The Nurse Family Graveyard

From June through September of 1692, nineteen men and women, all having been convicted of witchcraft, were carted to Gallows Hill, a barren slope near Salem Village, for hanging. Another man of over eighty years was pressed to death under heavy stones for refusing to submit to a trial on witchcraft charges. Hundreds of others faced accusations of witchcraft; dozens languished in jail for months without trials until the hysteria that swept through Puritan Massachusetts subsided. While most people associate Salem Witch Trial Graves with the famous Burial Hill Cemetery (which contrary to popular belief does not actually intern accused witches [click here], there is another place in which is the final resting place for some of those accused. The ancient Nurse family graveyard is nestled among tall pine trees on the west side of the property. Numerous generations of families are buried here, many in unmarked, or simple fieldstone-marked graves. Among the families represented are Nurse, Putnam, and Tarbell-all names associated with those accused and hanged.

William Towne and Joanna Blessings had three daughters; Rebecca, Mary, and Sarah, all of whom were accused and hanged for witchcraft in 1692. In the case of Rebecca Towne Nurse, no in the community it seemed believed she could be a witch; many spoke out on her behalf (which was quite dangerous to do) and signed petitions in her defense. At Rebecca’s trial the jury came back with a not guilty verdict; when this was announced there was a large and hideous outcry from both the afflicted girls and the spectators and magistrates urged reconsideration. When Rebecca was asked a question yet did not answer (as she was hard of hearing), The jury took her silence as an indication of guilt and brought back a guilty verdict. Rebecca was even granted a reprieve by Governor Phips, however no sooner had it been issued, than the accusers began having renewed fits. The community saw these fits as conclusive proof of Nurse's guilt. Her family did all they could to rectify the mistake that had caused her to be condemned, but it was no use. On July 3, she was excommunicated from her church in Salem Town without a single dissenting vote, because of her conviction of witchcraft. Nurse was sentenced to death and executed on July 19, 1692. Rebecca was secretly buried by her family, who brought her body back from Gallows Hill following her execution, secretly buried on the property, in the oldest portion of the graveyard. On July 30, 1885, the Nurse family dedicated the obelisk-shaped granite memorial to Rebecca's memory. The monument includes a poetic sentiment written by famed poet, John Greenleaf Whittier. In 1892 an additional monument was erected nearby remembering and naming the 40 neighbors who in 1692 signed the petition in support of Nurse.

At the time of Mary Towne Eastys questioning she was about 50 years of age. Her examination followed the pattern of most in Salem: the girls had fits, and were speechless at times, and the magistrate expostulated with her for not confessing her guilt, which he deemed proven beyond doubt by the sufferings of the afflicted. Mary was committed to prison after her examination for two months and upon her release it was presumed to be the end of her accusations. Unfortunately her accusers were determined to not let the matter rest, and redoubled their energies to get her back into prison. On the 20th, Mary Lewis spent the entire day experiencing severe fits which she blamed on Mary and a warrant was issued Easty was rousted from her sleep by the marshall, torn from her husband and children, and taken back to prison where she was loaded with chains. Once Easty was back in prisons with chains, Lewis's fits stopped. Easty was tried and condemned to death on September 9th. She was executed on September 22 1692, despite an eloquent plea to the court to reconsider and not spill any more innocent blood.

Sarah Towne Cloyce was the youngest (48) of the sisters accused of witchcraft. While attending church meeting the preacher spoke sermon accusing her sister of being a devil, causing Sarah to rise and exit in anger. For this she was charged with witchcraft, and imprisoned. Unlike her sisters Rebecca and Mary, Sarah lived. Her trial was, for some reason, delayed (perhaps because of over crowding of the jails during the witch craze) until after the trials had been stopped.

Like Rebecca, George Jacobs family also secretly removed his body from the hanging gallows, interned on the Jacobs family property. They were later unearthed and finally laid to rest in the Nurse Graveyard. In May 1993, a stylized facsimile of a slate gravestone was dedicated over the remains, which includes as an epitaph the brave words uttered by Jacobs at his examination. "Well! Burn me or hang me but I'll stand in the truth of Christ." The skull on the stone represents death, while on either side, the carved wings represent the belief that the soul would wing its way to heaven. Jacobs and Nurse stood ready with their lives not to confess to something they did not do, but to speak the truth no matter the consequences.