A Witch in Line 

                                    THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS

(Author's note: This is a genealogical exercise and may not be your cup of tea. No one will blame you if you would prefer to bow out or roll another one. As always, it is unapologetically, unedited.)

Everyone should have one - a witch that is. 

While I'd initially planned to review the pedigree chart shown below back to Mary Perkins Bradbury with a finer-tooth comb before sharing, the truth is, the core line was already established. (Mary Perkins Bradbury was tried for witchcraft at Salem in 1692 but escaped execution.)

Yes, the line to Mary Perkins Bradbury was "all there already." So, because of this, I'm gonna attempt to present it here, or at least generally, from published "source genealogies" for the older records, and in a smattering of vitals and newspaper clippings for the later ones. 

To do this, I've set up all these pieces of this ancestral line down in chronological order, and as they occurred, to link Mary Perkins Bradbury to Kelly Neptune. Kelly is a family friend and neighbor who helps take care of my 90-year-old father - no easy task. Lately, she's been curious about learning more about her own father's ancestry. (This led me here to Mary Perkins Bradbury.) These proofs will not be complete, and while they won't satisfy lineage society requirements, they should do the job. I know too that the images will be hard to see, and the highlights on them tough to make out.  (I advise looking at this post on a computer.) Still, I hope you will enjoy following the line from a Salem witch to Kelly.

Like I said, everyone needs a witch in their line. :) 

Let's start with the image of a provisional pedigree chart (shown below) to show how we're getting from point A to point B.

And yes, this won't always be easy to understand - but hang in there.

Now, let's go through each generation to show the available proofs in this instance.  The image directly below from the Perkins family genealogy will be a good starting point to introduce our Mary:      

It should also probably be labeled as "the first generation," but this is just a blog post and not official Register Style genealogy.     

We'll just call it "Generation Zero."

Above: George Augustus Perkins, The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich, Mass: Complete in Three Parts (Salem, MA: Salem Press Publishing & Printing Co., 1889), 15.

    

Instead, we'll go with this image below by introducing Mary Perkins Bradbury's daughter, Mary (Bradbury) Stanyan, as the first generation:

Above: Louis Clinton Hatch, ed., Maine: A History, vol. 4 (New York: The American Historical Society, 1919), 26.

   Next, for generation two, we'll use this image below. It introduces their daughter Ann Stanyan, who married Thomas Seally. (This surname is a tricky one as there a several spelling variations)

Above: L.A. Morrison, The History of the Sinclair Family in Europe and America (Boston: Damrell & Upham, 1896), 372

For generation three, I'm going to use this image to introduce their daughter Ann "Sylle", who married Samuel Blake.

Above: Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, ME: Southworth Press, 1928–1939), 95.

 And for generation four, here is their son, also called Samuel Blake, shown in the image below:

Above: Carlton E. Blake, Descendants of Jasper Blake, Emigrant from England to Hampton, N.H., ca. 1643, 1649–1979 (Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1980), 210.

These image references are from the Blake Genealogy, which I wish were more complete with source citations. Still, it's damn good, and probably the best work on the family that I've ever seen. Published in 1980, the author gives us general facts and gives us dates and places that can be followed up on if needed.

And what would generation five be without another "Samuel Blake?" LOL. In the image below, we meet their son Sam, whom I have incorrectly highlighted in the above image. (I should have highlighted #10 to correspond to the image below)

Above: Blake, Descendants of Jasper Blake, 213

Generation six - their son Theophilus Blake, who married Mary Adams in the mage below:

 Above: Blake, Descendants of Jasper Blake, 213, 214

And generation seven, another Samuel Blake, who married Marietta Elkins in the following image:

 Above: Blake, Descendants of Jasper Blake, 213, 214

For generation eight, things start to get a little tricky. The author of the Jasper genealogy forgot to include Emma Rosetta Blake, daughter of (this) Samuel Blake and Mariretta Elkins. It looks like the author didn't see the next page of the census record that shows little six-year-old Emma Blake in the 1880 census for that household. No worries, Sam! We have you covered. 

Above: 1880 U.S. Census, Shelby County, Iowa, population schedule, Harlan Township, enumeration district 207, page 207, s.v. "Emma Blake."

The obituary image below helps link Samuel Blake's wife, Marietta Elkins Blake (generation seven), back to their daughter Emma Blake (generation eight), who married Isaac Collins.

Now, for generation nine, their daughter Alicia Inez Collins, who married George William Briggs. She is referenced in the image below of her mother, Emma Blake Collins' obituary.

Below: Marriage record image for Inez Collins to George Briggs

   

And for generation ten - a marriage record for their daughter, Evelyn Mae Briggs. (Any competent genealogist will tell you that we need a birth record for Evelyn here to show that these were her parents, but we're gonna just go with this for now.)

And the image below for generation eleven for Gene Smith linking him to his parents - and to Mary Perkins Bradbury. (And yes, I know we still need better vitals here.)

           Generation twelve - Kelly Smith.         

      

So there you have it. A fairly good amount of anecdotal proof that links Kelly Smith Neptune to her ancestress, Mary Perkins Bradbury. And yes, I know it needs additional items to meet any proof standards (duh), but in truth, not much, and the line doesn't fall apart at any point. It may be missing a birth record for say Inez Collins, but these are things that can be obtained. Several of the older records can be gleaned out of New England, too, so I may post them here at a later date.

I'm good with this line.

The cool thing about MPB, too, is that (a) she's a frickn' awesome witch who got away, and (b) she comes with a whole host of verified famous people who are also descended from her. 

Winner, winner, chicken dinner?!?!?!

For me personally, the curious thing about MPB is that this is the second time this year I have encountered her. She is also related to my friend and client Paige Dunham (image below), as well as a several times over great aunt. Paige, who is descended from "the ghost" of Phillip Babb from the Isles of Shoals, Maine, and who is also related through Phillip Babb by marriage to - you guessed it Kelly Smith Neptume.

                         

I mean, go figure, right? You can't make this shit up - or, if you do, you are really frickn' nuts.

So I think I'm gonna go take an aspirin. Your head hurt too? 

It always happens when there is a "witch in the line."

(Wink!)