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Bray Wilkins
Bray Wilkins (probably pronounced based on contemporaneous spelling ''Brey Wilkeens''; – 1 January 1702) was an immigrant, patriarch, and founder of Middleton, Massachusetts. Bray's origins are not concretely known and are supplanted (and probably distorted) by familial tradition, however his reputation was already prolific in the Massachusetts Bay Colony decades before his death. His progeny, the Wilkins family, had a strong presence in the area. Bray and his family were prominent figures in some Salem Witch Trials. Early life Very little is known about Bray's life before emigrating to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It is known from his own admission and other records which required such information that Bray was born about 1610. Being an immigrant, it is presumed Bray hailed from the Kingdom of England, but exactly where he was born is up for debate. The prevailing assumption is that Bray came from modern-day Wales; it is sometimes suggested he was born in Brecknockshire, howe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of England
The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On 12 July 927, the various Anglo-Saxon kings swore their allegiance to Æthelstan of Wessex (), unifying most of modern England under a single king. In 1016, the kingdom became part of the North Sea Empire of Cnut the Great, a personal union between England, Denmark and Norway. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 led to the transfer of the English capital city and chief royal residence from the Anglo-Saxon one at Winchester to Westminster, and the City of London quickly established itself as England's largest and principal commercial centre. Histories of the kingdom of England from the Norman conquest of 1066 conventionally distinguish periods named after successive ruling dynasties: Norman (1066–1154), Plantagenet (1154–1485 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oath Of A Freeman
The “Oath of a Freeman” was a loyalty pledge required of all new members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1630s. Printed as a broadside by Stephen Daye in 1639, it is the first document from a printing press known to have been produced in the present day United States. No copies are known to exist, but the text is known from a handwritten copy and a 1647 book. A supposed original printing of the document surfaced in 1985, but it was later revealed to be the work of forger Mark Hofmann. Original printing The “Oath” was a vow of obedience to the company's government and a promise not to conspire against it. Previous examples of oaths in England pledged loyalty to the Crown. The absence of references to the King made the “Oath” a uniquely American document. The earliest known version of the “Oath” was handwritten by Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop in 1631. Governor Winthrop stated in his diary that the “Oath” was the “first thing” printed by S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Topsfield, Massachusetts
Topsfield is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,569 at the 2020 census. Topsfield is located in the North Shore region of Massachusetts. Part of the town comprises the census-designated place of Topsfield. History Colonial period The Agawam tribe inhabited Topsfield prior to and during the British colonization in the early seventeenth century. They were one of the Algonquian peoples. They claimed the land north of the Danvers River, the whole of Cape Ann and from there to the Merrimack River. However, the first European explorers had brought smallpox to New England, decimating all the shore tribes from the Penobscot River to Narragansett Bay in 1616. Chief Masconomet, for whom Masconomet Regional High School is named, was the sagamore or chief of the Agawam at this time. He welcomed Massachusetts Bay Colony Governor John Winthrop on his arrival in Salem Harbor in 1630. Masconomet deeded all the Agawams' land to Winthrop in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Wilkins (Salem Witch Trials)
John Wilkins, (14 February 1614 – 19 November 1672) was an Anglican clergyman, natural philosopher, and author, and was one of the founders of the Royal Society. He was Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death. Wilkins is one of the few persons to have headed a college at both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. He was a polymath, although not one of the most important scientific innovators of the period. His personal qualities were brought out, and obvious to his contemporaries, in reducing political tension in Interregnum Oxford, in founding the Royal Society on non-partisan lines, and in efforts to reach out to Protestant Nonconformists. He was one of the founders of the new natural theology compatible with the science of the time. He is particularly known for '' An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language'' (1668) in which, amongst other things, he proposed a universal language and an integrated system of measurement, simil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lancaster, Massachusetts
Lancaster is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, in the United States. Incorporated in 1653, Lancaster is the oldest town in Worcester County. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 8,441. History In 1643 Lancaster was first settled as "Nashaway" (named after the local Nashaway Native American tribe) by a group of colonists known as the Nashaway Company who may have initially been interested in iron deposits in the area. Several of the company were blacksmiths or gunsmiths, including, Herman Garrett, and as early as 1653 a settler, George Adams, was whipped for selling guns and alcohol to the Indians in the area. The town was officially incorporated and renamed "Lancaster on the Nashua" in 1653. Prominent Massachusetts military leader Simon Willard served as an advisor to the company and eventually settled in Lancaster for a period, and provided guns to the local tribe by order of the Massachusetts General Court. Supporters of Lancaster's founder, John ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercy Lewis
