by ioannesfroebenius, froebelgalleries, ©2026
(Oct. 25, 2026) — The leaves are falling, the pumpkins are ripe, the squirrels are gathering acorns galore. It is the perfect time to revisit the familial connections to The Salem Hysteria of 1692.
Many who have graduated from New York State schools have read “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, in which one of the protagonists was Rebecca (Rebecka) Nurse, nee Towne, hanged infamously as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
In the course of genealogical history a “Nurse” appeared as the online family tree grew. In an instant, this author knew that the next “click’ would reveal Rebecka! Voila’, there she was! My grandmother Froebel, nee Luella Grace Haskins, was the 9th great granddaughter of the wronged woman known to millions via Miller’s drama, and to historians via their research.
The discovery made sense as Luella’s early ancestors had arrived on the Mayflower, were the first settlers in Plimoth Plantation, later in Salem. They had intermarried with Wampanoag very early in the encounter of the English and the native population. She had suffered as a child with asthma and carried an early form of an “EpiPen” with her, a glass syringe with a rather intimidating needle which would seem bizarre to contemporary patients today. Her father, this author’s great grandfather, Truman Washington Haskins, a descendant of Rebecka and the Wampanoag was so frustrated that his daughter had to suffer so that he exclaimed, “No longer will my daughter have asthma. I will take a lock of her hair and put it in the knot of a tree I know in the forest. I will seal it with pine pitch. As long as the tree shall live, my daughter will no longer have asthma.” It worked! After his journey into the forest, she never once suffered from the malady again.
That story had predisposed this author to ponder the thought that spiritual knowledge not shared by others could lead to misinterpretation, fear and, ultimately, persecution, as in the case of Rebecka Nurse.
What emerged was a publication titled GRANDMA REBECKA and the WITCHES’ TREE (https://www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/610847-GRANDMA-REBECKA-and-the-WITCHES-TREE) which opened even more genealogical insight. Roger Conant, founder of Salem Village, was related to Rebecka. Both he and she to Sir Myles (Miles) Standish. Through the family Ferrers they were related to Lady Diana Spencer, later Diana, Princess of Wales. But, was Grandma Rebecka a “witch?” Hardly! In fact, she was known as a “Gospell (Gospel) Woman.”
The author would like to thank The Witch Hunt Podcast on Soundcloud for inviting him to speak about his ancestress on an episode found at https://soundcloud.com/witchhuntpodcast/episode-nine-thats-my-eighth-great-grandmother-you-hanged?si=8d29f343fee8429aa51ee523ef7be39a&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing The author is the third guest on the show with descendants of Cotton Mather and Martha Corey, wife of Giles Corey, later pressed to death under rocks. He had committed manslaughter, by a severe beating, of a paternal Parker relative, last name Goodale, members of which family later moved to the colonial frontier of New York, in the tiny village, now in Cortland County, named Lapeer.
The following is a transcript of the author’s interaction with interviewer, Nancy Mades-Byrd, preceded by key points from the interview:
Hear the interview and read the rest here.
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