TIP OF THE WEEK –
ARE THERE SPOOKY STORIES IN YOUR TREE?
October is the month of Halloween. Genealogists haunt cemeteries in search clues (join SGS’s Calvary Cemetery tour, see the details above in our feature story), but there are other spooky places to go in search of records of ancestors.
Accusations of witchcraft could lead to court records detailing claims. Although the witchcraft trials in Salem, Mass., are the most famous, there were others including the Hildebrand-Evans Case of 1805 as well as cases in Connecticut and Virginia. Was one of your ancestors connected to one?
Locations also play an important role in family history. Rumors of haunted buildings and other sites have been passed down over the years. Legends about the supernatural are connected to many places right here in Washington state. Did your family live near one of them?
What other spooky stories are in your family tree?
My mother Vivian’s family have spooky stories: 7th & 8th great grandmothers Sarah Wilson and Sarah Jr accused of witchcraft in Andover; mom in prison 9 months, daughter released and finally men came to their senses. Mother’s 3rd great Uncle Alexander Jasper Fenwick killed a man over a woman, then committed suicide by eating poison laced paper from a book he asked for before he was to be hanged 28 March, 1873. Dad’s people were a little more normal. Enjoy the cemetery.