I tried to post this twice yesterday, once from the wrong account, then to the wrong address. This time I save draft! I do not know yet who Christian Trask was (or didn't yesterday morning. I will be posting more on her). I saw Kathy's posting on the subject from the day before (and checked it out yesterday afternoon). But I found a considerable amount of important information in my articles at home on who was NOT Christian Trask. The following information is mostly from David Greene's article. Christian Oliver was born in Salem on May 8, 1667. She married Greene estimates 1686, Thomas Mason. Since Greene estimates that, the record must bemissing or he couldn't find it. She had one daughter, Susanna Mason, b Salem, 8/23, 1687. Oliver the husband of Bridget and father of Christian died intestate and Bridget was made administrator of his estate, which got her accused of witchcraft (the first time), as we all know. The estate was not yet settled when Bridget was executed in 1692. It finally was settled in 9/11/1693, when the court ordered the disbursement of Thomas Oliver's estate. The order specified 9 pounds to Edward Bishop "for disbursements on ye house", and 9 pounds to Christian Mason, which suggests she was living. That turns out to be a mistake on the part of the court. In the new administrator's request ofr disbursement of the estate, Susan Mason was listed instead of her motehr to receive the 9pounds. Greene concludes that probably Christian was dead and the administrator knew it, being in a better position to know her status than the court was, and the court order was mistaken. On November 1, 1693, Thomas Mason took a second wife, Abigail (Crtice) Greenslade. So she definitely was dead by 1693, and, as importantly, Thomas Mason was still living. The estate records are pretty good evidence that Bridget's daughter married Thomas Mason and not John Trask. Christian the wife of John Trask committed suicide on June 3, 1689, according to Hale's records (I guess of the Beverly church where he seems to have been the minister), though apparently he testified in 1692 that the episode happened five or six years before 1692. From Hale's description of the events regarding Christian Trask and Sarh Bishop, all of it occurred early in 1689. We know that Christian (Oliver) Mason had a child in 1687. She could not easily have married John Trask by 1689, since her first husband, Thomas Mason, was alive in 1693 when he remarried. There would have had to have been a divorce, that was difficult in those days and would have been a scandal. Furhter, the court in 1693 thought her name was Christian Mason, not Christian Trask. We do not know when Christian Mason died, but it is reasonable to think it was close to 1693 and not back in 1689, since the court did not know she was dead, let alone know of a remarriage and name change for her. So Christian the wife of John Trask must have been someone else. Kathy found evidence that she was Christian Woodberrie/ Woodbury, who marrried John Trask on Apr 9, 1679, in Beverly. This detail sounds like it ought to be easily checked in the Beverly records. The whole issue of some connection between Christian Trask and Bridget Bishop isn't quite put to bed, either by who Christian Trask wasn't, or who she was, in light of the suggestion that they might have been some sort of in-laws to each other. So I am interested in what anyone finds on the matter. Yours, Dora Smith _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com