A visit to Salem gone bad

Last night was a great episode of Genealogy Roadshow on PBS!  They actually had a lady on the show who wanted to know if the family legend was true that her relative, John Alden Jr, was involved in the Salem witch trials.  Whaaaaaattt??  My peeps!!

Family member name: John Alden, Jr.

Lifetime: 1626-1702
Tree branch: Pearson
Relation: My 10th great-uncle (my dad's mom's dad's mom's mom's mom's mom's mom's dad's mom's mom's brother)

John Alden, Sr. is my 10th great grandfather.  He was a Mayflower passenger.  His son, John, was born in Plymouth in 1626.  Johnny Jr. is not my direct ancestor (he's an uncle) so I probably would never have found this information.  So glad it was featured on TV!

Turns out Johnny was strolling through Salem on his way back from Quebec one day and a schoolgirl he never met accused him of being a witch.  Bam!  Talk about out of the blue!

John Jr. ended up spending four months in prison in Boston till he was busted out by some friends.  He got out of Dodge, realizing hysteria prevailed in the area and there was no hope of a fair trial.  He stayed away until 1693, when he went back to Salem after they stopped executing people. (!)

The charges against him were dismissed.

John Alden, Jr. was a well-known public figure in his time but is now chiefly remembered as a survivor of the Salem Witch trials, of which he wrote a much quoted account.  Click this link to read his firsthand account.

This is me visiting John Alden Sr.'s home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.  It's a national historic landmark and museum.

Source: 

Thought Co. - John Alden Jr. and the Salem Witch Trials