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| Birthdate: | |
| Birthplace: | Town of Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Death: | Died in North Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Managed by: | Peter Dutton, Jr. |
| Last Updated: | |
| 1665 |
January 2, 1665
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Town of Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony
As with most people from this period, Elizabeth's' actual date of birth to father Francis and mother Rebecca Nurse is unrecorded. Her actual birth likely took place within one or two months of her recorded baptismal date of January 9, 1664/1665. The infant had three older brothers (a young man named John - age 19, an older boy named Samuel, and a toddler named Francis - age 3), and three older sisters (a young woman named Rebecca - age 17, an older girl named Sarah - age 13, and a young girl named Mary - age 5). |
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January 2, 1665
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Town of Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony
As with most people from this period, the actual date of birth of Elizabeth Nurse (future Elizabeth Russell) to father Francis and mother Rebecca is unrecorded. Her actual birth likely took place one or two months before this date. (A note on English "double dates" - the old English calendar before 1752 used to change year on March 25. The first date indicated the English year, which differed between January 1 and March 24 from what the rest of the world followed. As what appeared to be some sort of compromise, English officials would double date their documents, and the rest of English society followed. Because the computer date system inflexibly changes years only on January 1, in order to maintain a proper chronology, the second date should be used.) |
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| 1666 |
1666
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Town of Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony
As with most people from this period, Benjamin's actual date of birth to father Francis and mother Rebecca Nurse is unrecorded. His actual birth likely took place within one or two months of his recorded baptismal date of January 26, 1665/1666. The infant had three older brothers (a young man named John - age 20, a young man named Samuel - age 16, and a young boy named Francis - age 4) and four older sisters (a young woman named Rebecca - age 18, an older girl named Sarah - age 14, a young girl named Mary - age 6, and an infant named Elizabeth - age 13 months). |
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| 1672 |
March, 1672
Age 7
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Town of Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, (Present USA)
According to the Familypedia page on Rebecca Towne:
In 1672, Francis served as Salem's Constable. Together the couple had eight children, four daughters and four sons. Rebecca Nurse frequently attended church and her family was well respected in Salem Village. It was later written that she had "acquired a reputation for exemplary piety that was virtually unchallenged in the community," making her one of the first "unlikely" witches to be accused.
March 1672; With Bartholomew Gedney and Samuel Gardner appointed by the Town of Salem to "inquire what land there was about the Farms, that it might be improved to pay Mr. Higginson's debts" (Salem's minister). It might have been at this time that he found Orchard Farm to purchase (lease) from the absentee landlord, Mr. Allen of Boston.
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| 1676 |
August 12, 1676
Age 11
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(Present Massachusetts), (Present USA)
With the execution of "King Phillip of the Wampanoag" (also known as Chief Metacomet or Pometacom), the bloody King Phillip's War comes to an end. The war had taken the lives of 3,000 warriors and 600 colonists (this amounted to 15 percent of the native population and 1.5 percent of the English population), and involved at least half of the 90 existing English settlements. The war had been the result of growing tensions over land - having run out of trade goods, the Wampanoag began trading land for tools and weapons. The first casualty of the war was John Sassamon, "The Praying Indian," an early Harvard College graduate who had betrayed King Phillip's plans to carry out a massive surprise attack on several English settlements; he was found under the ice of Assawompet Pond in January 1675. His warning to Plymouth Colony, before his death, was not taken seriously, but after one of three Pokanoket tribesmen confesses on the gallows to King Phillip's involvement in Sassamon's death, the Puritans prepare for war with the Wampanoag. The timeline of the war: 1675, June 8: Execution of the accused murderers of John Sassamon.
1675/76 January: King Phillip attempts to ally with the Mohawk, but being traditional enemies with the Wampanoag, instead carry out raids on undefended isolated Wampanoag and Narragansett communities. The French in Quebec likewise refuse to side with King Phillip.
As a result of the war, many farmers in Massachusetts Bay Colony suffered economic losses, perhaps discouraging further development of remote settlements for a few years. The timing of the war may have had an effect on the timing of the Nurse family's decision to purchase their homestead in Salem Village. Edmund Andros, Governor of New York and head of the New England Confederation, concluded a peace treaty with the surviving tribes on April 12, 1678, eight months later (he would be knighted during the trip to England that followed this event). |
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| 1678 |
October 25, 1678
Age 13
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Town of Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony
William Russell married youngest daughter Elizabeth Nurse in the First Church of the Town of Salem. Apparently she married at quite a young age. |
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| 1680 |
October 22, 1680
Age 15
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Town of Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony
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| 1682 |
1682
Age 16
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Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony
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| 1686 |
1686
Age 20
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Salem, Essex County, Dominion of New England (Present Massachusetts)
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| 1688 |
March 7, 1688
Age 23
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Reading, Middlesex County, Dominion of New England (Present Massachusetts)
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