Back and Forth

              The Blog Entry, just before this one, told the story of two witches (actually accused witches) who turned up in my family tree in Salem, 1692.  My story also stated that the family lineage trailed back to a Judge in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.  It was a crazy find to be sure. 
                Now I have to admit that I am NOT an expert in the field of genealogy.  Initially I was only interested in examining my Ancestry DNA to determine if my Great Grandmother, on my father’s side of the family, was truly Native American.  She was not.  She put on a good act.  She convinced a lot of people that she was Blackfoot – but nope.  Not an Indian.
                Once I cleared that up, I started going back in time with her family line, as well as, other family member’s lines.  It has been an interesting journey and one that leads here and there along the way…  You take one step forward or actually, one step backward in time and place a person in your family tree.  Later on, you find documents that negate the find, then you take two steps back – er, I mean two steps forward and reassess the journey. 
                You need to be patient to navigate this back and forth trek through time.  That’s not really me.  When it gets too complicated, I take a break and go to bed - as these are usually nocturnal research sessions into the family history.  The next day or the next week, a new path, a clear path emerges through the forest of family.
                I feel confident in my “family” findings for the Blog Entry “I Have A Witch Story”.  The birth records and marriage records aligned nicely.  However, I did find an additional piece of information after publishing the entry – my many times Great Grand Mother Rebecca Chamberlain (accused witch) who died in jail, actually died in the Cambridge jail.  I had placed her in the Salem jail with my other many times Great Grand Mother Frances Hutchins…  I put them together in the Dungeon of the Salem jail because I learned it was the worst of the jails in the area and it fit my writing mood at the time.   
                My writing style kind of mimics the personality of my Grandpa Carnation Joe Green.  He was the one who always told me “Don’t let the truth stand in the way of a good story…”  So, when I begin a sentence with the phrase “I imagine” or “In my mind’s eye”, you will know that I am certainly taking artistic license and embellishing the tale with words of fiction. 
                In sharing these stories on my blog, I also know that I may hear from people who could dispute or confirm my findings.  That would be wonderful.  I value the input.  Any further information would be most helpful in documenting the family tree.  I hope you will feel free to leave a comment.
                So please, read the next entry on the accused Witches in my family and the Judge who worked to calm the hysteria of the time.  These are truly remarkable people living in historically remarkable times.      
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(Back in 2017, I was a "Good" witch for Halloween but I think my daughter and granddaughter made cuter witches!)

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