My Wife’s New Car May Be A Broom

Since I retired in 2009, I started working on family genealogy. On my wife’s side I found many interesting stories. An eight-times great uncle who was hanged, drawn, and quartered in Merry Old England. A five-times great grandfather who was a Minute Man and fought at Breed’s Hill (also referred to as Bunker Hill) in the Revolutionary War. But one of the best is an eight-times great aunt; Mary Perkins Bradbury.

In the 1690’s, Mary Bradbury was living near Boston. She was in her 70’s, had children and grandchildren to enjoy, a husband who had been a Captain in the Militia, and as happy as a Puritan possibly could be. Until…

She was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged as a witch. Yes, a Salem witch. The story goes that her husband with friends, broke her out of jail, and hid her for two months. At the end of this time, the Governor of Massachusetts ruled that “spectral evidence” could no longer be used in court to convict anyone. And then in 2001 (the government moves slowly), the Massachusetts legislature pardoned all those convicted of being a Salem Witch. Unfortunately, this did not help the 22 “witches” who were hanged or pressed to death.

But it does explain a lot about my wife and daughters….