In the Shadow of Salem

Our Galician Ancestors has just been released on Amazon!

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Imagine traveling back to the centuries when our Galician ancestors lived. “Our Galician Ancestors,” published in January 2024, provides fascinating information about the people who once lived in Poland and Ukraine. The book discusses their homes, dress, foods, and social customs and events through historical facts, stories, and pictures. It also explains their complex social, cultural, and political world and why many chose to immigrate.

The author’s comprehensive research and numerous trips to Polish museums, churches, and ethnographic villages allow the reader to understand all aspects of their ancestors’ lives, from the earliest inhabitants to just before World War I. Most ancestors were peasants and lived in extreme poverty and oppression but kept the spirit of independence in their hearts. The many full-color photos in this book will transport the reader to the wooden homes, churches, markets, and peasant villages typical of our ancestors.

The book is available in both paperback and eBook format:


Chapters include:

  • The history of our ancestors from the earliest time to WWI.
  • Serfdom
  • Family life and children
  • Marriages and weddings
  • Life on a typical farm and the houses
  • Clothing
  • Market days
  • Education
  • Holidays and holy days
  • Superstitions and Ancient Rites
  • Sickness, epidemics, and plagues
  • Death, funerals, and cemeteries
  • Art, Music, and Literature
  • The Elite and Landowners
  • The Jews in Poland and Ukraine
  • The German Colonists in Galicia
  • What Other Europeans and Americans thought of Galicia
  • Beekeeping and Mushroom Hunting
  • Immigration to the USA and Canada
  • Visiting the land of your ancestors 

Donna Gawell and Mark, her husband, are descended from Polish immigrants. Donna’s grandparents came from Niwiska, a small village in Poland, in the early 1900s. She found her Polish cousins in 2015 and has visited them several times. Mark’s grandparents came from Ukraine and the Polish villages of Lutcza, Zawoja, and Bielsk.

Please visit Donna Gawell’s website, http://www.DonnaGawell.com, for more information on Poland, World War II in Poland, and travel to Poland and other exciting destinations.

The Book of Crafts from the Middle Ages

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From the Rynek Underground Museum in Krakow

Walking between the Cloth Hall and Saint Mary’s Church in Krakow, visitors may not realize that hidden under the ground is a treasure trove of knowledge about Kraków’s past. To discover it, you just step down into the Medieval Rynek (town square) below Cloth Hall.

The establishment of this interactive exhibition began with the archaeological study conducted from 2005 to 2010. There, researchers discovered traces of the many centuries of history. An archaeological reserve unique in Europe, covering nearly 43,000 sq. ft, was fashioned under the surface of the Rynek to provide a display for the treasures.

The Rynek Underground exhibition presents the connections between the city and medieval Europe’s chief centers of trade and culture and portrays the significance of the capital of Poland in the operation of the Hanseatic League. The historical objects on display are proof of the European cultural and trade exchange that continued here for hundreds of years. The tourist route under the Main Market Square leads between the stone and brick walls of the cellars and stalls of former trading sites, the Great Scales, and the Cloth Hall.

The exhibition shows medieval tools, historical coins, clay figures, decorations, dice, and toiletry articles used over 600 years ago, together with the Tartar arrowheads, beads, and medallions from the Orient.

Visiting the tourist route in the Rynek Underground, one can also become familiar with the history of Kraków from before the city’s foundation. A picture of the pre-charter settlement destroyed during the Tartar raid of 1241 emerges from the original foundations of cottages from the late 12th and early 13th century, as well as reconstructions of goldsmiths’ and blacksmiths’ workshops. The oldest history of the site is shown in reconstructions of 11th-century burials. The visitor will also learn about the vampire burials found during the excavations. Yes, vampires!

Visitors are immersed in Kraków’s Medieval market’s hubbub of bargaining. The exhibition is enriched with interesting models and multimedia – touchscreens, holograms, projections, and documentary films presented in the spaces of the cellars under the Cloth Hall arranged especially for that purpose.

The Book of Crafts

In 2023, I twice visited Kraków’s Rynek’s Underground Museum. Especially impressive was an electronic book displaying “The Book of Crafts,” pictures from the 1400s of men engaged in their skilled jobs. I carefully photographed all of them. On my return visit, I inquired about the origins of the pictures representing craftsmen from the Middle Ages. No tour guide had any information, nor was there any explanation.

Searching online for “The Book of Crafts” revealed nothing about this book. I then discovered what the museum called “The Book of Crafts,” a manuscript created in 1426 by Marquard Mendel (1425-1438). He was the caretaker for “The Twelve Brothers House Foundation,” founded by his ancestor, Konrad Mendel, in 1388.

In 1388, the wealthy merchant Konrad Mendel built a retirement home to accommodate twelve old Nuremberg craftsmen needing job training. He equipped the enterprise with enough capital for permanent management to train these men and future “brothers” with employable skills. 

Since around 1425/26, every “Mendel brother” has been depicted in 765 pictures that have been restored and carefully preserved. The pictures show the brothers practicing their craft, with authentic descriptions of the manufacturing processes, tools, workshop equipment, materials, and products. Initially, only the brothers’ names and biographical data were included, but expanded in later centuries to include short biographies.

These pictures from the Middle Ages portray workers from central European towns and cities such as Prague, Krakow, Nuremberg, etc., who traded and learned from their interactions and travels. The ones in this article are from the 1400s.

Hans is cutting meat and selling other products, such as sausages. The job of butchering animals created a lot of smell and waste. Towns regulated where they could process the meat.

 Ulrich, the baker, stands in front of his brick oven and takes out baked loaves of bread with a baking shovel. Below is a pail with water, and two loaves of bread lie on a somewhat unfortunately rendered storage table.  

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The Mayflower Pilgrims: The First Generation

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2020 was to be a year of grand celebration and remembrance for the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower on November 11, 1620. Sadly, COVID and the ill winds of political correctness and historical revisionism have put a damper on the commemoration and this incredible story.

The Pilgrims’ story and legacy deserve an accurate retelling. Some journalists have put a spin on this fascinating and complex story, unfairly depicting the Pilgrims as communists, intolerant and hypocritical religious zealots, or only as economic refugees. These portrayals are inaccurate, incomplete, and don’t consider the Pilgrims in the proper historical, religious, and cultural contexts.

Who Were the Pilgrims?

John Robinson’s Home in Scrooby where the Separatists held meetings.

The 102 men, women, and children we refer to as Pilgrims were three distinct groups of people who sailed on the Mayflower from England. Thirty-seven were Separatists from Leyden, Holland. The rest were “Strangers,” and either members of the Church of England, Puritans, or perhaps a few who didn’t identify with any religious group. Most of the Strangers were likely quite pious and participated in the Separatists’ religious and worship meetings.

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War and Resistance in the Wilderness: A Novel of WWII Poland- a new historical novel on Amazon!

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WIW cover for publicity

War and Resistance in the Wilderness: A Novel of WWII is a newly released historical memoir of Polish villagers who suffered under the German and Russian occupation during the Second World War. After three years of research and writing, it is now available on Amazon in print or e-book through this link:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1689779586

When the Germans invade their Polish village in September 1939 to build the largest SS training camp outside of Germany, Anna, Jozef, and Stacia must work as forced laborers serving the Reich. Then, in 1943, Hitler moves his top-secret V-2 missile research project into their wilderness area. With test missiles exploding over their homes, Anna, Jozef, Father Kurek, and other villagers become partisans for the underground Home Army (Armia Krajowa or AK.)

Just as it appears the Germans are losing, Stacia finds herself inside the cattle car of a train headed to Ravensbrück, a women’s concentration camp. The rest of the village bursts into chaos, and the priest who was working with the Home Army goes into hiding in the church’s roof for six months to avoid arrest.

The History of War and Resistance in the Wilderness

As an author, my desire was to tell the story of the Polish Christians who have been largely ignored in most books and movies about the Second World War. This novel will, therefore, be of great interest for those who descend from the courageous nation of Poland, and those who appreciate military history.

I was inspired to write this novel during my first visit to Niwiska, the village of my grandparents. My Polish cousins told me amazing stories that are unknown outside this area and took me to Blizna Historical Park, the site of the Nazi’s V-1 and V-2 missile launches. When I heard the story of how my great-grandmother Jadwiga brought food and supplies to the priest in Niwiska who was forced to hide in the church roof for six months to avoid arrest, I just knew this epic story needed to be told!

The many letters of Anna Grabiec, a young woman from Niwiska who became an AK partisan and the Ravensbrück records of her sister Stanislawa helped me to further personalize the novel. Anna and Stacia’s children also provided numerous stories and details, although they were surprised by some of my research from translated histories. As we all know, sometimes survivors of war just want to forget and don’t tell their children many details.

My research also surprised me.  I had decided to put my great uncle Jozef in the story because he was the correct age to be an AK soldier, and he lived right across from the church in Niwiska. When I told his daughter (my cousin Maria) of this creative liberty, she said, “My father Jozef WAS an AK partisan!”  My premonition was very correct!

I returned to Niwiska in 2018, and three local Polish priests, Polish historians, and eyewitnesses to the German and Russian occupations granted me interviews. I toured WWII museums in Blizna, Pustkow, Rzeszow, Krakow, and Gdansk and had hundreds of documents and histories translated. The result is a novel filled with real peoples’ stories conveyed as accurately as possible.

Most of you probably don’t know the story of the damaged American B-24 bomber that landed on the Russian airstrip in Niwiska in December 1944. I traveled to Virginia to meet the daughter of the pilot, Edward List. His amazing story of Anna’s lost letter begins the novel, and the complete story of the American crew’s adventures in Niwiska is near the end of the novel. Edward List and his crew found hidden letters addressed to America in their outhouse, and one of them was Anna’s letter. It was undeliverable, and he kept it in his briefcase for forty-five years. I almost titled the novel “A War, A Letter, and an Outhouse.”

The famous story of Operation Wildhorn III is an integral part of Poland’s history and is told from the point of view of the Home Army who captured the first intact V-2 missile and transferred it to the British allies by plane on a beet field in rural Poland. Most histories of this military operation are usually told from the British point of view, but they tend to omit all the details on the ground by the Polish Home Army that produced real success.

Another important story in the novel is of Monsignor Antoni Dunajecki’s role as a rescuer of a Jewish man. As a result of my research, the priest’s application to be designated as “Righteous Among the Nations” is currently being processed by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust organization in Israel. My research indicates this one rescue was not an isolated incident, and Monsignor Dunajecki and many others richly deserve this posthumous award.

