
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.