A short history of Plymouth Rock

John O'Neill (jjron)

Recently, vandals painted the renowned Plymouth Rock with one word: “LIES.” A symbol of the Pilgrims landing in 1620, Plymouth Rock was once part of a much larger rock formation, but it was broken, and over time, chipped away by collectors and treasure hunters. Located on the shoreline within Pilgrim Memorial State Park, what’s left of Plymouth Rock is now surrounded by a fence and viewed from a platform above. To look at this artifact nestled in the sand leaves one unimpressed by its supposed historic significance. After all, it’s a rock. And it’s not a geologically impressive one either.

Plymouth Rock through the Ages

Let's use a timeline, one of the great tools for genealogy, to backfill the history of Plymouth Rock.

• 1620: The Mayflower lands in Plymouth Harbor.
• 1623: Thomas Faunce’s father John arrives in Plymouth Colony onboard the Anne.
• 1647: Thomas Faunce is born in Plymouth Colony.
• 1715: A “great rock” is mentioned in the town boundary records.
• 1741: Plans begin for building a wharf at Plymouth Harbor. Thomas Faunce, a 94-year-old church elder, identifies a large rock as the place where the Pilgrims disembarked, claiming his father and some original Mayflower passengers told him so. Despite his claim, a solid-fill wharf is built, with just part of the rock showing.
• 1774: The rock breaks in two when patriotic efforts were made to relocate it to the town square, next to the Liberty Pole. The lower half is left behind at the wharf.
• 1834: The rock is moved from the town square to Pilgrim Hall, built 10 years earlier. During its travels, the rock breaks in two again.
• 1859-1867: The Pilgrim Society builds a Victorian canopy over the lower half of the rock left at the wharf.
• 1880: The upper half of the rock is taken from Pilgrim Hall and reattached to the lower half. The date 1620 is inscribed on the rock.
• 1920: The rock is placed at sea level and a Doric portico is built over it in honor of the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims.

Perhaps the vandals were pointing out the flaws of historic recollection and national remembrance, of turning a historic moment into a tangible object. After all, no contemporary account mentions a rock on which the Pilgrims stepped foot. Although just hearsay, the rock landing could have been an oral tradition within the Faunce family. Or perhaps Faunce was making an analogy between Plymouth Rock and the Bible verse: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). It could be an old man was trying to instill upon the younger generations the veneration he had for the Pilgrims and their achievements, in a time when the founding fathers’ beliefs and traditions were being washed away. 

Whatever the vandals were trying to say, their act reminds us how important it is to understand our history—and its embellishments.

Preserving keepsake memories

A cherished ornament.

Whether they have pride of place on your mantle or are tucked away in a drawer out of sight, all of us have keepsakes or even family heirlooms with stories to tell. As genealogists, we focus on people, places, events, and relationships. Objects have history too.

For example, you have an old Punch and Judy tea set. Your mother’s uncle owned a storage and moving company. After a family didn’t pick up the tea set, the uncle gave it to your mother. The tea spout has been imperfectly glued back together and the old-fashioned pattern doesn’t appeal to kids these days, but its charm is that your mother played with it as a girl. You can tuck the story of its provenance inside that teapot.

Your grandfather built dollhouse furniture for all of his grandchildren, or at least for all of the girls. Your grandmother painted all the pieces, from beds and dressers to tables, rocking chairs, and grandfather clocks. Although the dollhouse didn’t survive and some of the furniture has broken or gone missing, what remains are pieces of your childhood. Look through your photo albums for pictures of you playing with the dollhouse. You may be able to date when the furniture was made by looking at pictures, but at least you’ll be able to pass on who made it and why. Write a note and attach a photo to place in one of the drawers.

If you collect Christmas ornaments, you can photograph them as you’re taking down the tree. Use one of the online photo gift companies such as Shutterfly to create a photo book. You can include captions under each picture, telling about the special memories attached to each ornament. 

