Mary Baker Eddy: Famous Fall in Lynn Ma

By: Josilyn Gaudet

Who is Mary Baker Eddy?

Mary Baker Eddy was and influential religious leader. She is greatly known for founding Christian Science. She founded the religion with her  radical ideas on spirituality, healing and health. Mary searched for solutions to the issues of human suffering. She herself had a rough, ill young life.  Mary was also an author and a teacher.  

What is Christian Science?

"The beliefs and practices of the Church of Christ Scientist, a Christian sect founded by Mary Baker Eddy in 1879. Members hold that only God and the mind have ultimate reality, and that sin and illness are illusions that can be overcome by prayer and faith."

Mary Baker Eddys fall in Lynn Ma:

   

On the night of February 1st 1866, Mary Baker Eddy had a detrimental fall when she slipped on a sheet of ice on the corner of Commercial and Oxford Street in Lynn Massachusetts. Mary suffered a terrible back injury, she had been knocked unconscious from the severity of her injuries. Life did not look good for Mary, everyone around her assumed the injury was leading her to her death. She was already 44 years old, and at this day and age that was considered the average life span of  a woman. Mary appeared frail and ill. The day after Mary's injury she was returned home to her house on 23 Paradise road in Swampscott Mass where she was foreseen to die. Mary was the only one that believed she could survive this injury, she turned to the bible. Mary read a passage on Jesus's healing. While reading this account of Jesus's, Mary Baker Eddy miraculously started to feel well again. She considered herself cured. After curing herself, she sought to understand how she had been restored to her health. Mary spent her time studying the bible and eventually opened her own successful healing practice.  This fall and her drive to research her healing lead her to the finding of Christian science. Above there is a picture of a monument in Lynn dedicated to Eddy. The monument reads "Near this spot, on the evening of February 1, 1866, Mary Baker Eddy fell on the ice and was critically injured. Prayer and Faith led to her healing, her writings, and the advent of Christian Science".

Mary Baker Eddy's house in Swampscott Mass:

Mary Lived at this very house during the time of her fall, this is where she spent her time healing herself. After healing herself, Mary went on to heal others who were sick or in need of help. She also wrote and published her first addition of "Science and Health in 1875. Also in 1875, Mary moved to another house in Lynn, 8 Broad street (shown below) where she continued her studies and the spread of her religion.

Sources:

http://www.christianscience.com/what-is-christian-science/mary-baker-eddy

http://www.marybakereddylibrary.org/mary-baker-eddy/the-life-of-mary-baker-eddy/

The Old Stomping Grounds of the Native Americans in My Backyard?

I had a tough time finding what to do my blog post on. I knew I wanted to do it on something different and something new I could learn from. My dad has been living in his house down by the Revere Rumney Marsh for over 10 years now. Something we've always loved having was this killer view of this huge marsh. You can see straight through to 107 on the whole other side of the city and you can see the train going by. In the summer he and my brother go looking for mussels and the wild life that inhabit it. During the day it's this beautiful view of all this land and water as far as your eye can see. During the night time however, it would always give me this ominous spooky vibe like something was out there. This is what prompted me to do a little bit of research on just what this great big piece of land used to be. The change in weather and the tide changes how the marsh looks from day to day so I thought I would show it at different times. The photos shown are from different weather this year.

 In my research I found that the first people to live on the land in Revere were Native Americans. They belonged to a tribe called the Pawtucket Tribe. They were known as the Rumney Marsh Indians. Their leader was Nanepashemet of Lynn. In 1616 an epidemic, which was most likely to have been small pox, swept the land killing thousands of the natives before the colonization of the English. Sachem Nanepashemet later retired in the land called Mystic River, which today we know as Medford. However, in 1619 he was found murdered at his fort on the brow of Rock Hill overlooking the river. He was succeeded by his three sons. His son Wonohaquaham, also known as Sagamore John, had jurisdiction over the Indians at Winnisemmit, which later became Chelsea, and Rumney Marsh.

Often the Native Americans would help the settlers in their struggle to survive. Settlers first discovered Rumney Marsh when Captain John Smith explored the coast of New England in 1614. The land became part of the first permanent settlement in Boston Harbor by Samuel Maverick in 1624. During King Phillip's War, the Indians were placed on what is now Deer Island where many of them perished. Some on the island were enlisted to help the colonists defeat the other warring tribes. On September 25, 1634, Rumney Marsh was annexed to Boston.

The first County Road in North America stretched across Rumney Marsh from the Winnisemmet Ferry to Olde Salem in 1641. Here many travelers were attracted by its fertile soil and beautiful crescent beach and later returned here to settle. The city of Revere also played a role in the American Revolution as the site of the first naval battle in 1775 at Rumney Marsh. 

It's crazy to think that in the backyard of many of people in Revere is such a great piece of history that happnened right outside their window!

More on the city of Revere's History here:
http://www.revere.org/mayors-office/history
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revere,_Massachusetts

Frank MahoneyBurroughs

George Burroughs

I decided to do my blog on George Burroughs a man who was tried as a witch in Salem in 1692. George started life back in Suffolk, England back in 1652. Burroughs moved to Massachusetts and was raised by his mother right in Roxbury. George grew up and eventually went to and graduated from Harvard in 1670 with high honors. He would later move to Salem where he became the village minister from 1680 to 1683. While he was minister in Salem Burroughs borrowed some money from the Putnam family and this caused strain on the relationship due to Burroughs not being able to pay off the debt. Burroughs would eventually pay back the debt to the Putnam family but not until 12 years later after he moved to Wells, Maine. There he thought he was done with the Putnam family how wrong he was.

