Rebecca Nurse

Rebecca (Towne) Nurse (bp. February 21, 1621 - July 19, 1692) was baptized at Yarmouth, England, the daughter of William Towne and Joanna Blessing. She came to Salem Village, Massachusetts with her family in 1640. In about 1645 she married Francis Nurse (1618 - 1695), who was born in England. Their children were Rebecca, Sarah, John, Samuel, Mary Elizabeth, Francis, and Benjamin. Francis was a tray maker who probably also made other wooden household items. He was Salem's constable in 1672.

In 1692, the "black cloud of the witchcraft delusion descended upon Salem Village." Rebecca was a 71-year-old invalid who had raised a family of eight children. The Nurse family had been involved in several land disputes which could have caused ill-feeling among some of the residents of Salem. Nevertheless, most of her contemporaries sympathized with her. The dignity and nobility of her character which she showed throughout the trials undoubtedly helped turn public opinion against the trials. Her story is well-known, and has been written in many historical and fictionalized accounts of the trials, including Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.

Soon after the first of the women had been accused of witchcraft, Rebecca Nurse discovered that her name had also been mentioned as a suspect. She is reported to have said "I am innocent as the child unborn, but surely, what sin hath God found out in me unrepented of that He should lay such an affliction on me in my old age." On March 23, a warrant was issued for her arrest upon the complaint of Edward and John Putnam. (The Putnam family was among those that had been involved in land disputes with Rebecca and her husband.) As in other cases, Rebecca's examination by judges was accompanied by "great noyses by the afflicted." She repeated her assertion that she was innocent but was committed to the Salem jail. Needless to say, the procedure was a travesty of justice. Belief in witchcraft was widespread in New England at that time, but even in that climate it is surprising that convictions could occur as a result of hearsay, slander and hysteria. Rebecca was indicted on June 2 and subjected to a physical examination by a jury of women. They found what a majority of them believed to be a mark of the devil -- although two of the women disagreed, saying the mark was due to natural causes. Rebecca asked that others examine her before she was brought to trial, but the request was denied.

Rebecca Nurse was tried on June 29, 1692. Her accusers included the four young girls who initiated the witchcraft hysteria in Salem, Rev. Parris and several members of the Putnam family. Rebecca's son, son-in-law and daughter-in-law spoke in her defense. In addition, some forty members of Salem Village signed a declaration defending her character. The jury at first returned a verdict of "not guilty." Some who had been accused confessed to practicing witchcraft in hopes that their death sentences would be dropped. One of these women, Goody Hobbs, had muttered "she is one of us." (Note that Goody was not her name; rather, it is a now-obsolete courtesy title of married women.) In light of this the judge asked that the verdict be reconsidered. When Rebecca was asked what Goody Hobbs had meant, she didn't answer. Later she said that she had not heard the question, as she was hard of hearing, and that "one of us" had meant that they were imprisoned together. The Governor granted a reprieve, but when Rebecca's accusers renewed their outcry it was withdrawn.

On July 3, Rebecca Nurse was excommunicated -- "abandoned to the devil and eternally damned." On July 19 she was driven in a cart with four other women to Gallows Hill where she was hanged. Tradition says that at midnight Francis Nurse, his sons and sons-in-law found Rebecca's body in the common grave where it had been flung and carried it home for a proper burial. One of Rebecca's sisters, Mary (Towne) Estey, was hanged on charges of being a witch; another sister, Sarah (Towne) Cloyce, was tried but not executed.

The last of the executions in Salem took place in September 1692. In all, 20 people were put to death (including five men), and eight others died in jail. The trials ended perhaps because too many people of good reputation had been accused. By 1703 the General Court made payments to the heirs of the victims and 25 pounds was paid to the heirs of Rebecca Nurse. In 1706, Ann Putnam, one of the original four hysterical young women, made a written statement of remorse. She said that the devil had deceived her into accusing innocent people and mentioned "Goodwife Nurse" in particular. In 1712 the pastor who had cast Rebecca out of the church formally cancelled the excommunication.

Francis Nurse survived until November 22, 1695. The house where he and Rebecca lived still stands and is maintained by an historical society.

References

1. Louis DeForest, Our Colonial And Continental Ancestors; The Ancestry of Mr. And Mrs. Louis William Dommerich, (1930), p. 187.
2. Walter G. Davis, Ancestry of Sarah Johnson (1960), p. 14. The date was August 24, 1644, according to About Towne, vol. 10 (Mar. 1990), p. 6.
3. Davis, Ancestry of Sarah Johnson, p. 17.
4. Charles S. Tapley, Rebecca Nurse: Saint but Witch Victim (1930), p. 47.
5. Davis, Ancestry of Sarah Johnson, p. 18.
6. Tapley, Rebecca Nurse: Saint but Witch Victim, p. 65.
7. Davis, Ancestry of Sarah Johnson, p. 19.
8. Tapley, Rebecca Nurse: Saint but Witch Victim, p. 68.
9. See: Enders A. Robinson, Salem Witchcraft and Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables (1992), for a complete list of those accused.
10. Tapley, Rebecca Nurse: Saint but Witch Victim, p. 83.
11. DeForest, Dommerich, p. 191.
12. Edward James, ed., Notable American Women 1607-1950 (1971), p. 638.fr:Rebecca Nurse