Paper Goods

If you collect postcards, you can write something on the back about the place, why it was special, and the date you visited. If you keep holiday newsletters written by family members (or yourself), you can compile them in a three-ring binder, putting the individual pages in sheet protectors back to back so you can read it like a book. If you save greeting cards, you can group ones that match a theme (say, Valentine’s Day, summer, or cards from Germany), then mount and frame them. If you hold onto holiday photo cards, you can store them in a box, using dividers to separate the years. And, it goes without saying, if you have photographs, label them all!

Giving thanks genealogy style

Etiquette experts often provide tipping guides during the holidays and throughout the year. Let’s take that idea and use it year-round to show appreciation for all the people who have helped our genealogy research. 

Recently, I requested obituaries from the Worcester Public Library, which has an online form for submitting obituary requests. The search, photocopying, and mailing are free for Massachusetts residents, but you can donate money to support this great service. The Salem Public Library and many others also help with similar services—just don’t expect them to do your research for you.

My public library is part of a consortium of public and academic libraries in the area, making it easy to do interlibrary loans. It provides a wide array of online databases, including newspapers, Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest, and WorldCat. It offers museum passes for JFK Library & Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. It also maintains its own local archives. I’ve used all these services and I must admit I have “donated” to the library through late-book fees, but I also donate books for the book sales held by the friends of the library, a group of people who support the library by raising funds for services and programs beyond the library’s budget.

As an almost 20-year member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), I have spent days browsing the stacks, checked precious manuscripts for clues, scrolled through microfilm, received advice from staff members, taken classes, read its publications cover to cover, and spent many hours using the online resources. As a nonprofit member organization, NEHGS accepts cash donations and gifts of stock; offers premium membership benefits and volunteer opportunities; and provides a home for donated genealogical materials. 

I consider Plimoth Plantation a top-notch living history museum, well worth visiting even if you only have Puritans in your family tree (like me). It immerses you in the life of the 17th century, from buildings, food, and clothing to artisan crafts and farming techniques. Plimoth has unique gifting opportunities, from providing feed money for rare animal breeds to helping restore the Mayflower II before the 400th anniversary of the pilgrims’ voyage.

Other nonprofits, such as historical societies and museums, provide similar thanks-giving opportunities. Nonprofit cemeteries and churches (where you’ve found family graves and records) usually accept donations. Check with government-run entities to see if you can give a gift or donation.

Payback

You also can pay back your genealogical successes without providing a dime. I use FamilySearch frequently to access vital records, censuses, wills, passenger lists, draft cards, and so much more. Its web site grows frequently, thanks to thousands of volunteers who index records. I have transcribed records from Texas to New York, regardless whether or not I have any genealogical interest in the area. I figure it’s good karma to help others. I keep hoping another volunteer will come across the ship manifest listing my great-great-grandmother. 

Typically, I read blogs to stay up-to-date on genealogy news, research suggestions, technology issues, legal conundrums, case studies, and DNA. If you’ve read a particularly good blog or one that’s useful to your research, consider commenting on it or sharing it on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, other social media platforms, or email. Writers like feedback and they like knowing they’re being read by someone other than their mothers. 

Support the genealogy community and others who help your family research by “tipping” to show your appreciation.

The Salem witch trials and the Body of Liberties laws

William Stoughton

When the witch hunt started in Salem Village in February 1692, the Massachusetts colonists were waiting for Rev. Increase Mather to return home from England with a new governor, Sir William Phips, and joint monarchs William & Mary’s new charter. In the interim, four magistrates held examinations (hearings) to see if any of the accused should be held for trial. The jails in Salem, Boston, Ipswich, and elsewhere were filled with accused witches when Governor Phips arrived in May 1692. In short order, he established the special Court of Oyer and Terminer to handle the witchcraft cases, before heading northward to handle military issues with the Native Americans.

Led by Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton, the Salem court had an imposing job set before them: Discover witches during unruly public meetings filled with “afflicted accusers,” scared or disbelieving townspeople, and bewildering stories of possession, strange occurrences, unexplained deaths, animal familiars, black Sabbaths, and the like.