Burroughs was charged with witchcraft in 1692 and was brought back to Salem to face trial. Among some of the few who accused him was Ann Putnam the daughter of the family who he had once borrowed money from.  Some of the “facts” in his case were as obscure as being able to life a rifle up with just his fingers in barrel with his “extraordinary strength”, or how he practiced his Puritan faith, some saw him as a dissenter. At his trial Burroughs was asked if all of his children were baptized and he responded that only one of his children was actually baptized. Many of his accusers made claims that he would ask them to write in his book of witches, or that he had taken them up on top of mountains and showed them many worlds using his powers. Burroughs was accused of being a “Ring leader” and trying to persuade people to leave the grace of God and join Satan.

While on the gallows Burroughs gave a speech declaring his innocence to the crime of witchcraft, but in the end he was tried and sentenced to death by hanging on August 19, 1692 at the infamous Witches Hill. After his death Burroughs’ was cut down and dragged to a shallow grave about two feet deep. His clothes were torn from his dead body and then thrown into his final resting place.

 

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Burroughs

http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=&mbio.num=mb3

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/georgeburroughs/a/George-Burroughs.htm

http://salemwitchchicks.weebly.com/george-burroughs.html                   

New England’s Witches and Wizards.  By Robert Ellis Cahill                          

 

"The Witch House"

"The Witch House"

This is the house of Judge Jonathan Corwin which is also known as “the witch house”. Some sources state that the reason why people started calling it “the witch house” was because of its ties to the Salem witch trials.

 This house is located at 310 Essex street in Salem MA. Historians believe that this house was built in 1675 for captain Richard Daveport who was still working on the house when he sold it to Jonathan Corwin who then finished building it.
On Tuesday November 1^st I was passing by this house when I remembered that I had to do a blog for my history class so since I had always been curious to see the inside of this house I decided to go in for a tour. I have to say I was very disappointed because I was hoping for it to be a guided tour so I could obtain good information about the house but, unfortunately it was a self-guided tour so I feel like I missed a lot of information.

I thought this house was perfect to do a blog on since we talked about the Salem witch trials in class and this house is believed to be the only structure still standing that has direct ties to the Salem witch trials of 1692. Some other sources also state that a few of the examinations of the Salem witch trials may have been conducted in this house while Jonathan Corwin still lived there.

Corwin lived in this house for 40 years until his death in 1718. This house remained in the Corwin family for many generations and has been renovated many times since then and it is now a historical museum.

 The house is very nice and big, it consists of four big rooms, two on the first floor and two on the second floor. All the walls are painted white however it is kind of dark. Inside the house there are many signs and displays explaining the general history of the Salem witch trials.

There where many things inside this house that I did not understand what they were or why they there which is another reason why I wish it had been a guided tour.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witch_House

                       

                     

The Rebecca Nurse Homestead is a 17th Century multi acre historical site located in Danvers, MA.  Danvers was previously known as Salem Village when Rebecca Nurse was accused and executed for practicing witchcraft..  Also on the same grounds,  is a replica Salem Village Meetinghouse, the reconstructed Endecott Barn and Endecott Shop, and the Nurse family graveyard.  The Putnam family, her neighbors, had ongoing disputes with the Nurse family about the joined land.  The question raised here is, was Rebecca Nurse accused for practicing witch craft or was it an attempt at retaliation?

                      

Rebecca was a well respected, educated 71 year old matriarch who was accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem Village.  She was married to the local artisan, Francis Nurse, a mother of 8 children and a grandmother.   The first accusers afflicted were Elizabeth Parris (Betty) and her 12 year old cousin Abigail Williams after claiming affliction of several possessive-like fits from Nurse's dark spirit. They were diagnosed with bewitchment by Doctor William Briggs, which led to the spread of the hysteria. Nurse was arrested on March 23, 1692.

The pre-trial examination was held in the Salem Village Meetinghouse(photo to the left) on March 24, 1692, conducted by Judge Hawthorne and assisted by Judge Johnathon Corwin.  The examination was recorded by Reverend Samuel Parris, the father of Betty and Uncle of Abigail.   Abigail Williams was the first to be addressed by Judge Hawthorne and almost immediately after her accusation,  Ann Putnam Jr. went into a fit.  In response to Abigail's accusation and Putnam's fit, Nurse stated, "I can say before my Eternal Father I am innocent and God will clear my innocency".   During the examination,  Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard joined Ann Putnam Jr. in the accusation that they were afflicted right there in the courtroom.  

Hawthorne had repeatedly tried bullying Nurse into a confession.  However, Nurse was defiant and stood her ground that she was innocent. Initially,  the jury had declared her not guilty.  Followed by, the jury being forced to reconsider and concluded Rebecca Nurse was guilty of practicing witch craft.  She was hanged at Gallows Hill on July 19th, 1692 along with Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin and Sarah Wildes."After the execution, Rebecca's children secretly buried their mother's body in an unmarked grave on the Homestead. In 1885, the Nurse family erected a memorial to Rebecca in the family graveyard. This Homestead is a visible link to many of the famous and infamous events of Salem Village, modern-day Danvers, Massachusetts." 

Works cited

 Madden, Matt. "Salem Witch Trials: Court Examination of Rebecca Nurse." Salem Witch Trials: Court Examination of Rebecca Nurse. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

<http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people/nursecourt.html>

"Rebecca Nurse Homestead." Essex National Heritage Area. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.