1. Rebecca Nurse was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
21 Facts About Rebecca Nurse
1. 2.
Rebecca Nurse was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later.
3.
Rebecca Nurse was the wife of Francis Nurse, and had several children.
4.
Rebecca Nurse's married sisters Mary Eastey and Sarah Cloyce were accused.
5.
Rebecca Nurse's family emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, settling in Salem, although most of the Towne family would eventually move inland to Topsfield.
6.
Sometime around 1644, she married Francis Rebecca Nurse, who was born in England.
7.
Rebecca Nurse's husband was a "tray maker" by trade, who likely made many other wooden household items.
8.
Sarah Holten believed that Rebecca Nurse placed a curse on her husband but later thought better of it and was one of the first to speak about the injustice of the trials.
9.
The jury asked Rebecca Nurse to explain her remark that another accused witch, Deliverance Hobbs, was "of her company", the implication being that they had both signed a pact with the Devil.
10.
Fatally, Rebecca Nurse, who was hard of hearing, did not hear the question: she later explained to her children that she was referring to this woman as a fellow "accused" witch.
11.
In 1892, the community erected a second monument recognizing the 40 neighbors, led by Israel and Elizabeth Porter, who took the risk of publicly supporting Rebecca Nurse by signing a petition to the court on her behalf in 1692.
12.
The Rebecca Nurse family remained in the home for many generations.
13.
Rebecca Nurse's trial was featured in an episode of the CBS radio program CBS Is There, which aired on July 28,1947.
14.
Rebecca Nurse is a central character in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible.
15.
Rebecca Nurse is likewise a major character in Robert Ward's Pulitzer Prize-winning operatic adaptation of Miller's play.
16.
Rebecca Nurse inspired other dramatic treatments of the Salem Witch Trials.
17.
Rebecca Nurse was portrayed by actress Shirley MacLaine in the 2002 CBS miniseries, Salem Witch Trials.
18.
Rebecca Nurse is mentioned in passing in Robin Cook's suspense novel Acceptable Risk.
19.
Rebecca Nurse can be found as a supporting character in Katherine Howe's historical fiction, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
20.
In Howe's novel, Rebecca Nurse is used as a character foil for the main character, Deliverance Dane.
21.
Rebecca Nurse is the ancestor of several notable people, including Vincent Price, Erin Nielsen, Mitt Romney, Zach Braff, Bryce Wilson, Amy Grant, Reed Austin, and Lucille Ball.