So, how did the judges and jury decide each case? In December 1641, the Massachusetts Bay Colony published the Body of Liberties. These 100 rules, which were based on both English law and Biblical law, were intended to be the foundation of the colony’s court system. And under rule 94, Capital Laws, number 2 it says:

“If any man or woman be a witch, that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death.”

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 had a much larger definition: “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.” But the Salem judges specifically were looking for Sarah Good’s yellow bird or Bridget Bishop’s cat.

So, let’s look at some of the other legal points and see how they pertained to the Salem Witch Trials.

26. Any man that findeth himself unfit to plead his own cause in any Court, shall have the liberty to employ any man against whom the Court doth not except, to help him provided he give him no fee or reward for his pains. This shall not except the party himself from answering such questions in person as the Court shall think meet to demand of him.

On 9 September 1692, sisters Sarah (Towne) Cloyse and Mary (Towne) Easty petitioned the court to allow testimony on their behalf, “seeing we are neither able to plead our own cause, nor is council allowed to those in our condition” (Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, p. 620). These two eloquent women were fit to plead their cases, but clearly were not allowed to in the Salem court. They had no defense attorney and the judges were acting as prosecutors.

45. No man shall be forced by torture to confess any crime against himself nor any other unless it be in some capital case where he is first fully convicted by clear and sufficient evidence to be guilty. After which, if the cause be of that nature, that it is very apparent that there be other conspirators or confederates with him, then he may be tortured, yet not with such tortures as be barbarous and inhumane.

According to accused witch John Proctor, 18-year-old Richard Carrier and his 16-year-old brother Andrew Carrier, “would not confess anything till they tied them neck and heels till the blood was ready to come out of their noses” (Robert Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World, 1700). The Carrier brothers had not even been indicted, much less been charged guilty before being tortured. 

46. For bodily punishments we allow amongst us none that are inhumane, barbarous, or cruel.

It goes without saying that peine forte et dure, or being pressed to death like Giles Corey, is “inhumane, barbarous, or cruel.” Once the rocks were placed on his prone form, even if the 70-year-old Corey changed his mind and started talking, he’d probably die from the internal injuries anyway. It took him two long and painful days to die.

47. No man shall be put to death without the testimony of two or three witnesses, or that which is equivalent thereunto.

Since witchcraft meant being in league with the Devil, it’s surprising that the justices did not rely on the opinion of several prominent ministers who were against using spectral evidence—visions seen only by the “afflicted accusers”—as the main reason to charge a person. Nor did the justices find conflict in accepting the words, visions, and bodily contortions of the “afflicted accusers” that, if believed, one could say were possessed by the Devil themselves. The “afflicted accusers” often supported each other's testimonies or mimicked each other during the trials while confessed witches claimed to have seen the accused at witch meetings. Robert Calef called the accusers “lying wenches…[who] let loose the devils of envy, hatred, pride, cruelty, and malice against each other.”

Since the court was using confessors to find more witches, the confessors were spared. In most circumstances, confessing to a crime was as good as or better than having two witnesses. Yet none of the confessors were hanged before Governor Phips stopped the trials.

94 Capital 11. If any man rise up by false witness, wittingly and of purpose to take away any man’s life, he shall be put to death.

For the many accused witches who pleaded their innocence, they must have thought the “afflicted accusers” or confessed witches were either possessed by the Devil or liars. However, after the trials were over, we don’t hear much backlash against the accusers or the judges and jury. Some disappear from the records, while others, such as Judge Stoughton, continued to be prominent members of society. None were accused of any wrongdoing from the trials themselves, though Judge Samuel Sewall, numerous jurymen, and accuser Ann Putnam Jr. publicly asked for forgiveness for their part in the trials. Their guilt was their only punishment.

20 executed in Salem 1692

During the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, 14 women and five men were hanged for witchcraft and one man was pressed to death.