The book’s cover is an authentic picture of a V-2 missile launch from Blizna, just a few miles from Kolbuszowa. I pondered what these villagers had to endure with several hundred missiles being launched over their homes during the war.

PRAISE FOR War and Resistance in the Wilderness

“As a combination of memoir and historical fiction, War and Resistance in the Wilderness pays homage to the victims and heroes of World War II and promotes knowledge about important forgotten events from the area of Niwiska in the years 1939-1945. This book helps to better understand how cruel the German occupation was in Poland.”

−Fr. Antoni Wiech, historian and author of The History of Niwiska Parish in the Years 1918-1945

“War and Resistance in the Wilderness, based on real events, places, and people, is the story of villagers trapped in the pressure cooker of Nazi-occupied Poland.

Donna Gawell fleshes out the complexities of interpersonal relationships with a savvy understanding of Polish mores. The verity of the circumstances is enriched through an entertaining storyline that builds empathy and suspense comparable to the insecurity experienced by all villagers.

She brings to life clashing viewpoints and dangerous choices. Thorough research ferments into a unique work that informs, entertains, and lights up the audacity and courage of Polish people, including the many who joined the AK.

This is a significant contribution to the resistance genre and a riveting read.”

−Talia Moser, daughter of Captain Edward List, the American pilot in the story

“Based on real people, real events and a real place, War and Resistance in the Wilderness, gives us a picture of what life was like for the inhabitants of one tiny village during the darkness of the occupation of Poland by the Nazis. All too often we read of that time globally, in broad terms, but here we see the war brought home to their back yard, impacting real people on a day to day basis and through the long years of that war.

Though the author’s prose, I could vividly see the countryside of Poland, experience a way of life torn asunder and the very realities of war.”

 ̶ Sophie Hodorowicz Knab, author of Wearing the Letter P: Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Nazi Germany, 1939-1945, Polish Customs and Traditions, and other titles of Polish interest.

“It is often said that the past is another planet. This could not be truer of the lifeworld created by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945. It is often taken for granted that places such as Bełżec, Treblinka, Sobibór, and Chełmno were once ordinary and obscure Polish villages with a history and life of their own that took on world-historical significance after the war. It was in the Polish countryside, behind the fog of war, that the Germans established the infamous Nazi machinery of death and destruction etched into popular understanding today.

The story of War and Resistance in the Wilderness unfolds in the village of Niwiska, which found itself in the midst of an enormous Nazi German military complex known as “Heidelager” supported by an elaborate camp system, labeled a “city in the woods” by locals. Under German occupation, the center of gravity in the region shifted to a concentration camp equipped with a crematorium in Pustków and a launch site for Hitler’s Wunderwaffe in Blizna. All three villages – Niwiska, Pustków, and Blizna – became part of a new local constellation of German power that shaped the everyday life of all of its inhabitants. In this planet born of the German occupation, the skies at times rained down mysterious metal objects – or human ashes.

Even as the Holocaust was a tragedy of Biblical proportions, its course on the local level was intertwined with the struggles of non-Jews caught up with their own life-and-death drama. Based on a clever reconstruction of historical events and documents, the book conveys a sense of the tragedy experienced by its chosen protagonists. In doing so, it restores a measure of dignity to the ‘little people’ inhabiting provincial Poland, who faced unprecedented moral dilemmas and whose lives were forever changed by the war.”

 ̶ Tomasz Frydel, University of Toronto and Fellow at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC.

 

 

 

 

 

America’s Space Program Has Its Beginnings in a Little Village in Poland

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Blizna and Niwiska, two wilderness villages in Poland, share a prominent place in America’s history of space travel. It was there the German’s top-secret V-1 and V-2 rockets were launched for experimental and training purposes during WWII from 1943 to the summer of 1944. The research and knowledge acquired from the V-1 and V-2 missile program that ended in Blizna would lead to the first intercontinental ballistic missile, the first spy satellite and the “small step” taken by astronaut Neil Armstrong.

v-2-crashing

V-2 missile crashing during WWII

The post-WWII space race between the Soviet Union and the United States had its origins in these remote villages because of what their scientists had learned about rocket engineering. During the war, much of this information was smuggled to the Allies due to the amazing dedication of the local foresters and AK or Armia Krajowa. The Russians pushed out the Germans in August 1944 and were desperate to retrieve missile fragments and information the Nazis had left behind.

assembly-hall-fragments

Fragments of missile assembly area in Blizna

The story begins in the years preceding WWII. Wernher von Braun, a preeminent scientist of Germany’s pre-war rocket development program and later the post-war director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center was inspired in the 1930s by a science fiction movie “Woman in the Moon.” What had been conceived as a creative and ambitious vision of von Braun and his peers for space travel was turned into a sinister weapon of mass destruction by the Nazis. Von Braun worked at the Peenemunde and Blizna test sites and personally visited the missile impact areas to troubleshoot any problems discovered during trials.

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von Braun with German officers in Blizna

The development of the V-1 flying bomb and the V-2 missile was originally housed in Peenemunde on the Baltic coast in Germany until the Allies destroyed much of the facility in August 1943. While the scientists’ housing was the first target, the British unfortunately also destroyed the nearby concentration camp. Some of the prisoners who perished were the ones who first alerted the British to the existence of Hitler’s top-secret weapon’s program.

v2

The research and testing program for the V-1 and V-2 missiles was then moved to the secluded area near Blizna in the fall of 1943. The adjacent villages of Niwiska and Pustkow had been previously evacuated to house an SS military base in the early years of the war and had been well developed by the time of the missile program’s move to Blizna. Himmler himself recommended the move to this area.

map-of-blizna-at-center

The new location in Blizna was desirable as it was outside the range of the Allied bombers. Most of the villagers had already been evacuated to live in nearby villages. Other villagers who were forced to serve the Nazi’s goals lived in facilities within the boundaries of Camp Heidelager, the largest SS training camp outside of Germany while they worked in construction, farming, carpentry, and as maids, cooks, and servants.

slave-laborers-in-ammo-factory

Polish Slave Laborers in a German Ammunition Factory

Two hundred of the slave laborers came from the concentration camp in nearby Pustkow. They were used to build the new infrastructure starting with concrete roads and then a narrow-gauge railway to link to the station at Kochanowka. Barracks, bunkers, buildings and specialized equipment for the firing of the rockets were needed. During WWII 15,000 people died in the Pustkow Concentration Camp.

1945-dora-mittelbau-a4-raketenfertigung-zwangsarbeiter

Polish Slave Laborers working for the Germans

Efforts were made to disguise the launching sites as much as possible. The Nazis built an artificial village, hoping the area would appear inhabited when the Allies took aerial photos. Cottages and barns made of plywood, lines hung with clothes and bedsheets, and plaster statues of people and animals were created to enhance the deception.

The site in Blizna was of high strategic importance and attracted personal visits from the most high-ranking Nazi officers: Heinrich Himmler, Hans Hammler, and Gottlob Berger. Adolf Hitler visited in the spring of 1944.

Heinrich Himmler visits

Himmler’s visit to Blizna

The missile testing ground at Blizna, commanded by Dr. Walter Dornberger, was soon identified by the Polish resistance movement thanks to reports from local farmers and foresters. The AK field agents managed to obtain pieces of the fired rockets by arriving on the scene before German patrols. The Germans were aware of the AK, but the AK was always watching the Germans.

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Polish Underground Fighters (Armia Krajowa- AK)

The AK Home Army partisans were actively involved in the sabotage of the missiles originally built at the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp. A group from the Polish underground had infiltrated the crew and sabotaged the construction. Once the flawed rockets were placed on their launching pads, they did not follow the programs and commands of the microcomputers. The rockets would lift off but then fall back either directly on the spot or would fly off course.  The saboteurs had either cut the wires or slackened the fuel conduits.

Learning of this sabotage, Von Braun intervened and decided the rockets should be dismantled at Mittelbau- Dora before transport and then reassembled in Blizna. This was done in the assembly hall close to the barracks near the road to Blizna.

Many local rangers or foresters from Blizna and Niwiska were also agents of the Home Army. Forest Inspector Stachowski was the leader of this close-knit group. The Germans suspected the foresters, but the amount of wood they supplied was an incredibly valuable service and resource for the Nazis. The foresters had access to virtually every location in the local heavily forested territories, and their contributions to uncovering V-weapons secrets were immense.

Fragments of rockets were readily found by the foresters and partisans, and most were covertly transported to the Allies for decoding.  Sometimes, local farmers repurposed the high-grade metal into shovels and tools. The punishment for possessing one of these fragments was immediate death.

These heroic acts of sabotage came at a high price: the Nazis killed an average of 300 workers working on the missile production every day through starvation or accidents.

The story of von Braun and his men is fascinating. As the war was ending, they sought out the Americans, and von Braun’s brother brokered an agreement with the US government to immigrate to America. This elite group of scientists could have chosen to work with England or the Soviet Union, so it was in America’s best interests to offer them asylum. 

So, it can be said that Blizna and Niwiska had a prominent role in America’s space program. Out of the ashes of Nazi-occupied Europe, a group of German scientists decided to cut a deal with the Americans. Their German rocketry expertise was combined with the efforts of independent wartime scientists in California. With Werner von Braun, they carried the keys to the Space Age to America.

Assembly of a V-2 warhead before launching

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A Model of a V-2 at the Blizna Historical Park

Please look for the soon to be released historical novel “War and Resistance in the Wilderness” that tells the story of the brave partisans from this area of Poland.

 

Poland Under Nazi Rule 1939-1941

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photo under nazi rule

I just edited and published a declassified CIA report written in 1941 by Thaddeus Chylinski, the American Vice Consul in Warsaw from 1920-1941. This 110-page report was written by Chylinski when he returned to the United States in the fall of 1941 and provided numerous details describing the desperate situation in Poland. It is perhaps the most objective and unbiased report you will ever read and documents that our government and allies had an accurate description of Germany’s takeover in Poland.

“Poland Under Nazi Rule” will be of great interest to anyone interested in WWII, Poland’s History, and the Holocaust.

The book was released on Jan 1, 2019, and the Kindle version will be available throughout the month of January 2019 for just $.99. It is also available as a 6×9 paperback. Follow this Amazon link:

https://read.amazon.com/kp/card?asin=B07MB88YSN&preview=inline&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_9S5lCbH7GSCHA“>

The chapter headings include:

Poland Under Nazi Rule (The Germans Take Possessions and Behavior of Regular Troops.)

