GRANDMA REBECKA and the WITCHES' TREE
(Abuelita Rebecka y el Arbol de las Brujas)
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I shall never forget the last kiss my grandmother, Rebecka, gave me. She sat in a cold stone building which seemed older than the other buildings in Salem. Although we were comfortable in the home we had shared with her, Grandma Rebecka half sat, half lay on wet, moldy straw. Mother cried, and Father nervously sat me next to her. As she straightened the bonnet she had sewn for me, her lips touched my cheek. She was going to be “called home” she explained to me. I was only four years old, but so very dear to her. Indeed, I bore her name, although my father had taught me to spell mine
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About the Book
The year 1692 is an annus horribilis on the American timeline which has been engraved on the hearts of men, inscribed in the annals of history, is remembered with sadness, and continues to admonish humanity about the ease with which those deemed as “other” can be persecuted and made to suffer. Rebecka Nurse, née Towne (known to many as Rebecca Nurse from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the author’s 11th maternal great grandmother) could claim Charlemagne, the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, and the noble family de Ferrers among her ancestors, but nothing could save her from the gallows which had been made of the Witches’ Tree in the ancient Wampanoag settlement called Naumkeag, now Salem. Her own second cousin, Roger Conant, had founded Salem after leaving Plymouth (Plimoth), which all at her trial knew. He, in turn, had fought with Myles Standish (a relative of both his and Rebecka’s) the governor of Plymouth and the author’s 9th maternal great grandfather. This turmoil, envy, and perhaps even boredom, intertwine like the gnarled branches of the ancient tree which gives this story its title.
About the Author
The author of his sixth book founded The Froebel Gallery, Ltd. (formerly Grupo Arte, Madrid-Albany) in 1991. He holds a B.A, M.A, and MS (Education) from The University at Albany, Albany, New York-USA. His passion for genealogy, history, and culture leads him to write and publish the growing body of work in the Ahnentafel Series of books. Rebecka Nurse, née Towne is the latest ancestress explored in this series. The English members of the author’s maternal and paternal lines were prominent among the first Mayflower immigrants, the signers of the Mayflower Compact, the founders of Plymouth (Plimoth) Plantation and Salem, as well as the organizers and passengers of The Winthrop Fleet. Rebecka (known to many as Rebecca Nurse from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible) is the author’s 11th maternal great grandmother whose life and suffering are now part of the canon of American history.