Hanged 10 June 1692
Bridget Bishop

Hanged 19 July 1692
Sarah Good
Elizabeth Howe
Susannah Martin
Rebecca Nurse
Sarah Wilds

Hanged 19 August 1692
George Burroughs
Martha Carrier
George Jacobs Sr.
John Proctor
John Willard

Pressed to Death 19 September 1692
Giles Corey

Hanged 22 September 1692
Martha Corey
Mary Easty
Alice Parker
Mary Parker
Ann Pudeator
Wilmot Redd
Margaret Scott
Samuel Wardwell

Rest in peace.

10 misconceptions about the 1692 witch hunt

Salem Witch Trials Memorial

If your ancestors lived in Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 17th century, at some point they were affected by the Salem witch trials of 1692. Perhaps they were one of the accused witches, one of the participants (afflicted “girls,” accusers, judges or jury members), one of the trial attendees, or watched, as Rev. Nicholas Noyes said, the “firebrands of hell hanging there.” Perhaps they were neighbors of the accused or the accusers—or maybe they lived far enough away from the vortex. But, undoubtedly they knew about the events in Salem, whether from experience, word-of-mouth, ministers preaching, or reading various treatises on the subject.

More than 300 years have passed since the witch hunts, and over time, much has been lost, from original court papers to buildings associated with the trials. It’s as if the communal memory was erased, once men such as Rev. Cotton Mather and Robert Calef wrote their books. In the 19th century, after Salem’s maritime fortunes were on the wane, writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Charles W. Upham returned to the theme of witchcraft. Since then, many theories have been proposed of what really did happen in the Massachusetts Bay Colony to cause more than 150 people to be imprisoned for witchcraft—and the answers still elude us today. 

A Discovery of Witches

Although we’ve lost much through the passage of time, we’ve also heard, seen, or read many things that are not true—from Salem tourist attractions, popular media, and even scholars—about the witch hunts of 1692. So let’s clear up 10 misconceptions.

• No accused witches in Colonial America were burned at the stake. Witchcraft was a capital offense, which meant death by hanging. In continental Europe, witchcraft was heresy against the church and punishable by burning at the stake. 

• What is now called Gallows Hill in Salem is not where the accused witches were hanged. In early 2016, the Gallows Hill Project team verified conclusions made by early 20th century historian Sidney Perley that the victims were hanged at Proctor's Ledge, on the lower slope of Gallows Hill bounded by Proctor and Pope streets. In 2017, a memorial was created and dedicated at that location.

• Judge Jonathan Corwin’s house, now called the Witch House, is billed as “the only structure in Salem with direct ties to the witchcraft trials of 1692.” Yes, the wealthy judge lived there, but were any of the accused witches brought there? Probably not.

• Salem is considered the epicenter of the 1692 witch hunt. However, the first accusations were from “afflicted” girls in Salem Village, now the town of Danvers. The witch hunt spread to other towns, most notably Andover. Salem’s role was mostly judicial; Salem is where the Court of Oyer and Terminer tried people accused of witchcraft and where the 20 victims were executed. The accused were jailed not only in Salem but in such places as Boston and Ipswich.

• The “afflicted accusers” were not all girls. Nine-year-old Betty Parris and her 11-year-old cousin Abigail Williams were the first to have strange fits. However, their “affliction” spread to the young and old, men as well as women and children.

• Old, poor widows were not the only ones accused of witchcraft. People jailed for witchcraft in 1692 range in age from four years old to in their 80s, both male and female. Some were poor, some were wealthy. The first three people arrested for witchcraft were 38-year-old beggar Sarah Good; sickly, widowed Sarah Osborne; and a West Indies slave, Tituba, who lived in Rev. Samuel Parris’ household. Sarah Good was hanged, Sarah Osborne died in jail, and Tituba, who pleaded guilty, survived. 

• Though Upham and many other writers claim Tituba told stories of voodoo and the Devil to impressionable young girls, starting the witch hunt, no contemporary accounts point fingers at Rev. Parris’ slave. Images from the trials are of witches on broomsticks, witches with animal familiars (a yellow bird was rather popular), witches signing the Devil’s book in blood, heretical baptisms and communions—all centuries-old Western European themes, not voodoo. Mary Sibley had the help of John Indian, Rev. Parris’ other slave, in making the witchcake, maybe not Tituba. In the Danvers church records, Rev. Parris believed the “diabolical means” of making the witchcake “unleashed the witchcraft in the community.” 