Terror (Round-ups and mass arrests, Individual Arrests, Arrests of Women and Girls, Mass Executions, Hostages, List of Prominent Persons who Died in Prisons or Concentration Camps, The Poles Protest, Confiscation of Property)

Condition of the People (General Condition of the Cultured, Working and Peasant Class)

Minorities (The Jewish Problem, German Ukrainian Relations in Poland, Russians, Americans, other neutrals, and Italians, French Nationals, The Georgians.)

Economic Conditions (Fuel, Food, Packages from Portugal, Clothing, Relief Activities, American Relief, Medical Supplies, Relief Among Jews)

Polish Industries Under German Occupation (Damages due to Military Operation, Policy with Regard to Polish Industries, Lists of Former Industrials Plants included in the German War Industry System, German Control over Polish Industries, Employment of Poles in the German WAr Industries in Poland, Control of Iron, steel and other metals, Expansion of Germany’s War Industries in Poland.

Communication and Transportation (Railways, Postal System, Telegraph)

Authorities in the General Government (The General Government, The Gestapo, Polish Police Force, The Emissions Bank)

Education-Science-Art (Education, The Press, The Theatre, Art, Music)

Warsaw After Two Year of German Occupation (Extent of Damages and Repairs, Losses in People, Present Population of Warsaw, Transportation, General Aspect of the City)

The Underground (Organization and Activities, the “V” Campaign, Acts of Violence, General Opinion in Poland regarding the Political Situation)

The Russo German War

British Intelligence in the General Government

The cover is a photo of a gun hidden within a carved out area of a book used by someone in the Polish Underground (Armia Krajowa.)  The photo was taken at the Museum of the Armia Krajowa in Krakow.

Readers may also be interested in a helpful book I released this fall “Travel Back to Your Polish Roots.”  The books details how to begin the necessary genealogy research for Polish immigrants and then how to jump across the pond to find not only your ancestors’ records but hopefully family in Poland!  I began that journey about six years ago and have discovered and then visited my newly discovered cousins. They liked me well enough to invite me back this past May to stay in their home!  The book will also help you with advice on planning travel and some unique ideas for visiting Poland’s wonderful sites.  Poland has it all! It is also available on Amazon.com.

 

 

 

 

From Imam to Pastor

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Operation Christmas Child Collection week is November 12-19, 2018 Please read this true, inspirational story about the impact of a simple gift of a shoebox!

Savannah

Told by David*, a National Coordinator for Operation Christmas Child

Serving in mid-western coastal Africa

Written by Donna Gawell

“You are a Christian. We don’t want anything to do with you! Get out of here!” These are words an Operation Christmas Child worker hopes to never hear, especially in a remote Islamic village in Africa. Most people would likely run in the other direction and wonder if they misunderstood God’s directives.

David, a National Coordinator for Operation Christmas Child, praised God as he told the miraculous story of his teams’ journey to bring fifty cartons of OCC shoeboxes to the “Overseas” area in the Northern Region of his country.  The area earned its unusual name from the floods that restrict transportation on nearly all of its major and back roads during the rainy season. The region becomes a veritable sea, and boats are required to access it. “Overseas” is also associated with the area’s remoteness, harshness, and deprivation. The inhabitants have little access to quality education and health services.

The Overseas Region is predominantly Muslim and was an unreached area for OCC, but David felt God’s calling to take a team there in 2015. The original group of ten men dwindled to just four after they had discovered the villagers were considered inhospitable and didn’t welcome strangers.

The team included David, a pastor, the National Church Mobilization Coordinator, and a Regional Coordinator, none of whom had ever traveled to this region.  They eagerly began their trip from on a hired bus loaded with the Operation Christmas Child cartons. The pastor had two villages in mind and planned to distribute the boxes evenly between them. No one was certain of the villages’ names or the distance and time the trip would demand. They guessed the journey would take about two hours.

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Nothing is easy in this part of the world. After a long 4 ½ hour journey by bus, the team arrived at the river thinking the village would surely be nearby. The men were dismayed to learn the remainder of the trip would be by dugout canoe and then on foot. The canoe man’s boat, with only paddles and no motor, could hold only twenty cartons, so they left the other thirty cartons in a dry and secluded area.

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As the journey continued, communication became a significant obstacle. People in this country speak fifty-two different languages. English, surprisingly, is the country’s official language. The pastor was the only one who understood the canoe man’s language.

When the OCC team reached their drop-off point, the canoe man arranged for five boys to guide them to the first village. They soon realized the village was much farther than anyone had anticipated despite the advice given by the canoe man. With only nine people to carry the shoeboxes, the team decided to venture on with only five cartons.

At that time of year, the Overseas region is a savanna with few trees and even fewer inhabitants. After their two-hour journey on foot, the team finally discovered a village but was disappointed to learn it was not the target village. Still, the group wanted to bless this small village before they went on.

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The stories they had heard about the intimidating nature of the “Overseas” villagers were true. Upon learning the team was Christian, the Imam of the village made it clear that they were not welcome and said, “You are Christians. We don’t want anything to do with you. Get out of here!” The team realized they were considered “new faces” and felt threatened by the hostility of the Imam and the elders. They swiftly departed and ventured on to find their target village.

On the way, the team observed a group of twenty schoolchildren dressed in Muslim clothing walking towards them. David and his team noted the children were afraid and so offered each child a shoebox. The excited children dashed off quickly with their gifts. The four men remained unaware these shoeboxes were destined to be used mightily for the Kingdom.

The weary team continued on the path when voices were heard from a distance. As they turned to investigate, the team observed a group of about eight men coming in their direction. David and the others froze when they realized these were some of the same men who had just ousted them out of their village. The team immediately began praying. They were certain the men from the village were angry about their children’s gifts and had come to beat them up− or worse.

To his astonishment, David noted smiles on the men’s faces as they approached the team. The villagers told the team the Imam wanted them to come back to the village. Even though it was late in the afternoon, the group returned but did not understand this turn of events.

The atmosphere had changed from hostile to one of welcome, and the elders invited the men to sit on a long tree trunk, the place of honor in the village. The team refused, wanting an explanation for this puzzling change of heart.

Everyone in the village was smiling, but the widest smile was on the face of the Imam who only thirty minutes ago revealed a furious scowl. The Imam and elders explained they had examined the shoeboxes the children carried back to the village and decided that these four men meant no harm and that the shoeboxes were “good gifts.” The Imam said, “Only people who were good would give such gifts as these boxes.”

The Imam had lived in the pastor’s home city for 15 years and had learned the local language. The two men could communicate, but the Pastor did not know the language spoken in the village. This situation created a dilemma for the team as the Imam was the only person who could speak directly to the villagers.

The pastor explained that the boxes could only be distributed if he had a chance to tell the villagers about Jesus. The Imam would be required to translate the Pastor’s words into the local language, and he willingly agreed. The Gospel message was delivered to the entire village through their Imam’s own voice. David and the team were confident the Imam accurately translated the Pastor’s words as they observed the reactions from the crowd.

The dry savanna winds had miraculously carried the Holy Spirit beyond the village as about one thousand people, some from the surrounding areas, eventually gathered in this small village. Even another Imam from a neighboring village had come with some of his people to hear what the strangers had to say. The schoolchildren from his village who received some of the shoeboxes had shared the news about the team and the boxes.

The team talked about Jesus using His titles from the Koran referring to Him as the Messiah, the Son of Mary, and the Messenger of God. The Pastor felt God had blessed them with the freedom to speak boldly.

The Pastor and the Imam imparted the Gospel message for over an hour. Then the Pastor asked if anyone wished to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Ninety percent of the children and young adults raised their hands. He told them to keep their hands raised, and they repeated the sinners’ prayer together. It was, of course, the Imam’s voice that gave the new believers’ the words they were to repeat.

The large group grew quiet as many of the villagers received Jesus, but all of the elders remained on the bench with their hands down. The Imam showed no outward signs that he wished to receive Jesus Christ on that day, but God was tenderly transforming his heart.

The villagers retrieved the remaining cartons left near the river and all the children in the village received a shoebox. The team then asked for volunteers to teach the children about Jesus. Much to everyone’s astonishment, the Imam was the first one to accept this challenge with four others joining him!

The Pastor and the Regional Coordinator returned to the village just days later with two teachers to train the Imam and other volunteers. Operation Christmas Child provided the resources, food, water, and supplies for the team to stay for one month to disciple the new leaders from the two villages.

The Pastor returned six months later in the fall of 2015. The Imam was no longer a follower of Islam but was now a devoted follower of Jesus. The new congregation worshiped under the roof of a large hut with the new members enthusiastically perched on the ground to hear the teaching each Wednesday and Sunday. The Imam asked the Pastor, “Why don’t you set up a church for us?” Operation Christmas Child praised God for this request and delivered Bibles in the native language of the village, wooden chairs, and other supplies.

One year later, David and another Pastor eagerly returned to see the transformation in the village. The former Imam was no longer wearing his Muslim hat or attire as he led his Christian congregation of 120 people in worship. As the new village Pastor, he was respectful of those who chose to remain Muslims and never pressured or forced anyone to convert.

When he ended his story, David smiled and thanked God, “I knelt on my knees in the village and said ‘God, you can do ANYTHING!’ This is a miracle!”

David’s teams’ arduous journey in 2015 has opened the Overseas area in Africa to receive the Gospel message because of the precious gift of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. The local pastor, who travels to this village every three months, reported that the surrounding villages have heard the stories and look forward to a visit from an Operation Christmas Child team.  The North Region received four hundred eighty cartons for the 2017 distribution, and we all pray for the impact of the boxes to multiply as the Good News spreads throughout the  “Overseas” region. 

*This story was told by “David” to Donna Gawell in June 2017 in Columbus, Ohio when he was visiting his family in America. He gave his approval for the story’s distribution. His name and the country, town and villages’ names were changed for his and the village’s protection. 

Donna is a Drop Off Center Team Leader for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritans’ Purse and a Year-Round Volunteer. Please consider donating packing a shoebox.  You can find more information about this international ministry by clicking this link:

Samaritans’ Purse

The photos in this story are representative, and not of the village.

