She's a witch!
I decided to begin exploring a new segment of the family tree until I finish creating a database of the posts in this series, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a reference to the famous witch trials of the 1600s. And it's possible that one of my ancestors was called as a witness in the trial of a woman who was given a reprieve. John Choate came to America in 1643 from Essex County, England at the age of 19. According to a document titled, "John Choate and His Descendants," which may well be the subtitle to a book called The Choates in America 1643-1896 , by E.O. Jameson and published in Boston in 1896, not much is available about the details of his life. By "not much," the author seems to mean more than the 1,000 or so words excerpted from the work and provided on Family Search. To me, that much material is a gold mine. John settled in a section of Ipswich, Mass., know as Chebacco and married some 17 years later. He managed to purchase some land fo