Understand the Puritans better: Wicked Puritans of Essex County is a unique report on Puritan criminality that shatters the stereotype of the Puritan.
Nathaniel Grafton was born in 1642 in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts. He was the son of Joseph Grafton. He was a mariner.
He married Elizabeth Maverick. Elizabeth was born on September 30, 1649 in Marblehead, Essex County, Massachusetts. Elizabeth was the daughter of Moses Maverick and Remember Allerton.
Nathaniel and Elizabeth's children included:
Elizabeth Grafton (1667, married William Hughes),
Remember Grafton (1669, married Richard Knight),
Priscilla Grafton Jackson (1670, married Thomas Jackson).
Nathaniel died on February 11, 1670/1 in Barbadoes. He was cast away on the ketch Prudence.
After his death Elizabeth married Thomas Skinner of Boston, a baker.
Some Puritans gave their children hortatory names (from the Latin for “encourage”) like Thankful, hoping that the children would live up to them. The names were used for several generations.
Salem is in Essex County, Massachusetts and was a significant seaport in early America. John Endicott obtained a patent from England and arrived there in 1628. Salem originally included much of the North Shore, including Marblehead. Salem Village also included Peabody and parts of Beverly, Middleton, Topsfield, Wenham and Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Early European settlers in the American colonies were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They had to work hard to provide daily neccesities for themselves.
