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/

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/

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/

Deborah Sampson: Woman Warrior of the American Revoultion

Despite the fact that women were not allowed to join the military until the 1940s, hundreds of women still fought as soldiers in the American Revolution. These women often disguised themselves as men and used aliases to avoid detection. Like the secret female soldiers in the Civil War, they were often young, poor, unmarried women looking to serve their country and earn money for their families...Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/deborah-sampson-woman-warrior-of-the-american-revoultion/

The Boston Massacre Victims

After five people were shot dead by British soldiers during the Boston Massacre in 1770, many patriot leaders used the tragedy to stir up hostility against the British government. Samuel Adams tugged at the heart strings of the public by holding a public funeral for the five victims and portraying them as martyrs of a brutal regime before burying them in Granary Burying Ground and erecting a marker “as a momento to posterity of that horrid massacre,” according to the book “Samuel Adams: The Life of an American Revolutionary.”...Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-boston-massacre-victims/

Was Samuel Adams an Embezzler?

Although known as a brave patriot of the American Revolution, Samuel Adams was also a tax collector and bankrupt businessman who had been accused of embezzling public funds shortly before the revolution began.

Portrait of Samuel Adams by Copley

Adams, a wealthy nobleman and cousin of John Adams, had a flair for politics that won him the position of tax collector for the city of Boston in 1756. Although he was a bad business man who had squandered the earnings from his father's business just a few years before, Adams was appointed to the job on account of his honesty and willingness to serve the city of Boston...Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/was-samuel-adams-an-embezzler/

The Stamp Act

The Stamp Act was a law passed by Parliament in March of 1765 taxing all paper used to print materials in the colonies. The act required that all printed materials be printed on paper embossed with an official revenue stamp. These materials included magazines, newsletters, legal documents and newspapers.

Newspaper announcement of the Stamp act

The tax was intended to raise money for troops stationed along the Canadian border after the British victory in the French and Indian War. The government decided to keep troops in the area after the war to prevent having an idle standing army at home. Parliament felt that since colonists would benefit the most from the protective presence of the soldiers, they should pay for the cost.... Click here to read more: http://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-stamp-act/