"To Accomplish His Abominable Villainy & Deceive Him of His Daughter" - The Fate of Re
Admittedly, we’re suckers for love stories…especially those that end in acts of fraud. However, this one is simply too tragic. Rebecca Rawson was born in Newbury in 1656 and was the daughter of Edward Rawson, a high ranking official of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to period accounts, she was “one of the most beautiful, polite and agreeable young ladies” in the entire colony. Many men made attempts to court her but their advances were always rebuffed. In 1668, a
"Suffer’d Such Barbarous Cruelties" - The Deprivation of Civil Liberties of Massachusetts
In 1775, Massachusetts politicians and public figures quickly adopted measures to suppress the rights and liberties of loyalists who had not fled to the safety of Boston and still resided within their communities. Towards the end of November, 1775, Massachusetts selectmen from dozens of towns called for town meetings and issued orders to their constables to “warn a meeting” of their residents. Typically, constables were instructed “in his majestyes name to Warn a Meeting of t