 

 

 

 

A Real Puritan Woman: Joan Braybrooke Penny

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joan-p

Mehitabel’s Evil Stepmother : Joan Braybrooke Penney

Joan Braybrooke, one of the main characters in “The Shadow of Salem: The Redemption of Mehitabel Braybrooke, had every reason to be angry. Her husband, Richard Braybrooke, and their indentured servant were accused of fornication in 1652 by the courts in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  After being whipped and fined, Richard fulfilled the next part of his sentence: he was to raise his infant daughter Mehitabel in the Braybrooke home.

It was also a historical fact that Joan held Mehitabel in contempt throughout her childhood. The Braybrooke’s neighbors attributed their opinions of sixteen-year-old Mehitabel to their conversations with her stepmother Joan. The actual court records quote them to describe Mehitabel as “unchaste and spiteful,” and as “a liar and a thief.”

How tragic that Mehitabel would be the only child in the Braybrooke household. Joan Braybrooke was a barren woman; a situation considered a sign of God’s disfavor in the Puritan culture.

Joan made it into the Ipswich court records for her own offenses on several occasions. In 1653, she was brought into the quarterly court for “wearing a silk scarf,” a crime in Massachusetts if her husband’s property was valued at less than 200 pounds. The Puritans viewed the wearing of lace or silks as a privilege only for the wealthy. She was proven not guilty on that charge. Joan was also charged four years later with “a breach of the Sabbath” for “carrying a half bushel of corn or pease” on her way to church. The Puritans had rather draconian punishments for those who violated the Sabbath rest!

The most dramatic event in Joan’s life came in the year 1692 with an accusation that would be punishable by death if proven true.  Read about Joan Braybrooke Penney in The Shadow of Salem. 

This article is part of a series telling the history of some of the real Puritan women who were part of Mehitabel’s life in the historical novel In the Shadow of Salem. The book is in print and e-book format through Amazon.   Linked here:  https://amzn.to/2GWUHzO

The Tragic Life of A Real Puritan Woman: Rachel Clinton

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406-mary_dyer_being_led

The story of Rachel Haffield Clinton’s tragic life lies buried in the early records of Ipswich, Massachusetts. Her family emigrated to New England on the sailing ship named The Planter in the spring of 1635. She grew up in an affluent household when Ipswich was a new village in the colony of Massachusetts, but the Haffield family’s fortune dwindled shortly after their arrival.

The years to come would find Rachel destitute and then accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Rachel is one of  the fascinating characters in the newly released historical novel In the Shadow of Salem.” https://amzn.to/2GWUHzO

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An Interview with Mehitabel Braybrook Downing

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Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could interview an ancestor from long ago?  Please enjoy my interview with Mehitabel Braybrooke Downing, the main character in my historical novel, In the Shadow of Salem.

DONNA: Thank you for this unique opportunity to interview you, my 8th great grandmother. Would you start out by telling me about your beginnings−your birth?

MEHITABEL: I was born in 1652 in Ipswich, Massachusetts which was a Puritan colony. My birth mother was my father’s indentured servant. She and my father were brought before the Ipswich courts for the sin of fornication, and they were both whipped, and my father was fined.

DONNA: Tell me about your early years in Ipswich.

MEHITABEL:  The courts insisted my father Richard had to take me to his home and raise me as a good Puritan child. Joan, my stepmother, always resented me and didn’t treat me kindly even though she had no children of her own. I was their only child.

DONNA: How did you and your husband, John Downing meet?

MEHITABEL: We were both born and raised in Ipswich. Everyone knew one another as the colony was still so young. He was ten years older than me, so we were not childhood playmates.

DONNA: You married him at quite a young age.

MEHITABEL:  Yes, like you mentioned in the story, most Puritan women didn’t marry until they were about twenty-two, but things were not going well for me after my time in prison for arson. John wanted to marry me, but my father also rewarded his willingness with a very handsome dowry.  My father gave John about half of his lands.

DONNA: So your in-laws really were the illustrious Emanuel and Lucy Downing?

MEHITABEL: Yes, but they had moved back to England and Emanuel had died by the time we married. Lucy was not attentive to her children she left in the colony. I heard that historians have even written about how Lucy foolishly put all her attention on Sir George, her eldest son. He certainly didn’t treat her well when she became elderly and was forced to depend on him.

DONNA: In your opinion, were the book’s details of your arson trial accurate?

MEHITABEL: Oh, yes!  As I read the court reports about the trial, I am deeply embarrassed. The records present me as a fool and pretty evil, but I was only sixteen. The fire was really a horrible mistake, but I was guilty of starting the fire with my pipe. Standing back now, it all seems so surreal.

DONNA: What about the horrible things said about you in the testimony from your neighbors?

MEHITABEL:  You can see where my neighbors got their wrong opinion of me.  My stepmother, Joan’s words were quoted by others in the court records, calling me unchaste and a liar.

DONNA: It must have been horrible living with a stepmother who hated you.

MEHITABEL: Yes, I didn’t have a loving mother to guide and teach me. The goodwives of the village would criticize and gossip about me.

DONNA: Can you talk about the incident with the pigs tearing at your clothes?

MEHITABEL:  That really did happen. Just like my setting the Perkins’ house on fire, I landed in court, and there is an account that exists to this day.

DONNA:  So, was my accounting accurate?

MEHITABEL:  Let’s just say that you were very kind, but you got the basic story correct.

DONNA:  What about John Beare?  Was he your real cousin?

MEHITABEL:  Absolutely. He lived with us for quite a few years, and father gave him some property when John Beare was of age.

DONNA: What were the most difficult times in your life?

MEHITABEL: My two times in prison were horrible experiences. Prisons back then were vile, cold, and filthy. If your family did not bring food for you, you had to pay for it. If shackles were necessary, the prisoner had to pay for them, and we were given a bill for the cost of our time in prison if we were released.

DONNA: Did I spell your name correctly?

MEHITABEL:  I notice my name was spelled differently in various records, but you chose the one I used: Mehitabel. I used that spelling in that letter “The Ten Persons of Ipswich”−the one we wrote in prison in 1692. That was my signature! Your readers should know that spelling wasn’t standardized back then. My maiden name is spelled Brabrook, Braybrooke, Brabrooke and even Brubruck on different records. Whoever was doing the writing decided on the spelling of a person’s name.

DONNA: How do you feel about having a novel written about you?

MEHITABEL: I am thrilled that finally an accurate and complete story of my life has been written. For the past 350 years, the only things known about me came from those Quarterly court records. It has been so hard to accept that my descendants could only read about my youthful foibles and sins, and even some of those were distortions. Can you imagine how hard this injustice has been to endure for over three hundred years?

DONNA: Is there anything else that the readers of your story should know?

MEHITABEL: They might be interested to know I am probably the only Puritan woman of my time who had historical documents from birth to my life’s end. Court and town records have left me with a rather scurrilous reputation, and I am grateful that you made a valiant attempt to see beyond the cold facts.

In the Shadow of Salem can be purchased on Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Salem-Donna-Gawell/dp/1946016500/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1532380324&sr=8-2&keywords=in+the+shadow+of+salem+by+donna+gawell

 

 

What’s Your Family’s Immigration Story?

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Most Americans have many family immigration stories. Those of us who are second or more generations Americans have ancestors who left their homelands under unimaginable harsh circumstances but passed on few personal records to tell their story. The typical immigrant was far too busy to keep a journal, and their descendants may have discarded the once treasured naturalization or foreign birth records.

My grandfather’s naturalization records found in the National Archives

Today, Americans whose ancestors came more than a hundred years ago might consider them as the privileged ones, but these immigrant stories are just as dramatic as modern-day people who cross America’s borders illegally or wait years until their visas are approved.  The immigrants from long ago didn’t just hop off the boat and get on with their lives. Their situation was often more desperate, and they often sacrificed much more. Continue reading →

In the Shadow of Salem

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I am excited to announce the release of “In the Shadow of Salem” (The Redemption of Mehitabel Braybrooke.). After five years of research and writing, my historical novel is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com for a sizeable discount before the official release date of June 18, 2018.

“In the Shadow of Salem” is a historical novel about the life of Mehitabel Braybrooke, a Puritan woman born in 1652 in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Mehitabel was accused of crimes−the first for arson and the second for witchcraft. History has not been kind to Mehitabel, but what was the real story behind her scurrilous reputation? Would she ever be redeemed from her lifelong curse? Or was Mehitabel as wicked as her numerous Essex Court Records imply?

This novel is the first time any author has written about Mehitabel’s amazing life from birth to the end of her life. Mehitabel Braybrooke Downing is one of the 200 people accused of witchcraft during the Salem trials, but she found herself in the courts on more than a few other occasions. I’m grateful that she generated so many Essex Country court and town records and that she happens to be my 9th great-grandmother!

Please visit the pages on my website dedicated to Puritan history, articles about the real people who are characters in the novel, and “The ABC’s of Crime and Punishment in Puritan New England.

Link for ordering:

https://amzn.to/2GWUHzO

 

The Invasion of Ellis Island in 1944: The Untold Story

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My father, Stanley Bryk served as a Boatswain’s Mate First Class in the US Navy during the World War II. He participated in four invasions, led the enlisted sailors of the USS Lyon and LST-372, shot down aircraft, and supervised the day-to-day operations of both ships. But, his adventures in New York City were perhaps the most distinctive and noteworthy.

 His LST-372 returned to the States to be refitted and rearmed before the Normandy Invasion. While there, the crew made a short stop to New York Harbor where Stanley took the payroll master to Wall Street to fill the payroll slips for the sailors.  He was allowed to use a Higgins boat which is a small boat that could carry troops from ships to open beaches. They drove the boat out, docked, took care of the paperwork, and then attempted to return to the LST-372.

A developing fog in the harbor began to pose a problem.  Stanley motored around looking for the LST, but gave up and attempted to land back on Manhattan Island.  Well, at least they thought they did.  To their amazement, they passed a towering figure−The Statue of Liberty.  Stanley knew that at least he was in New York City!  They finally landed on the adjacent island; Stanley had successfully invaded Ellis Island in that dense fog. 

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The Other Three Million Who Died in the Holocaust: The Forgotten Story of the Polish Christians During WWII

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The forgotten story of the Polish Christians who were killed by the Nazis during WWII is one which few people outside of Poland are aware. All of the people in Poland suffered enormously during the Holocaust−both Jews and Christians. Six million Polish people died under the Nazis and half of these were Christians.  The German occupation and brutality overwhelmed all Poles during WWII, and this fact needs to illuminate the plight of all the Polish people. Unfortunately, some writers of the Holocaust deliberately distort the tragic circumstances of the typical Polish citizen while others might insert this fact in the last sentence of their article.

