I believe it was Benjamin HOULTON, son of Joseph HOULTON & Sarah INGERSOLL (niece of the innkeeper, Nathaniel INGERSOLL), who was involved in the pig incident. Wasn't this right, listers? And he died rather suddenly 17 Sep 1689 (notice this is just a couple of years before the witchcraft accusations...) In fact his son, my ancestor, Benjamin HOULTON (jr.) was born postumously to the widow Sarah. Seems to me that he was one of the ghostly accusers in one of the trial documents .. the girls said that his ghost came to them and accused (Rebecca NURSE?) of witchcraft in his death. Please correct me if I've gotten this confused with someone else! ---Speaking of Benjamin & Sarah HOULTON, oes anyone happen to have dates & ancestors for Sarah, the widow of Benjamin HOULTON (sr.)?? I know she eventually (1706) married Benjamin PUTNAM, s/o Nathaniel PUTNAM & Elizabeth HUTCHINSON, but I don't have her birth, death, or parents. Thanks :) Dori -----Original Message----- From: Dora Smith <[email protected]> To: [email protected] <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, September 02, 1999 8:52 PM Subject: [SALEM-WITCH-L] Re: Hannah and Edward >I'd be interested in any evidence about earlier charges of witchcraft >against Rebecca Nurse, too. I do believe, though, that there were charges >once made against her mother. I think I may have posted something about it >to this list at some point during the earlier discussion. I don't believe I >tracked down the specifics, just took it for more of the process of how >charges like this came to be made. > >Also, as I recall, Rebecca Nurse was a Towne from Topsfield (I think I have >the name of the place right) and/or her father sided with the Putnams on >something, but were the Putnam and Towne families closely allied enough for >long enough for Rebecca to have been targeted for such charges before? >Certainly she does not seem to have been a target for such charges >previously. > >One thing that bears on this is my previous notion that Rebecca Nurse had >some role among her community, kin or neighbors as a nurse, healer, or >midwife. It could have been an informal role. After re-reading everything I >could get my hands on about her I decided I had her mixed up with one or two >other people who were charged because they were healers and midwives. But >that is the other likely reason why anyone might have made such an >accusation against her before. > >I also recall something about a neighbor's pig getting into her garden. She >yelled vigorously at the neighbors. They testified against her at the trial. >Not sure if she bewitched the pig, or the neighbors. When was that, and did >anything come of it before the trial? > >Yours, >Dora > >______________________________________________________ >Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com > >