• Bridget Bishop, one of the most notorious accused witches and the first to hang, was not the red corset-wearing tavern keeper as often portrayed. In 1981, David L. Greene, editor of The American Genealogist, proved how Bridget Bishop of Salem Town and Sarah Bishop of Salem Village were conflated into one person. Both were married to men named Edward Bishop. 

• The youngest victim, Dorothy Good, is mistakenly called Dorcas in most books about the Salem witch trials. Dorcas is the name Judge John Hathorne wrote on her original arrest warrant, though he wrote Dorothy on subsequent records. (The name Dorcas is not a nickname for Dorothy.) According to William Good, his daughter Dorothy “a child of 4 or 5 years old was in prison 7 or 8 months and being chain'd in the dungeon was so hardly used and terrifyed that she hath ever since been very chargeable haveing little or no reason to govern herself” (petition for compensation, Salem, 13 September 1710).

• Although the last executions for witchcraft occurred on 22 September 1692, there were more trials, and even some guilty convictions. In March 1693, four weeks after she was found not guilty of witchcraft, Lydia Dustin died in prison because her family could not pay her jail fees.

The more you learn about the 1692 witch hunts in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the better you can understand the times and trials your ancestors lived through.

updated 2017

Select Sources:

“Danvers Church Records,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 11 (April 1857)

Demos, John Putnam, The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-hunting in the Western World (2008)

Demos, John Putnam, Entertaining Satan (1982)

Greene, David L., “Salem Witches I: Bridget Bishop,” The American Genealogist, Vol. 57 (July 1981)

Roach, Marilynne K., The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege (2002)

Rosenthal, Bernard, Salem Story (1993)

Rosenthal, Bernard, editor, Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt (2009) 

DNA testing for genealogists

In the last decade or so, genealogists have turned to the study of DNA to help trace their family trees or resolve conflicting (or missing) information. Currently, there are three DNA tests that people most often use for genealogy. Y-DNA tests are only available for males, since the Y-DNA takes us down the surname path from our father’s father’s father and so on. mtDNA tests work for both males and females, as mtDNA travels back from our mother’s mother’s mother. Autosomal DNA tests skip the X and Y chromosomes entirely and rely on the other 22 pairs of autosomes. This last test is not as predictable in that you can't follow a surname or maternal line into the past, but you can learn about your ancestral origins.

Three companies in the United States are well known for their genealogical DNA testing. Founded in 1999, FamilyTreeDNA is known for its surname, lineage, and geographical projects. Started in 2006, 23andme focuses on health-related genetic portraits and ancestry data. AncestryDNA is a relative newcomer to the scene, but as part of Ancestry.com, one of the largest online genealogy companies, it has the potential to grow rapidly because of its large subscriber base and its sponsorship of the popular TV show, Who Do You Think You Are? (TLC network). 

In a recent Weekly Genealogist Survey by the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), 50 percent of respondents used FamilyTreeDNA for genealogical DNA testing, while 43 percent used AncestryDNA and 16 percent used 23andme. (The 2,855 people who took the survey could select more than one company.) At the Massachusetts Genealogical Council annual seminar in July 2013, speaker Judy G. Russell, The Legal Genealogist, suggested to me to transfer results from one company to the other two to get the most cousin connections. 

Patience is critical for genealogists who have taken DNA tests. After all, 52 percent of the 4,400 people who took another weekly survey by NEHGS have not had their DNA tested. That makes it difficult to find your closest (unknown) relatives through genetics. But some genealogists have taken more than one DNA test, with 28 percent testing their own or a male relative's Y-DNA; 26 percent testing their own mtDNA; and 25 percent had an autosomal test.

So test yourself, and then ask your relatives and potential cousins to test their DNA too.