Polish women forced to work at a Nazi slave labor camp

The Jewish experience of the Holocaust has been remembered and honored in numerous books, movies, and museums. The movie “Schindler’s List” gave us insight into the valiant efforts of businessman Oskar Schindler’s rescue of eleven hundred Jews. Irena Sendler, a Polish Christian nurse and social worker who served in the Polish Underground in German-occupied Warsaw saved more Jews than any other individual  during the Holocaust (besides diplomats who furnished visas.)  Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, but it was instead awarded to Al Gore for his work on climate change.

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Sunday Church Services in Suva, Fiji

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Going to church in Fiji was a highlight of our Transpacific cruise to Australia.  Fiji is a predominantly Christian country, and the first missionaries were the Methodists. We had read about the unique and lovely experience of attending church in Fiji, and so I did a bit of research. I found the Facebook page for the Centenary Methodist Church which is close to the port and contacted them.  I received an immediate welcoming reply: “Bula, Donna!” with a request to know more about us.  I informed the cruise critic group and a group of Christians we had met onboard the Explorer of the Seas about the invitation.

Centenary Methodist Church in Suva, Fiji

 

Our group of about twenty walked off the ship together and easily found our way to the church which was about a ten-minute walk. Some church members were waiting at the stairs of the church for us and greeted us warmly. They had reserved the front pews for our group. 

Many of us had purchased school supplies and backpacks to offer as a gift to the church’s children, and these were placed on an altar table near the front. 

We had a chance to meet several groups of parishioners before the service, and they were very hospitable.

  

A Lali (ceremonial slit drum) announced the beginning of the service.  It functions as a church bell. At this time, the church was filled with the local parishioners and some other visitors.

Our gifts and the congregation’s offerings were formally accepted and blessed. Our fellowship group was introduced and welcomed by the pastor at the beginning of the service which was conducted in their native Fijian.

Many members shared their hymn books with us, and fortunately, the language is rather phonetic and easy to follow.

This particular Sunday was Youth Sunday, and the children mostly sat together with their teachers, and the “Youth” (who appeared to be ages 18-35) were seated in the front and did most of the singing and teaching.  The young women wore white dresses, and many had traditional Fijian hairstyles. Their worship was without instruments, and their voices were lovely, like angels singing, often in four-part harmony. 

The congregation is very traditional and conservative in their style of worship and dress.  The women wore their finest outfits, and the men wore a dark sulu (skirts), a white dress shirt, a tie, and a suit jacket. 

After the service, a curtain was drawn to allow the youth to prepare for a drama. While we could not understand the words, it was obvious the drama was about judgment day and began with the introduction of various types of characters: the humble, the arrogant, the unbeliever, and finally the man who begged crumbs that fell from the table of the rich man.

 

When the poor man died, he was placed on a stretcher that accidentally fell apart, but the performers improvised and just carried him out the front door. The children howled with laughter. The men returned with his coffin.

 

The judgment scene was quite hilarious and tragic at the same time. The Devil, dressed in blackface and clothing, beckoned those to be judged to join him. Two angels guided the judged to their destiny.  Those who went to hell were sent to a smoky area of fire. The congregation, especially the children, loved the drama, and we also found it entertaining.

Visitors can attend the Sunday services at 10:00, but I am so pleased that we were anticipated and especially welcomed because of my prior contact.  The entire service lasted about three hours and the Christian Fijian’s hospitality was warm and friendly.

Besides the lovely singing and sincere worship, I was impressed how reverent the Fijians are about their faith. The island is mostly Christian and has been so since about 1860 when most of the people were converted.

The military takeover relaxed some of the Sunday blue laws, but much of the city is closed on Sundays. It is only recently that some stores and the museum are open after church services and then only when a ship is in port.  Most of those in Suva attend services on Sunday.  Their desire to hold on to tradition is admirable.

We had lunch and walked around a few open shops (Jack’s is one of the largest) before taking a taxi (about $3 USD.) to the Suva Museum.  There are many interesting displays about Fiji’s history and culture, and they don’t hide the fact that cannibalism is part of Fiji’s past. Fiji was referred to as the Cannibal Islands in the late 1700-early 1800’s with good reason.  Sailors were terrified at the possibility of being shipwrecked in the area. The early missionaries left journals and stories about their eyewitness accounts. The last missionary was eaten in 1863. This practice of devouring one’s enemy had more to do with power and humiliation than anything else.  What is remarkable is that Fiji as a culture seems to be traveling in a positive but opposite trajectory compared to many people from western nations who seem to be shedding their moral principles.

A Miss Fiji Beauty Contest was taking place outside of the museum. The young ladies were in their traditional dress, and a festival was also going on.

 

 

 

 

 

We walked back to the ship and stopped in a park to rest. 

The day was delightful and a unique cultural and spiritual experience and the Fijians were hospitable and gracious.

 

 

The Founding Mother of Harvard: Lucy Winthrop Downing, A Puritan Lady of Influence

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Lucy Winthrop was a woman who knew how to get things done in the male-dominated world of the English Puritans. She was born into the aristocratic society of her parents, Sir Adam Winthrop, Lord of the manor of Groton and Anne Browne on January 9, 1601. History remembers her colorful letters and strong, sparkling personality, but Lucy’s most important accomplishment might be her influence in the founding of Harvard.

Lucy married Emanuel Downing, a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1622. She was a pious Puritan, but still enjoyed the life of a lady during her years in London. Lucy’s surviving letters and actions made her priorities clear: her eldest son George was her most important child. His education and career reigned supreme in her life, and she probably rivaled the most determined helicopter mom of the 21st century. Unfortunately, Lucy lived to see her folly and learned that with favoritism came its sister ‘Regret’.

Sir George Downing

The serious and staunch Puritans lamented the tarnished moral state of colleges in England during the 1630’s. The well-educated who wished to follow their families and colleagues to the Massachusetts Bay Colony were presented with a dilemma. New England had no college, but the English universities were rife with “raucous behaviors and frivolities.”

There were no suitable institutes of higher learning for the Puritans on either continent, but Lucy was not about to allow this obstacle prevent her family’s immigration to the Americas. Lucy began a campaign to encourage the founding of a college in New England for her most esteemed son George. Her cherished brother, John Winthrop, was the first governor of the colony and surely had significant influence.

Governor John Winthrop

Winthrop had written many letters to the Downings encouraging them to immigrate. Emanuel represented the Massachusetts Bay Colony before the Privy Council in London on behalf of the colony, and so had knowledge about the opportunities and risks concerning a move to America. Lucy wrote to John about the fearful stories she had heard about life in the colonies: “…many good people here and some that understand New England reasonable well, both by sight and relations of friends, that are able to judge, they do much fear the country cannot afford subsistence for many people, and that if you were not supplied of incomes from hence, you lives would be very miserable…” A skilled negotiator such as Lucy Downing knew she should not appear overly optimistic about such a huge endeavor as a move to the Americas.

In the summer of 1636, John Winthrop increased his efforts for the Downings to join him and his family in New England. Lucy had the keen sense that her influential brother could remove the one barrier that kept them from moving. She wrote a letter to John. “George (her son) and his father comply more cordially for New England; but poor boy, I fear that journey would not be so prosperous for him as I could wish in respect that you have no societies…for the education of youths in learning; It would make me go far nimbler to New England if God should call me to it than otherwise I should, and I believe a college would put no small life into the plantation.” Lucy wanted a college for George!

It cannot be a mere coincidence that in late October 1636 the General Court of Massachusetts agreed to allot £400 to establish a school or college in Newtown, which would later be called Cambridge. The legislature and learned Puritans were fearful “to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.” John Winthrop, as the highly esteemed founder and governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, must have exerted significant influence on behalf of the Downings who had already invested in land and livestock in the colony.

Statue of John Harvard

John Harvard considered one of the founders of Harvard, bequeathed the infant seminary £780 and 400 scholarly books from his library upon his death in 1638. The grateful legislature named the new school “Harvard.” Since Harvard had already been founded two years prior to this gift, John Harvard was not truly a founder but a generous benefactor. Lucy persistence and pressure on the importance of a college in the new colony had to be more than a matter of chance. No other individual’s names are attached to the impetuous to build the colony’s first institute of higher learning. The decision came from the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, of which John Winthrop was a member.

With the news of suitable educational opportunities in New England, the Downings set sail on the Thomas and Francis in 1638. As educated Puritans, they were impressed with the learned and pious men already in the Massachusetts Bay Colony but were likely concerned about the deprivations of colonial life. The Downings left behind their stately London home and summer residence filled with maids and the luxuries expected by the elite for the more primitive accommodations and treacheries in the new colony.

harvard downing house

The Downing’s House on Essex Street in New England

The Downing family lived with Lucy’s brother John until they erected a house on three hundred acres of land in what is now Peabody. They called this plantation “Groton” after Lucy’s English manor. In the summer of 1645, the chimney caught fire while the entire family was away, and the entire house was destroyed. The family moved to a house on Essex Street where they lived until the Lucy and Emanuel returned to England in 1656. Emanuel received an appointment as Clerk of Council of State in Scotland, and they remained there until his death in 1660.

George Downing was a member of the first graduating class from Harvard in 1642 and was second in his class. He was offered a position as Harvard’s first tutor, which was then a prestigious honor. In 1645, he went to Barbados as a chaplain to Sir John Okey’s regiment. It appears he forgot most of his spiritual training after that assignment.

Lucy moved to London after her husband’s death, likely assured she would reap the benefits as the mother of Sir George Downing who was enjoying the protection and privileges from the royal court. Sadly, George treated his mother no better than he did many others. Lucy lived out the rest of her years under the alleged neglect of her most esteemed son. Desperate, she wrote letters to relatives to ask their assistance in petitioning George to increase her allowance as she “suffered in her old age for the necessities of life.”

“I am now at £10 a year for my chamber and for my servant’s wages and have to extend the other £10 to accommodate for our meat and drink, and for my clothing and all other necessaries I am much to seek, and more your brother George will not hear of for me, and he says that it is only covetousness that makes me ask more.”

Lucy’s nephew John Winthrop Jr., Governor of Connecticut, heard of her distress and begged George to “help Aunt Lucy in her time of age and infirmity.” George dismissed the letter insisting he could do no more, although he had already become a very wealthy and influential man. He was Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet and known as a statesman, diplomat, turncoat, and spy.  Downing Street in London and New York City are named in his honor.

