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John Proctor, who was hung as a witch in the 1692 Witch trials in
Salem, had a connection to the Choates.. He was the uncle of Mary
Varney who married Thomas Choate, son of John , the immigrant who came
to America in 1643. Thomas signed a petition to free him and when that
didn't work, he went to the prison and witnessed the signing of John's
will. I see that CBS will be showing " The Salem Witch Trials" on
Sunday - Just thought I would let you know in case you are interested.
There is a movie "The Crucible" that was filmed on Choate Island and
in one place the old Choate home is pictured. I visited Choate Island
the fall after the filming and the house they built - supposed to be
John Proctor's house - was still standing. When The state of
Masachusetts
( 0wners of the Island) agreed to let them film there, they said that
everything must be put back to the original condition within one year.
So we were lucky to even get to go inside the screen house. The film ,
in case you saw it, was not a true story because it showed Abigail
Williams as an adult falling in love with John and because he wouldn't
return her affection, she named him as a witch. The true story is that
Abigail was only 11 at the time , Both John and his wife, Elizabeth
were really jailed , but they did free Elizabeth because she was
pregnant - She was to stand trial after the baby was born, but by that
time, John had been hung and the young girls had confessed that they
had made uop the whole thing - In all, 19 innocent persons were put to
death.
John was the brother of Abigail Proctor Varney - Mary Varney Choate's
mother. Abigail was famous for finding men to build the first church
in Chebacco ( now Essex) after the church at Ipswich ruled that the men
of Chebacco could not build a church. At the time everyone had to
attend the Ipswich church. The Congregational church in Essex, MA
calls their Ladies society the " Madam Varney Society " in honor of
Abigail.
I saw the actual petition that Thomas Choate signed and have a copy
of the signature. It is in the Peabody library at Salem. I have done
a lot of reading about the trials and will certainly watch the Program
Sunday night.
The end of my history lesson for tonight!
Marj