survived. In short, I doubt we shall ever have a complete list. Honestly, sometimes I wonder that anyone had time to hunt and plant or bake and brew, when one considers all the time they spent taking each other to court. People today talk about how we have become a litigious society; I think our ancestors set an example we've been following ever since! While I think Mary Beth Norton is probably right in suggesting that ongoing conflict with Indians heightened the tensions of life in early New England, I don't think this explains how quick people were to take each other to court. That goes deeper into the workings of English society, I think. But I hope that you will look further into charges of mischief and what they involved. There may be a link with witchcraft, or they may refer to stirring up tensions in the village through malicious gossip or something like that. Surely, a browse through the Middlesex Court records would be enlightening. (And compaerison with other counties would be useful, too. I wouldn't assume "mischief" meant exactly the same thing in every county.) Francine Nicholsn _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963