Two centuries after Lucy’s death, her story came to the attention of Harriet Hanson Robinson, a 19th-century author and suffragette. HHR pitied Lucy’s situation during her old age but commented on this familiar scenario. “Lucy Downing established the unwise precedent of educating one member of her family at the expense of the rest- a precedent followed by too many women of her time.” HHR’s observations were accurate as no other Downing sons were educated at Harvard and her daughters were sent out to service in the colonies. One of these daughters was forced to marry against her wishes, although most of her children married quite well. Lucy died on April 9, 1679, in London.

Lucy’s colorful writing lives on and shows her sense of humor and unique choice of words. The lack of spelling and grammar conventions back then make her letters sometimes difficult to read, but they provide a rare insight into the life and concerns of this educated and well to do Puritan woman who lived on both continents. Although she was a mother to nine children and three stepchildren, her letters to family rarely mention any except George. This omission seems noteworthy considering she left seven of them in the colonies when she moved back to England.

Why didn’t Harvard pay more tribute to any member of the Downing family for its very existence? Lucy, although educated and cunning was still a female and had little authority or observable power. Not only could women not vote, but they were not allowed control over their own money or inheritances. It was a man’s world. Also, Lucy abandoned any influence she may have enjoyed in the colony when she had her husband returned to England.

The most likely reason for Harvard forgetting the Downing’s influence is that Sir George Downing, one of its first graduates and its first tutor, was held in very low esteem by the colonists after he returned to England. First siding with Cromwell, George switched his allegiance back to the king when the crown was restored. This was remarkable since George gave his full allegiance to Cromwell, but showed the skill of currying favor with those in power throughout his political career, even if it meant traitorous behavior.

George blamed his time with Cromwell on his teachers at Harvard and the elite back in the colonies for their ill-conceived ideas and teachings. Word of this traitorous and disloyal behavior reached the colonies and George was forevermore held in disdain. It became a proverbial expression in New England to refer to a false man who betrayed his trust as “an errant George Downing.”  Harvard had little reason or incentive to honor Sir George Downing or his mother, Lucy Winthrop Downing.

Lucy’s father, Sir Adam Winthrop

The historical novel, In the Shadow of Salem, is the story of Mehitabel Braybrooke Downing, Lucy Downing’s daughter-in-law. It is available on Amazon.

 

 

If You Were a Puritan: What Would Be Your Title?

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If you lived in the Massachusetts Bay or Plymouth colonies in the 17th century what would your title have been?  Our early colonial ancestors had traditions in assigning honorific titles that were not based on marital status.

The Puritans and Pilgrims used different standards, and the majority of the early colonists would NOT have been referred to as Mr. or Mrs. A review of the Quarterly Court Records, the Mayflower Compact and many records from the Salem Witchcraft Trials reveal various titles of distinction.

The Mayflower Compact, one of our earliest documents signed by the pilgrims or separatists reveals only eleven of the forty-one signers as Mr. The other thirty used only their first and surnames. As recent arrivals from England, they would have followed the English traditions. Mister is a direct variant of master which was further derived from the Old English meagester, meaning “one having control or authority.” Well-educated and elite Englishmen may have carried royal titles, and those not of royal descent, literate tradesmen, and skilled artisans would have been referred to as Mr.  Continue reading →

S is for Spectral Evidence

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One of the greatest travesties of justice in American history was that spectral evidence was allowed as court testimony during the Salem Witchcraft Trials in 1692. Spectral evidence is based on the visions, hallucinations, or dreams of the accuser. Today, it is inconceivable that any sane person would consider this type of evidence as valid, and there were some in colonial New England who would have agreed

A specter is a spirit or ghostly apparition that causes torment to its victims. The problem is that others cannot see the specter even though they may observe the alleged victim writhing in pain. Only the “victim” and perhaps a few of her friends were privy to observe the specter. This evidence was considered admissible at the time because the Puritans believed that the Devil and his minions were at work and powerful enough to send their evil spirits to lead pure, religious people astray.

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The Other Three Million Who Died in the Holocaust: The Forgotten Story of the Polish Christians During WWII

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The forgotten story of the Polish Christians who were killed by the Nazis during WWII is one which few people outside of Poland are aware. All of the people in Poland suffered enormously during the Holocaust−both Jews and Christians. Six million Polish people died under the Nazis and half of these were Christians.  The German occupation and brutality overwhelmed all Poles during WWII, and this fact needs to illuminate the plight of all the Polish people. Unfortunately, some writers of the Holocaust deliberately distort the tragic circumstances of the typical Polish citizen while others might insert this fact in the last sentence of their article.

Polish women forced to work at a Nazi slave labor camp

The Jewish experience of the Holocaust has been remembered and honored in numerous books, movies, and museums. The movie “Schindler’s List” gave us insight into the valiant efforts of businessman Oskar Schindler’s rescue of eleven hundred Jews. Irena Sendler, a Polish Christian nurse and social worker who served in the Polish Underground in German-occupied Warsaw saved more Jews than any other individual  during the Holocaust (besides diplomats who furnished visas.)  Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, but it was instead awarded to Al Gore for his work on climate change.

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Q is for Quakers

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The Quakers couldn’t have presented a more dramatic contrast to the established church in Essex County. Puritans evidenced no tolerance for other faiths, and the Quakers seemed to incur more than their share of the community’s disdain and intolerance.

The Puritan church held a high and strict version of Calvinist theology. Their narrow interpretation of scripture did not tolerate even the slightest deviation, and sin and crime were synonymous. Their ministers were jealous gatekeepers of God’s Word, and no concept threatened them like the Quaker belief in an ordained ministers’ irrelevance.

Quakers ideas were far less rigid than other faiths, especially in their rejection of many ordinances and rituals. They discarded baptism, the Lord’s Supper and even paid ordained clergy. The Puritans considered these beliefs as heretical, especially the Quaker’s reliance of the “Inner Light” to guide them. Their worship consisted of waiting in silence until moved by the Inner Light which was then shared with the other members.

These early Quakers were not viewed as peaceful or docile but were instead just as zealous in their beliefs as the Puritans. They would burst into church services, bang pots and pans together, and would even strip naked to show they weren’t attached to worldly things. The Quakers patterned their protestations after the prophet Isaiah who went naked for three years as a sign of judgment and their impending doom.

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The Puritans in New England were prepared when the first Quaker preachers arrived in Boston Harbor in 1656. Ann Austin and Mary Fisher who thought they had the gift of prophecy, were arrested as witches before they even set foot onshore. While still on board ship, Austin and Fisher were ordered to be stripped naked and searched for signs of witchcraft (Devil’s Marks). Their literature was burned, and the women were jailed for five weeks before being banished from the colony.

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Although the Quakers were intensely persecuted by Puritans, they continued to arrive in the Massachusetts Colony.  They seemed intent upon disrupting the staunch Puritan Society and would stand in the Meetinghouse to speak after sermons and would shout from their jail cells. The prisons became filled with Quakers, and at least four were executed.  Those who refused to comply with laws prohibiting writing and speaking out were subjected to hideous deterrents such as cutting off an ear or having their tongues bored through with a hot iron.

Despite these persecutions, the Quakers found a number of supporters amongst locals and were repeated imprisoned, fined and physically punished. In 1663, which was a banner year for Quaker protests, a group of women appeared in church naked as the day they were born. They attempted to demonstrate that they were like newborns:  innocent and without shame. Deborah Wilson’s sentence for this crime was wrought with irony. She was stripped to the waist, tied to a cart, and whipped as she was paraded through town.

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A “King’s Missive” from King Charles II halted all Quaker executions, although less severe punishments continued.  After 1675, Quakers were able to freely live, work and worship after the Massachusetts’ Bay Colony experienced an influx of other faith groups.

 

P is for Punishments

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Years ago we visited the Criminal Museum in picturesque Rothenberg, Germany. Typical Americans who tour Europe visit royal palaces and grand museums unaware that these ostentatious sites and elegant objects likely are not part of most peoples’ heritage. Relatively few royals immigrated to America. Most of us descended from the persecuted peasant class. This unique museum was my introduction to the cruel world my peasant ancestors had to endure.

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The Criminal Museum displayed hundreds of fascinating punishment devices used in medieval times. I recall a heavy wooden rosary that had to be worn for missing Sunday mass.  There was metal contraption (shown below) resembling a flute that was secured around the neck and inserted into the mouth. Every breath produced a shirll, strident sound announcing that the flutist was a disgraceful musician.

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Polish Home Army During WW2

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Today is the 75th Anniversary of the founding of the Polish Home Army which was by far the largest resistance force in Poland when it was occupied by Nazi Germany. At its height, in 1944, over 400,000  Polish men and women were involved in the Polish Home Army’s resistance efforts. They performed well over 30,000 acts of sabotage and fought over a thousand pitched battles and 24 major encounters. They had no armored vehicles or tanks and no air force or navy. It was mainly infantry aided by their compatriots who were forced into slave labor in camps. By design, these factory workers produced munitions and equipment that malfunctioned or rendered useless in battle.

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Polish Underground Grenade Production

Poles of all many religions, Protestant, Jewish, Orthodox, and Muslims, joined the predominantly Roman Catholic Poles in The Home Army. They all shared a love of country and Poland’s standards and wanted their country back. There was also what could be referred to as a phantom army of supporters. The fathers, mothers, sisters, brother and neighbors were the ears and eyes that provided medics, chaplains, messengers and financiers for the regular Home Army.

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German Train Blown Up by the AK

The resistance blew up German bridges and railroads, and their mission was to reduce Germany’s ability to wage war and to defeat them through acts of espionage to provide intelligence for the Allies. They also worked to rescue countless Jews, Poles, and POWs in prison camps. An estimated 1-3 million Poles died trying to rescue or help Jews.

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Polish Underground Radio Station

The Polish government still existed throughout WWII, intact and in exile in England with a small navy and air force also stationed in there. Poland’s treasure in gold bullion was sent to England and helped Britain purchase weapons and materials for its defense.

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The Polish underground sent a working replica of the German “enigma machine” along with the ciphers to England in 1939. With this device, the British could read every military dispatch sent from Germany by airwaves or by captured couriers. Three Polish mathematicians, Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki and Henryk Zyalsi were credited with the enigma replica. Alan Turning, a Brit was later given exclusive credit for this feat but was really responsible for making a version that could meet the wartime challenge of daily code changes.

