From the time I was four years old I felt a connection to the Salem Witch Trials. In my bones I knew that this event in history was much more than a passing relevancy to me, there was a strong attachment to Salem in 1692 that has remained with me ever since. I always knew in my DNA that there was a link there, and my very first post about Christian Woodbury Trask was just the tip of the iceberg that my family was living in the area at the time. I knew that I would find much more, and finally, I just did.
The theory of genetic memory, the psychological belief that memories, particularly traumatic ones, can be passed from one generation to the next is the most logical explanation for complex feelings of connections to historical events in which our ancestors played a role. The study of genetic memory is fascinating, and I highly recommend looking into it further. It is my personal belief that when people have past memories that they cannot logically have they are probably experiencing genetic memory as opposed to reincarnation.
At the time of my first visit to the Salem Witch Museum in the 1980s there was no knowledge in my family of a connection to the tragedy that took place in 1692, as a matter of fact I didn’t know our family had very early colonial roots until I was a young teenager.
A decent amount of my goal researching my family history has been to prove what I always knew to be true in my bones - that my family was involved in some way with the mass hysteria of 1692.
The most promising lines have been the Trefrys on my mother’s side and the Emerys on my father’s side, both of whom were living on the north shore of Massachusetts in the 17th century.
Researching my mother’s great grandmother Matilda Weston, I finally found what I was searching for.
In recent years I had learned that Matilda had died in Salem and was buried in the beautiful Forest Lawn Cemetery in 1896. Coincidentally, this is where I used to walk when I lived in Salem, before I even knew my great-great grandmother was interred there. But as I began to research Matilda’s line I had no reason to suspect that she had any connection to 17th century Salem, because she had been born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, as had two generations before her. Going back further, I was surprised to find that the third generation above her had emigrated from Massachusetts to Canada. And the timing, the era directly after the revolution suggests that they were loyalists leaving the newly founded United States to live in a commonwealth country that was still loyal to the crown. Only after a hundred years and three generations did the family finally return to the states, one again settling in the north shore of Massachusetts, where they had fled so many years prior.
The name of my 5th great grandmother, the one who fled north after America became an independent country was Edith Porter, and her name immediately peaked my interest. Could we be related to Israel Porter?!
Israel Porter was a major player in Salem Village in 1692 and I was familiar with him from watching “Three Sovereigns for Sarah” repeatedly as a child.
Another three generations of research and there he was: Israel Porter 12th February 1643 - 28th November 1706, my 8th great-grandfather. Not only am I related, he is my direct ancestor, a primary opponent to Samuel Parris and his co-conspirators who accused hundreds of innocent women and men of witchcraft in 1692 and ultimately murdered 20 of them. I couldn’t be prouder of an ancestor than I am of this one!
Israel Porter was the wealthiest man in Salem Village at the time, owning the most farmland in the village and also conducting business in Salem Town where he had political power as an elected official, serving nine terms in his lifetime. Porter was part of the committee that opposed Reverend Samuel Paris’s tenure at Salem Village, which also included Peter Cloyce, Samuel Nurse and Joseph Putnam. Young Joseph Putnam was an outlier of the vengeful Putnam family, the enemies of the Porters, who formed an allegiance with Reverend Samuel Parris and became the primary accusers in the witchcraft trials. Joseph was also the son-in-law of Israel Porter, having married his 16 year old daughter only four years earlier, and the second wealthiest man in the village to the chagrin of his older half brother Thomas, who believed their father’s will was unjust and therefore the work of the devil. Knowing of the hatred the Putnams had for the Porters, and in fear that his young wife may be accused of witchcraft by his own family, Joseph was said to warn his brother Thomas Putnam: “If you touch anyone belonging to my household with your foul lies, you shall answer for it.” He is also said to have kept his best horse saddled at all times that year, in case a quick getaway was warranted. In the end the vengeful Putnams weren’t daring enough to accuse Joseph Putnam’s nor Israel Porter’s families of witchcraft, although it certainly seems that they wanted to.
As the hysteria grew, Israel was horrified to hear that his friend and neighbor, pious and elderly Rebecca Nurse was accused of witchcraft. He wrote and circulated a petition on her behalf and was one of four people who testified to her character in court. His pleas fell on deaf ears and Rebecca was condemned to hang by Judge John Hathorne, who happened to be Israel’s brother- in-law (and the great-great grandfather of Nathaniel Hawthorne, making him a distant cousin of mine.)
Although he stuck his neck out for Rebecca Nurse, Israel Porter was primarily a “behind the scenes man” according to Salem Possessed by Stephen Nissenbaum. He refused to join Parris’s church in Salem Village and did his praying in Salem Town instead. He orchestrated meetings with other level headed villagers, and when the madness was over he was instrumental in running Samuel Parris out of town with the restored anti-Parris committee. He died in Salem Village in 1706 and his burial site remains unknown.
The background of the Salem Witch Trials is complex, based on land disputes, property lines and old grudges between neighbors. I highly recommend “Salem Possessed” if you are interested in a deep dive into the impetus of the Salem Witch Trials.
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