Hi, all! If you look at the records, church members who were found guilty of witchcraft were subsequently excommunicated -- hence had no "right" to a Christian burial. Headstones were expensive, and we sometimes forget that most of these people were farmers without the means to cover the expense of a Boston stone cutter's fees. (If you are interested in early NE gravestones, I can recommend "Graven Images" by Allan I. Ludwig, a hefty book, but full of images and discussion of the symbols and specific stonecutters working in early NE.) If they had markers, they might well have been made of wood, not stone, and disintegrated long ago. Samuel Parris did provide a stone for his late wife, Elizabeth, when she died in 1696, and it can still be seen in the Wadsworth Burial Ground on Summer St. in Danvers. If anyone is looking for a guide to finding such spots during a visit to the Salem/Danvers area, short of having a learned local escort you, there are two that I know of: Frances Hill's new one "Hunting for Witches: A Visitor's Guide to the Salem Witch Trials" and David C. Brown's "A Guide to the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692." The latter might be harder to locate, but I found the directions clear and less freighted with interpretation than Hill's book. I recommend against coming in October during "Haunted Happenings," despite the temptation, because of the crush of huge crowds -- although Tad Baker (co-author of a recent biography of Governor Phips, "New England's Knight") and the other folks at Salem State College try to present some authentic materials to the public during this time to counterbalance the plethora of images of warty-nosed green-skinned "witches," and the intense Hallowe'en merchandising. A few years back, they premiered the movie "Witch City," for instance, which some of you may have heard about. If you are looking for something worthwhile to attend about the witch trials in New England this fall, I believe that Mary Beth Norton will be on an author tour which will swing through the area. More details when I have some specific dates. If I can find out dates for other parts of the country, too, I will alert those of you who are farther afield. On 8/26/02, neroots@adelphia.net wrote: >To those who wanted photos of the benches I've not forgotten >you...just been real busy... sending them out is on my agenda for >tomorrow and the next day!!I Thanks for doing this! :D On 8/26/02, Tamara <s1sm00n@yahoo.com> wrote: >The only identified grave of a Salem "Witch" is there at the Nurse Homestead. >George Jacobs, Sr. [snip] The person who knows the most about George Jacob's remains is Richard Trask, the Danvers Town Archivist. He told me recently that when he was in graduate school, he asked to photograph the remains, only to end up being given them, much to his surprise! He preserved them in a glass case which had originally contained a ship model, and was a key figure in having George finally put to rest again, reinterring the remains at the Nurse Homestead. Cheers, Margo -- Margo Burns, List Owner of the SALEM-WITCH List at Rootsweb.com margo@ogram.org