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AK (Armia Krajowa)

During WWII, 7,000 German trains and 5,000 German vehicles were destroyed by the AK. Polish intelligence was the most consistent, prolific and reliable compared to any other occupied country during the war. The gallant efforts of the Home Army allowed the Nazis to squander valuable manpower and resources on failed operations.

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Symbol of AK (Armia Krajowa

Although the Allies greatly valued the AK’s work, in the end, the Polish Army was given very little credit. We must not forget the millions of precious heroes who gallantly sacrificed their lives but were extinguished so ruthlessly.

 

N is for Nimrod the Rebellious Indian and O is for Ordinaries or Taverns

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N is for Nimrod, the Indian who made it into the Essex Court Records a few times. At first, he was like most of the other Native Americans from the area and hoped that the Puritans would help to defend his tribe against their more aggressive enemies.  Eventually, Nimrod began more antagonistic actions towards the Puritan community. The delicate and controversial topic of the Puritans and the Native Americans needs to be reviewed before Nimrod’s actions can be understood.

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The Puritan’s initial contacts with the Indians were mostly for trade and diplomacy.  In the earliest colonial decades, Puritans were vastly outnumbered by the Native Americans and were attempting to establish themselves in the area.  Missionary attempts to convert the native populations were still considered too much of a risk.

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The Amazing Story of Anna Grabiec’s Undelivered Letter

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Anna Grabiec has been sending letters to America all her life, but one unmailed letter made her quite the American celebrity.

The entire village of Niwiska had been evacuated so the Nazi Regime could conduct research on a top-secret project of Hitlers: the V1 and V2 missiles. Many villagers were kept as workers for construction and provide food for the Germans through the maintenance of the local farms.

After World War II, the villagers in Niwiska suffered under the equally oppressive Soviet occupation of Poland.  The Russians occupied the area shortly before WWII officially ended. They used the flatlands of Niwiska to operate an airstrip.

An American B-24 bomber was hit and disabled by an anti-aircraft fire and had to make an emergency landing in Niwiska. Obviously relieved that they were able to land in a region of Poland that was no longer overrun with Germans, they were accommodated in an old schoolhouse with food and vodka until arrangements could be made for them to get back to their base in Italy. The crew of American airmen had to stay in Niwiska for several weeks but were kept away from the locals. Perhaps the Russians didn’t want the villagers to be influenced by American values and the good news of democracy.

The Niwiska villagers, of course, knew that the Americans were there and seized the opportunity to send letters to their relatives in America. They lost almost everything during the Nazi occupation of their village and wanted others to know of their desperate plight.

The villagers had written letters and hid them on the shelf above the outhouse door near the schoolhouse. At great risk of being caught, the villagers asked the American airmen to deliver the letters. One of those letters was from Anna Grabiec who wanted to communicate the situation in Niwiska to her aunt and uncle in Cleveland.

The Airmen were happy to fulfill this request, and they divided the letters between them. The one from Anna Grabiec was returned as undeliverable.  Perhaps her aunt and uncle had moved, or the address was incorrect.  The young pilot, Ed List put the undelivered letter in a briefcase and forgot about it−for more than forty years.

It was in November 1989 when Ed List and his daughter Talia Moser found the letter in the briefcase, and he explained what had happened. Talia was determined to find the writer and with the help of a Polish coworker, had the letter translated. Talia contacted the priest in Niwiska and he, of course, knew Anna Grabiec, a teacher in the village.

Talia’s generous and inquisitive spirit has been rewarded by a thankful and steady twenty-year correspondence with Anna Grabiec who wrote about her family’s hardships during the Nazi invasion. Typical of what I have learned about Anna, her letters also contained sincere gratitude for the kindness of those American airmen so very long ago.

 

M is for Maritime Crimes- Piracy!

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Piracy was America’s first encounter with organized crime. The golden age of piracy was from mid-1600 to the early 1700’s and flourished in the areas of the West Indies and colonial America.

The economy of Europe’s superpowers suffered greatly because of piracy but it was viewed differently in the New World. The Navigation Acts of the 1600’s were passed to strengthen England by restricting her colonies from commerce with other European nations. This had the effect of creating a black market, opening the door to maritime crimes.

Colonial merchants felt burdened with the prospect of paying exorbitant prices for English goods and also desired access to a wider variety of goods smuggled into the colonies from other nations.

Local colonial economies benefited from dealing with pirates or privateers. Many harbors exacted a per man fee for a pirate vessel to dock, and their local economies were bolstered as the crew came ashore to purchase foods, gunpowder, supplies and alcohol from local merchants. Pirates enjoyed a certain amount of celebrity as they strolled down the streets of New England.

Some historians believe that pirates, working with colonial officials, helped England hold onto the American colonies. Spain gave up some of its American empire just to get pirating of its cargo ships to stop. Indian and black slaves who were greatly oppressed by the Spanish in the Caribbean gave pirates inside information on where to dock ships and find supplies. Those who fled plantations were welcomed to join the crew on pirate ships.

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William Kidd, one of the most notorious pirates, started out as a privateer and was hired by European sovereign nations to attack foreign ships. History views him as more of a privateer who worked on behalf of the English until he went rogue on his final trip. Kidd and his crew attacked the Quadegh Merchant, a large Armenian ship carrying vast amounts gold, silk, spices, and other riches. With that ill-fated action, Kidd found himself on the wrong side with the British government. An influential minister was part owner of the cargo. When news about Kidd’s attack reached the minister, he complained to the East India Company. Kidd was brought from Boston to London and hanged in 1701. As a warning to other pirates, his body was covered in pitch and hung in a cage for twenty years for all sailors to see along the River Thames.

L is for Lists of Criminal Acts

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Yes, there were crimes during the Puritan era, but weren’t the Puritans a group of virtuous people with only noble qualities? The original colonists certainly intended to live saintly lives as they left England in 1630 with noble concepts. They envisioned their immigrants would be an example of righteous living for the rest of the world. The governor, John Winthrop, clearly articulated their purpose: “We shall be as a city upon a hill; the eyes of all people are upon us.”  

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Travel Back to Your Roots- now on Amazon!

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Travel Back to Your Roots has just been released on Amazon.com. My goal in writing this book was to inspire others who wish to research their European immigrant ancestors and hopefully discover cousins back in the old country.

Travel Back to Your Roots is for beginning genealogists and those who may not know how to make the jump over the pond to research parish and village or town records in Europe. The reader will learn how to first find the necessary US census, church, and immigration records before tackling those in European churches and archives.

One chapter on immigration will give the reader insight into the reasons for immigration and details the Ellis Island experience to better understand our ancestors’ bravery and the struggles they encountered.

I’m optimistic you will have success in your research and therefore have chapters to explain how to find living descendants in Europe and then how to contact them. The reader will also learn how to plan a budget-friendly ancestral heritage trip.

Finally, another chapter explains how to self-publish beautiful and professional family history books and genealogies at no cost using Create Space. Check out my Amazon site to see examples of these types of books.

Starting genealogy just six years ago, I been able to go back to the 1700’s in the European records with seven out of eight of our immigrant ancestors (Polish, Swedish, and German.) I also found eight groups of cousins in Poland and Sweden and was enthusiastically welcomed to visit them in 2014 , 2016 and 2018. They all exemplified the saying “A Guest in the House is God in the House.”

Please ask questions!

K is for Keeping the Wrong Kind of Company

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Woe to those unwise Puritans who hung out with the wrong crowd. Community leaders had little patience for dissent and were apt to punish any behavior they considered deviant. The church and civil authorities were pretty much the same group of people, and they placed a high premium on religious and social conformity.

Authorities meted out punishments for what they considered undesirable social behavior, including swearing, drunkenness, idleness, gambling, flirting, and gossiping. Drinking was permissible, but excessive alcohol use was a punishable crime

Other punishable crimes included failure to attend church, outspoken criticism of church authority figures, and desecration of the Sabbath. The Puritans considered non-normative sexual practices ranging from extramarital relations and sodomy to bestiality as sinful, criminal, and deserving of swift punishment.

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J is for Judges of the Salem Witchcraft Trials

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It is in our human nature to blame others for our own troubles, and the Puritans in New England were no different.  Numerous problems beset the Massachusetts Colony, and the community sought to uncover the cause of their plight. The contemporary thinking was that  God was angry with the Puritans and had sent Satan to test their faith.

God did indeed test the Puritans’ beliefs and convictions. The disastrous wars with the Native populations and the “Papist” French had taken their toll, not only with mounting causalities but also economic decline. Extreme weather, crop failure, increased taxes and inflation combined with an unstable government and uncertainty with a new governor.

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I is for Indentured Servants

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indenture

   Ancestry from the Great Migration Period in America is one that many family researchers seek to claim.  This period includes the time between the Pilgrim’s landing in Plymouth to about 1640.  In reality, about 80% of the total immigration from Great Britain and the continent prior to the Revolutionary War were indentured servants.

     Indentured servants could be sold during their indenture and were in about the same situation as a slave except they would be released after the agreed upon time, usually 5-7 years. Even this could be extended if the servant violated a term of their contract.  For example, if a woman became pregnant, extra time would be added to her contract.  Criminal behavior or running away had the same consequence.

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H is for Heresy

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     The use of governmental powers to protect their faith was perhaps the most import   concern for the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The men and women who founded this colony believed that theirs was one true faith, one true way to worship, and that it was possible to determine the path of truth.

     With honorable and holy intentions, the Puritans held that it was the church’s duty to persuade those who held erroneous views and warn them of the spiritual and physical dangers the heretic would suffer if they publicly persisted. As a last resort, the heretic would be expelled from the spiritual society by excommunication.

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G is for Giles Corey

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   Giles Corey holds the distinction as the only person in the New World executed by pressing or peine forte et dure, the death he met as an accused witch during the Salem witchcraft hysteria. Corey achieved fame by calling out for “more weight” as men placed more stones and rocks on top of a board placed over his body. Pressing was considered one of the most severe forms of execution and had been abolished in the colony. Evidently, most Christian civility and common sense were cast aside during the year of 1692 in Salem and Ipswich.

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F is for Fashion Police in Puritan New England

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  The Puritans in New England quickly learned that silks, lace, and other finery were the privilege of only the wealthy. The first generation of colonists in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colony didn’t seem to obsess about the finer things in life, as far as clothing. Likely, they were too busy clearing land, building a home, and plowing and harvesting in the fields.

