Monday, January 30, 2012

The Toothaker Family: Witches or Witch Killers?

Roger Toothaker was a farmer and folk-healer from Billerica who specialized in detecting and punishing witches. For several years before the Salem Witch Trials began in 1692, Toothaker had bragged to locals that he had taught his daughter, Martha Emerson, wife of Joseph Emerson, his trade and that she had killed a witch. According to the book “The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege,” the victim is believed to possibly be Mathias Button of Haverhill, Mass...Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-toothaker-family-witches-or-witch-killers/

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Where Did the Shot Heard Round the World Happen?

The Shot Heard Round the World occurred on April 19, 1775 after British troops, searching for ammunition stockpiles in Lexington and Concord, engaged in a brief battle with local minutemen on the North Bridge in Concord.
Engraving of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, circa 1775

Over the years the exact location of the Shot Heard Round the World has gotten muddled. Many writers and historians have attributed it to the first shot fired at the Battle of Lexington, which occurred earlier in the day and was the first official battle of the Revolution. Yet the phrase itself “Shot Heard Round the World” comes from a Ralph Waldo Emerson poem about the Battle of Concord titled Concord Hymn...Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/where-did-the-shot-heard-round-the-world-happen/



Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Timeline of the Salem Witch Trials


1629:
Salem is settled. The settlement soon develops into two sections: an agricultural area where the lower class live, known as Salem Village, and a more developed area where the upper class live, known as Salem town...Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/timeline-of-the-salem-witch-trials/