Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

Though the most famous account of witch trials in colonial America lay with the village of Salem (now called Danvers) between 1692 and 1693, witchcraft hysteria spread throughout many other towns in Massachusetts and in colonies beyond, even starting several decades earlier. One of which was Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts. Lynn is two towns south of Danvers (formerly Salem Village), where the famous witch accusations were made, and shares its northern border with the town of Salem, where the actual trials were held. Salem was the county seat in Essex, so all judicial matters were held there for all of the surrounding villages like Lynn. All accused criminal offenders from Ipswich, Andover, Beverly, etc. would have been jailed and brought to court in Salem. Lynn had its first “witch scare” in 1669 when a woman in the Quaker faith was brought up on charges. Her name was Ann (Holland) Bassett Burt and she presented herself as a healer. Ann’s good skills in healing the sick were unfortu...

  NOVEMBER 14, 2021 Over Thanksgiving weekend in 2011, I took a drive with my family up the coast of California in which we met my great aunt Vivian for the first time. Vivian (Foltz) Silva and Kira D. Foltz, San Francisco, California, Thanksgiving weekend 2011. Week 45: Stormy Weather Vivian was the daughter of my great grandparents, George LeeRoy Foltz and Myrtle May Mills. Roy had died at a fairly young age (see his story here ) but Myrtle went on to the age of 97. She didn't pass away until the year 1980, so she had a long life to live after her first husband. Myrtle (Mills) Foltz Haley, undated photo, privately held by descendant Kira D. Foltz. My father and I had known that Myrtle remarried after Roy's death to a man named Benjamin Thomas "Tom" Haley and she became quite close to a few of Tom's kids from his previous marriage. It was known to be a good union, but tragically also cut short, as Tom died just two years later in 1931. Myrtle (Mills) Foltz Haley ...