Fashion policing was scarce until 1652 when a shipment arrived from the Continent that included clothing items considered new and immodest. Illegal finery was defined as  lace, silver or gold threads, silk, tiffany hoods, points and ribbons, “broad lace” and French fall boots. Twenty defendants of this type of high fashion were accused in 1652, but the numbers declined in the following years.

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D is for Drunkenness

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Drunkenness and alcoholism registered quite high on the Puritan’s Wickedness Scale, but that does not mean that they didn’t imbibe. Rums, beer, ale, and cider, were the favorite beverages. Moderate drinking was permitted at ordinaries (taverns) and at home. Other gatherings where alcohol was consumed were suspect and subject to investigation by the assigned church police known as tithingmen.

The original pilgrims brought more beer than water on the Mayflower because water could make you sick. Though the Americas had plenty of fresh, unspoiled water, imprudent Americans sickened and sometimes died by drinking from polluted sources. In some cases, even when it was safe to drink, river water had so much mud that a bucket of it needed to sit long enough to allow suspended material to settle.

Early colonists took a healthful dram for breakfast; whiskey was a regular lunchtime tipple, ale accompanied supper, and the day ended with a nightcap. We might think the Puritans staggered around all day in a drunken state, but most were able to handle their alcohol because it was integrated into daily life. Increase Mather, a prominent Puritan minister, delivered a sermon describing alcohol as being “a good creature of God” – although the drunkard was “of the devil.”

The Puritans enjoyed their drink at taverns referred to as ordinaries which were regulated as was the brewing of spirits. The ordinary also served food and was the hub for gatherings and conversations in the colonies.

Still, drunkenness was a surprisingly common crime in Puritan Massachusetts and was frequently mentioned in the Essex County Court records. Women’s names came up in the court records almost as often as men. Mehitabel was accused of drunkenness and brought to court on a few occasions. To Puritans, drunkenness was excessiveness and therefore sinful.

Merriment, in general, was seen as excessive; a trivial pleasure that was unnecessary and shunned in Puritan society. In England, there was the prevailing attitude “to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we will die.” This hedonistic enjoyment was in diametrical opposition to the deepest-felt Puritan beliefs. Alcohol was a necessity, but it was considered outrageous to partake in drunken behavior.

Many colonists believed alcohol could cure the sick, strengthen the weak, enliven the aged, and make the world a better place. Craftsmen drank at work, as did hired hands in the fields, sailors at sea, and soldiers in camp. College students enjoyed a malted beverage, which explains why Harvard had its own brewery. In 1639, President Nathaniel Eaton lost his job when the college did not supply sufficient beer.

C is for Cows, Especially the One Stuck in the Chimney

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Cows held a prominent place in the criminal records in Essex County.  A charge of witchcraft could made against a despised neighbor if a person’s favorite heifer died in a mysterious manner. Certainly, cows and swine were stolen on a regular basis. These issues were mundane compared to the story of Mark Quilter’ surprise.

“How a Cow Made it Down a Chimney in Ipswich” is a legendary tale in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  Two pranksters, Thomas and John Manning, carried a small calf up to the roof of Mark Quilter’s house and dropped it down the chimney. The singled storied home made it easy to climb. Roofs were rather low-hanging in those days, and the chimneys were large and square.

The Manning brothers must have had some unknown reason for choosing Quilter as the recipient of this prank. In the dark of night, the calf must have bawled in protest during its short drop to the hearthstones.  Imagine the startle Mark Quilter and his family had seeing ashes scattered with a disoriented calf leaping around the room!

B is for Branding

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Puritan sentences for crimes were harsh indeed! Branding with a hot iron might be considered unthinkable to the modern American, but it certainly presented a visible warning to all the colonists. It was another part of life considered normal for the Puritans.  Everyone knew what each branded letter represented, and the bearer was treated accordingly.

Branding was considered legal in England and all of her colonies and often took place in the courtroom right after the magistrate rendered the verdict. A group of spectators could always be counted on to witness the event.

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The ABC’s of Crime and Punishment in Puritan New England: A for Adultery

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My new series of blog posts will go through the alphabet as I describe the interesting crimes and punishments that took place in the early colonial period in Essex County, Massachusetts.  The blogs will also be a permanent page under the title “The ABC’s of Crime and Punishment in Puritan New England.

“A for Adultery”

Hester Prynne made the Scarlet Letter of “A for Adultery” well known in  Early American history.  This fictional single woman was forced to sew a scarlet colored “A” on her bodice as punishment for her adulterous affair with a married man.

The Essex County Court Records from the early colonial period contain numerous accusations of fornication.  The records sometimes use euphemisms such as “insinuating or wanton  dalliance”, “unlawful familiarity” and “committing folly.”

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Slavery in Puritan Times

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For the documentary

Slavery in Puritan Times

      The history of slavery spans nearly every culture, nationality, and religion and from ancient times to the present day. We don’t usually relate slavery as part of New England’s history.  Massachusetts was the first state to ban slavery and became a hotbed of abolitionist sentiment in the early 1800’s when abolitionist newspapers and pamphlets sprang into existence.  Despite these noble endeavors, the reality is that slavery in the northern colonies had originated a few hundred years before the abolitionist movement began. Continue reading →

My Corrupt Political Ancestor: Sir George Downing

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In honor of our presidential candidates, I would like to present my 9th great uncle, brother-in-law to Mehitabel Braybrooke Downing

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Sir George Downing is high on my list of “ancestors of whom I am not proud to claim.” Downing was a man of considerable political, diplomatic, and financial ability, but his character has often been brought into question by his enemies because of his willingness to make the most of changing political circumstances and to viciously betray former comrades to win favor from those in power.

   Downing Street, the residence of the British Prime Ministers, was named after him and Downing College in London was named after his grandson, Sir George Downing III. Sir George Downing, 1st Baronet, led an intriguing life and was in the first graduating class at Harvard.

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The Tragic Life of Rachel Clinton

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The story of Rachel Haffield Clinton’s tragic life lies buried in the early records of Ipswich, Massachusetts. Her family emigrated to New England on the sailing ship named The Planter in the spring of 1635. She grew up in an affluent household when Ipswich was a new village in the colony of Massachusetts, but the Haffield family fortune dwindled shortly after their arrival. The years to come would find Rachel destitute and one of the accused during the Salem Witchcraft Trials.

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Where is Gallows’ Hill in Salem?

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     proctors-ledge

We now know the precise location where the nineteen hangings took place during the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria in 1692. Executions were intended as public events so everyone could witness the terrible consequences that awaited those who committed serious crimes. The details of the Salem Witchcraft hangings were poorly documented and appeared lost in history.

There was much speculation over the past centuries, and scientists were recently called in to collaborate on the Gallow Hills Project. The team confirmed the correct location is a lower section of Gallows Hill, which spans several acres, known as Proctor’s Ledge.

Many eminent past historians had proclaimed Proctor’s Ledge as the likely site. It was never marked, and the executions were placed broadly on the summit of Gallow’s Hill. This location is unlikely as the victims were transported by cart and the trek to the summit would have been next to impossible. Also, recent geo-plotting reveals that Gallows Hill would not have been visible from the McCarter House and the Symonds house where eyewitness claimed to have witnessed the hangings.

Tradition and family legends tell us that the twenty victims in 1692 were recovered under cover of darkness and buried on family lands. Results from geo-archaeological remote sensing on the site also support this theory. They found soil less than three feet deep, not deep enough to bury people. No skeletal remains have ever been found on Proctor’s ledge.

Many people incorrectly assumed the hangings took place on wooden gallows based on some artwork depicting the hangings. The experts concluded that the victims were hung from a large tree, a common practice of that period.

Salem’s plans for Proctor’s Ledge includes a modest memorial. The location of the site is in a residential neighborhood. Click below for More information about the Gallow Hill’s Project.

http://w3.salemstate.edu/~ebaker/Gallows_Hill#mediacoverage

 

Five Fact About the Salem Witchcraft Trials

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Five Things You Might Not Know About the Salem Witchcraft Trials and Hysteria

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Witches and witchcraft are popular areas of interest in today’s culture and media. To feed this fascination and curiosity, recent movies and fantasies have perverted and distorted this important and fascinating period in American history. So, here is my attempt to educate the American public!

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Joan Braybrooke: Mehitabel’s Evil Stepmother

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Mehitabel’s Evil Stepmother : Joan Braybrooke Penney

Joan Braybrooke, one of the main characters in “The Redemption of Mehitabel Braybrooke, had every reason to be angry. Her husband, Richard Braybrooke, was accused of fornication in 1652 by the courts of Ipswich, Massachusetts.  After being whipped and fined, Richard fulfilled the next part of his sentence: he was to raise his infant daughter Mehitabel in the Braybrooke home.

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Mehitabel was a “nullius filius” (bastard) child

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Mehitabel’s status of a “bastard child”

Mehitabel’s life began poorly with the distinction of being a “bastard child”.  There are a number of legal terms that refer to  this situation more delicately: bar sinister, illegitimate, or “nullius filius”, which means “child of no one”, but Mehitabel was one of the more fortunate children born into this slanderous status. Puritan laws in the new American colonies forced men to take more responsibility for the sin of fornication. Continue reading →

The Tithingman

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The above  image of a tithingman might imply that his job was a cross between a spiritual policeman and a royal fool.  In fact, his position was one of the most important in Puritan New England and went beyond just policing unruly children.

The key responsibility for a tithingman was to keep order in church during the long services conducted in the meeting house or early church buildings.   Most buildings had no heat or fireplace so winter services must have been a challenge.  Stifling hot church services were no reason to keep the congregation at home sitting under the shade of an old oak tree.

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Spelling in Colonial times

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The writers of court records in Essex County didn’t follow many writing conventions during the early colonial period.  So, we have a variety of spellings found for Richard, Mehitabel, and Joan Braybrooke and Alice Ellis.

Here are some of the variants I uncovered:

Mehitabel, Mehitabell, Mehitable

Joan, Joanne, Joanna

Alice Eliss, Ellis, Eyliss

Braybrooke, Braybrook, Brabrook, Brabrooke, Brabruck

I settled on Mehitabel for the correct spelling as that is how Mehitabel spelled it in a very important letter she signed to the governor of Massachusetts in 1692.

Writers agonize over writing conventions such as spelling and punctuation, but we come to a greater appreciation of them when we struggle with these old documents.