Thinking Out Loud, Volume CDXLI

There were some who blamed that new young preacher for instigating much of this pack of trouble, and it's entirely possible that sure enough he may have been at least partly at fault. There's just no way to prove it now. It's a known fact there was tension between the new preacher and the old preacher. The old preacher, Rev. Francis Dane, was about sixty-five years old when some members of his congregation expressed their concern that he was getting too old to lead a church, and should be replaced with a younger pastor. When the new preacher arrived, the church stopped the salary of Rev. Dane. When he appealed that decision, they decided to split the new preacher's salary, giving the older man 37.5% of what he had previously been making and taking it from the younger man's salary. Naturally, this decision pleased no one, and that's where the animosity began. It was right after those events that Rev. Francis Dane; his two daughters, Elizabeth (Betty) Dane Johnson and Abigail Dane Faulkner; and his daughter in law, Deliverance Hazeltine Dane, found themselves as defendants in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Although Francis Dane never had to go to trial, his daughters and daughter in law were convicted and sentenced to death. During the trials, some of the women of the town who were called as witnesses would begin writhing and exhibiting all kinds of contortions, and claiming they were under spells cast on them by the defendants. One witness's writhing took her under the table where Abigail was sitting, and when she touched Abigail's leg, the contortions stopped. The witness then claimed that touching her was the only remedy to the writhing. Abigail's two daughters were also charged, and they both pleaded guilty and implicated their mother in the charges. It is believed that Abigail instructed them to do so, attempting to place all the blame on herself. This was done in an effort to spare the lives of her daughters. All this time, Rev. Dane was working behind the scenes to put a stop to all the nonsense. Although at first, Rev. Barnard, the young preacher, was a big proponent of the trials, he too eventually came out against them. In the end, none of the Dane family lost their lives over the incident, although there were others who weren't so fortunate. The governor of Massachusetts ended up stopping the executions, and all the members of the Dane family were pardoned except Deliverance Dane, who never had her name cleared. I've known about the Salem Witch Trials since I studied American history in the seventh grade, but I never really thought that much about them until the past few weeks. You may be wondering what could possibly have suddenly stirred my interest in events that happened more than three hundred years ago. Here's the reason: I've just learned that I am a great (X9) grandson of Francis Dane, through his daughter, Elizabeth Johnson, one of the accused....down through my mom's side of the family. I've always thought the whole Salem Witch Trials episode was a farce, but now that I know it was my own family who was on trial, I'm CERTAIN it was. Hey, don't mess with my family!!!! I'll put a spell on you. Preston