“The farm that Rebecca and Francis Nurse leased from Reverend James Allen was the focus of a long and complicated boundary dispute between Allen, the Nurses, and the abutting Endicott and Putnam families. The farm that Nurse and her husband lived on became the center of a long-standing dispute between Townsend Bishop, the farm’s owner who leased it to the Nurses, and Zerubabel Endicott, a neighbor who disputed the boundary of their adjoining land, according to Emerson Baker in his book A Storm of Witchcraft: Many historians believe that the Putnam family was behind the accusations against Nurse. Carter published in “The Witch of Salem, or Credulity Run Mad” by John R. “The Sheriff brought the witch up the broad aisle, her chains clanking as she stepped.” illustration of Rebecca Nurse by Freeland A.

Nurse was accused of witchcraft by Ann Putnam, Jr, Ann Putnam, Sr, and Abigail Williams of Salem village, as well as several others, including Reverend Deodat Lawson of Boston, who claimed to have seen Nurse’s spirit tormenting Ann Putnam, Sr, at her home that March.

Rebecca Nurse’s arrest on Macame as a complete surprise to the citizens of Salem because she was considered such a pious and upstanding citizen. Rebecca married Francis Nurse in 1640 and raised a family of eight children on a farm in Salem Village.

Nurse was also the sister of accused witches, Mary Easty and Sarah Cloyce, and the daughter of suspected witch Joanna Blessing Towne.īorn in Yarmouth, England in 1621 to William Towne and Joanna Blessing, her entire family immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony sometime between the years 16. Rebecca Nurse was a 71-year-old grandmother and wife of a local artisan when she was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.

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