Rachel is a descendant of Henry Phelps and his first wife, Eleanor Batter . Henry's second wife, Hannah, was originally married to Nicholas, Henry's brother. Nicholas and Hannah Phelps were Salem Quakers who held meetings at their home in the Woods, as the area west of Salem was called at the time. William Hathorne had ordered that those who held such meetings be arrested, and eventually Hannah was jailed and Nicholas was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thus Hawthorne may have felt a connection to both the persectors of Quakers and the persecuted which, says Margaret Moore in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, may account for "the very ambiguity with which he treats the Quakers"

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Hawthorne was also descended on his father's side from the Phelps; his paternal grandmother was Rachel Phelps Hathorne. Rachel is a descendant of Henry Phelps and his first wife, Eleanor Batter . Henry's second wife, Hannah, was originally married to Nicholas, Henry's brother. Nicholas and Hannah Phelps were Salem Quakers who held meetings at their home in the Woods, as the area west of Salem was called at the time. William Hathorne had ordered that those who held such meetings be arrested, and eventually Hannah was jailed and Nicholas was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Thus Hawthorne may have felt a connection to both the persectors of Quakers and the persecuted which, says Margaret Moore in The Salem World of Nathaniel Hawthorne, may account for "the very ambiguity with which he treats the Quakers" (37).

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Henry Phelps, born 1595, married Eleanor Sharp

son Henry Phelps, Jr, born 1615, arrived in Salem 1634, married Eleanor Batter

son John Phelps, born 1644, married Abigail Antram

son Henry Phelps, born 1673, married Rachel Guppy

son Jonathan Phelps, born 1708, married Judith Cox

daughter Rachel Phelps, born 1733, married Daniel Hathorne

son Nathaniel Hathorne, born 1775, married Elizabeth Clarke Manning

son Nathaniel Hawthorne, born 1804