Nurse Francis b. 18 JAN 1618 England, U.K. d. 22 NOV 1695 Salem Village, Danvers, Essex, Massachusetts

1618 - 1695

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Birth 18 Jan 1618 England, U.K. [1]

Gender Male

_UPD 17 AUG 2009 18:22:30 GMT-5

Died 22 Nov 1695 Salem Village, Danvers, Essex, Massachusetts [1]

Person ID I1048 Alan Donald Vibber

Last Modified 08 Dec 2009

Family Towne Rebecca, b. Feb 1621, Great Yarmouth, England, U.K. , d. 19 Jul 1692

Married 24 Aug 1644 Great Yarmouth, England, U.K. [1]

Children

1. Nurse Mary, b. 1655, Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

Family ID F466 Group Sheet

Notes	I Francis Nurse of Salem, born England, 18 Jan., 1618; died Salem Village, 22 Nov., 1695; married 24 Aug., 1644, Rebecca, daughter of AVilliam and Jane (Blessing) Towne of Yarmouth, England ; born 16Feb., 1621, hanged as a witch 19 July, 1692. Says Upham, in his admirable work on Salem Witchcraft: "Nurse was an early settler, and, before this purchase, had lived, for some forty years, ' near Skerry's,' on the North River, between the main part of the settlement in the town of Salem and the ferry to Beverly. He is described as a ' tray-maker.' The making of these articles and similar objects of domestic use was an important employment in n new country remote from foreign supply. He appears to have been a very respectable person, of great stability and energy of character, whose judgment was much relied on by his neighbors. No one is mentioned more frequently as umpire to settle disputes, or arbitrator to adjust conflicting claims. He was often on committees to determine boundaries or estimate valuations, or on local juries to lay out highways and assess damages." "On 29 April, 1678, Nurse bought the Bishop farm at Salem Village on favorable terms and proceeded to settle his family upon it." " With this strong force of stalwart sons find sons-in-law and their industrious wives, Francis Nurse took hold of the farm. The terms of the purchase were so judicious and ingenious, that they are worthy of being related and show in what manner energetic and able-bodied men, even if not possessed of capital, particularly if they could command an effective cooperation in the labor of their families, obtained possession of valuable landed estates. The purchase-money was not required to be paid until the expiration of twenty-one years. In the meantime, a moderate annual rent was fixed upon; seven pounds for each of the first twelve years and ten pounds for each of the remaining nine years. If, at the end of the time, the amount stipulated had not been paid, or Nurse should abandon the undertaking, the property was to relapse to Allen. Disinterested and suitable men, whose appointment was pro- GENEALOGY OF THE NURSE FAMILY FOR FIVE GENERATIONS. 97 vided for, were then to estimate the value added to the estate by Nurse during his occupancy, by the clearing of meadows or erection of buildings or other permanent improvements, and all of that value over and above one hundred and fifty pounds was to be paid to him. If any part of the principal sum should be paid prior to the expiration of twenty- one years, a proportionate part of the farm was to be relieved of all obligation to Allen, vest absolutely in Nurse and be disposable by him. By these terms, Allen felt authorized to fix a very high price for the farm, it not being payable until the lapse of a long period of time. If not paid at all, the property would come back to him, with one hundred and fifty pounds of value added to it. It was not a bad bargain for him,— a man of independent means derived from other sources and so situated as not to be able to carry on the farm himself. It was a good investment ahead. To Nurse, the terms were most favorable. He did not have to pay downa dollar at the start. The low rent required enabled him to npply almost the entire income from the farm to improvements that would make it more and more productive. Before half the time had elapsed,a value was created competent to discharge the whole sum due to Allen. His children severally had good farms within the bounds of the estate, were able to assume with ease their respective shares of the obligations of the purchase, and the property was thus fully secured within the allotted time. Allen gave, at the beginning, a full deed, in the ordinary form, which was recorded in this county. Nurse gave a duly executed bond, in which the foregoing conditions are carefully and clearly defined. That was recorded in Suffolk County, and nothing, perhaps, was known in the neighborhood, at the time or ever after, of the terms of the transaction. When the success of the enterprise was fully secured, Nurse conveyed to his children the larger half of the farm, reserving the homestead and a convenient amount of land in nig own possession. The plan of this division shows great fairness and judgment and was entirely satisfactory to