Mercy Lewis (fl. 1692) was an accuser during the Salem Witch Trials. She was born in Falmouth, Maine. Mercy Lewis, formally known as Mercy Allen, was the child of Philip Lewis and Mary (Cass) Lewis. Early life Lewis and her family were refugees seeking out protection after an attack on her village during King Philip's War. Her family first stayed in Casco Bay, an inlet of the Gulf of Maine, New England, with other refugees. Rev. George Burroughs, a Puritan minister who served in Salem, Massachusetts from 1680–83, was also one of the survivors of the attack by the Native Americans. The Lewis family next settled in Salem. Mercy Lewis's uncle, Thomas Skilling, died from an injury brought on by the Indian attack. In 1683, the Lewis family traveled back to the island in Casco Bay. The second attack of the Native Americans in 1689 resulted in the death of Mercy's parents and made her an orphan. On September 30, 1689, an attack by Native Americans killed her grandparents, aunts, u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Walcott
Mary Walcott (July 5, 1675 – 1752) was one of the "afflicted" girls called as a witness at the Salem witch trials in early 1692-93. Life Born July 5, 1675, she was the daughter of Captain Jonathan Walcott (1639–1699), and his wife, Mary Sibley (or Sibly; 1644–1683), both of Salem, and was about seventeen years old when the allegations started in 1692. Her aunt, Mary (née Wolcott), the wife of Samuel Sibley (or Sibly; 1657–1708), was the person who first showed Tituba and Tituba's husband John Indian how to bake a "witch cake" to feed to a dog in order that she and her friends might ascertain exactly who it was that was afflicting them. Joseph B. Felt quoted in ''The Annals of Salem'' (1849 edition) vol. 2, p. 476 rom the town records March 11, 1692, – "Mary, the wife of Samuel Sibley, having been suspended from communion with the church there, for the advice she gave John usband of Titubato make the above experiment, is restored on a confession that her pur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ann Putnam Jr
Annie Putnam (October 18, 1679 – 1716) was an important witness at the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts during the later portion of 17th-century Colonial America. Born 1679 in Salem Village, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was the eldest child of Thomas (1652–1699) and Ann (Née Carr) Putnam (1661–1699). She was friends with some of the girls who claimed to be afflicted by witchcraft and, in March 1692, proclaimed to be afflicted herself, along with Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren. Putnam is responsible for the accusations of 62 people, which, along with the accusations of others, resulted in the executions of twenty people, as well as the deaths of several others in prison. She was a first cousin once removed of Generals Israel and Rufus Putnam. Early life Annie was born on October 18, 1679, to Thomas Putnam (of the Putnam family) and Ann (née Carr) Putnam, who had twelve children in total. Ann wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kidney Stone
Kidney stone disease, also known as nephrolithiasis or urolithiasis, is a crystallopathy where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) develops in the urinary tract. Kidney stones typically form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine stream. A small stone may pass without causing symptoms. If a stone grows to more than , it can cause blockage of the ureter, resulting in sharp and severe pain in the lower back or abdomen. A stone may also result in blood in the urine, vomiting, or painful urination. About half of people who have had a kidney stone will have another within ten years. Most stones form by a combination of genetics and environmental factors. Risk factors include high urine calcium levels, obesity, certain foods, some medications, calcium supplements, hyperparathyroidism, gout and not drinking enough fluids. Stones form in the kidney when minerals in urine are at high concentration. The diagnosis is usually based on symptoms, urine testing, and me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deodat Lawson
Deodat Lawson was a minister in Salem Village from 1684 to 1688 and is famous for a 10-page pamphlet describing the witchcraft accusations in the early spring of 1692. The pamphlet was billed as "collected by Deodat Lawson" and printed within the year in Boston, Massachusetts. Early life and education Deodat Lawson was born in Norfolk, England. His mother died within a few weeks of his birth. He likely received an education near his birthplace. One historian compliments Lawson's fine handwriting. The work attributed to Lawson displays great erudition but there is no record of his having attended Cambridge, Oxford, or Trinity College. It is possible he attended one of the semi-clandestine dissenting academies. By 1671, Lawson had travelled to Martha's Vineyard in New England. The diarist Samuel Sewall first records him coming to Boston in 1681. He was a minister in Salem Village beginning in 1684 when several church members (including Peter Cloyce husband of Sarah Cloyce a woman who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th-List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the country. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 2020 U.S. Census, as of 2020. It is the seat of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Willard
John Willard ( 1657 - August 19, 1692) was one of the people executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem witch trials. He was hanged on Gallows Hill, Salem on August 19, 1692. At the time of the first allegations of witchcraft Willard was serving as a constable in the village of Salem and his duties included bringing the accused before the court. Soon, however, he began to doubt the truth of the accusations and in May 1692 he refused to make any more arrests. In retaliation Ann Putnam, Jr. and others accused him of witchcraft, and of murdering thirteen citizens. Some of Willard's in-laws, the Wilkins, also made accusations against him. Benjamin Wilkins would tell the court that Willard had previously beat his wife, Samuel Wilkins testified that he had repeatedly been irritated and afflicted by an entity in a dark colored coat he identified as Willard. John Wilkins would blame the death of his wife, after having delivered a baby, on John Willard, and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
