Hello everyone. I am a descendent of Mary Easty and Elizabeth Hart(t). I am also a certified nurse-midwife who am well aware (from an unfortunate personal experience) that modern day witch hunts still take place for midwives. I just recently found out about my Salem ancestors through genealogy tracking by a cousin. I edit and publish a national midwifery and women's issues newsletter and want to write about the witch hunts in Salem, focusing on my kin and on any midwifery ties. I know the following and am seeking any additional info: Rebecca Nurse (gr aunt) has been depicted as a midwife (Crucible) and was certainly at least a healer (used herbs). Rebecca Nurse was accused of murdering the stillborn children of Ann Putnam Sr.'s sister during the trials. Midwives in European witch hunts were often forced to confess that they had sacrificed (murdered) the children they had delivered to the Devil. The first witch to be hung in New England (pre-Salem witch hunts) was a midwife named Jones. The accused witches were examined for witch's marks by "midwives". One account says midwives delivered Sarah Good's infant while she was jailed. The Towne sisters are tied through marriage to Martha Ballard, the midwife from Boston during the mid to late 1700's who is the main character in The American Experience's A Midwives Tale. Martha's daughter married a Towne boy (probably a gr nephew to Rebecca, Sarah and Mary) and they lived on the Towne estate after they married. That is all I know and would love any additional ties of this sort. My URL for the newsletter is below - I am happy to add new subscribers who are interested in the series I will be doing on this topic over the next several months. Thanks! Cathy Hartt, RN, CNM, MS Editor - Empower! women empowering women www.HarttWeb.com/empower (Brand New Email) cathycnm@msn.com "Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. They're what make the instrument stretch; what makes you go beyond the norm." - Cicely Tyson