them all. -They were required, by the deeds he gave them, to maintain a roadway by which they could communicate with each other and with the old parental home. "Here the venerable couple were living in truly patriarchal style, occupying the 'mansion' of Townsend Bishop, when the witchcraft delusion occurred. They and their children were all clustered withinthe limits of the three-hundred-acre farm. They were one family. The territory was their-own, secured by their united action and nvido commodious, productive, valuable and beautiful to behold, by their harmonious, patient and persevering labor. Each family had a homestead and fields and gardens, and children were growing up in every household. The elder sons and sons-in-law had become men of influence in the affairs of the church and village. It was a scene of domestic happiness and prosperity rarely surpassed. The work of life having been successfully done, it seemed that a peaceful and serene descent into the vale of years was secured to Francis and Rebecca Nurse. But far otherwise was the allotment of a dark and inscrutable providence. "There is some reason to suspect that the prosperity of the Nurses had awakened envy and jealousy among the neighbors. The very fact that they were a community of themselves and by themselves may have operated prejudicially. To have a man who, for forty years, had been known, in the immediate vicinity, as a farmer and mechanic on a small scale, without any pecuniary means, get possession of such a property and spread out his family to such an extent, was inexplicable to all and not relished perhaps by some. There seems to have been a disposition to persist in withholding from him the dignity of a landholder ; and, long after he had distributed his estate among his descendants, it is mentioned in deeds made by parties that bounded upon it, as 'the farm which Mr. Allen of Boston lets to theNurses." Not knowing probably any thing alxmt it, they call it, even after Nurse's death, 'Mr. Allen's farm.' This, however, was a slight matter. When Allen sold the farm to Nurse, he bound himself to defend the title ; and he was true to his bond. What was required to be done in this direction may, perhaps, have exposed the Nurses to animosities which afterwards took terrible effect against them. "In granting lands originally, neither the general court nor the town exercised sufficient care to define boundaries. There does not appear to have been any well-arranged system, based upon elaborate, accurate, scientific surveys. Of the dimensions of the area of a rough, thickly wooded, unfrequented country, the best estimates of the most practised eyes and measurements resting on mere exploration or perambulation, are very unreliable. The consequence was that, in many cases, grants were found to overlap each other. This was the case with the Bishop farm; and soon after Nurse came into possession and had begun to operate upon it a conflict commenced; trespasses were complained of; suits were instituted ; and one of the most memorable and obstinately contested land-controversies known to our courts took place. In that controversy Nurse was not formally a principal. The case was between James Allen and Zerubabel Endicott, or between Allen and Nathaniel Putnam." "We shall come back to the Townseud-Bishop grant and to the house, still standing, that he built and dwelt in, upon it. It may be well to pause and view its interesting history prior to 1692. While occupied by its original owner, the 'mansion' or 'cottage' was the scene of so- GENEALOGY OF THE NDUSE FAMILY FOR FIVE GENERATIONS. 99 cial intercourse among the choicest spirits of the earliest age of New England. Here Bishop and, after him, Chickering, entertained their friends. Here the fine family of Richard Ingersoll was brought up. Here Governor Endicott projected plans for opening the country, and the road that passes its entrance-gate was laid out by him. To this same house young John Endicott brought his youthful Bostonbride. Here she came again, fifteen years afterwards, as the bride of the learned and distinguished James Allen, to show him the farm which, received as a " marriage gift" from her former husband, she had brought as a "marriage gift" to him. Here the same Allen, in less than six years afterwards, brought still another bride. In all these various and some of them rather rapid changes, it was, no doubt, often the resort of distinguished guests and the place of meeting of many pleasant companies. During the protracted years of litigation for its possession, frequent consultations were held within it; and now, for twelve years, it had been the home of a happy, harmonious and prosperous family, exemplifying the industry, energy and enterprise of a New England household." ETC ETC ETC... goes on forever p96-100

Sources
[S281] Putnam's monthly historical magazine, Eden Putnam, (Name: Eben Putnam, 1893;), 96 (Reliability: 3).