A recent inquiry about a detail in one of my older blog entries caused me to do a bit of investigation before answering. So I logged into the genealogical website MyHeritage.com and looked at the family tree that my daughter has been maintaining there since 2016. I had contributed information from a genealogical chart that my mother had filled out in the 1960's, but of course I don't remember all those names, dates, and connections. MyHeritage.com made it easy for me to find the name in question and to look for associated family members such as parents and siblings.
For the first time, I decided to see what siblings (if any) my ancestor Sarah Warren had had. Well! I learned a lot. According to the MyHeritage tree that I viewed, Sarah was the 10th child born to her mother, Margaret (Bayly) Warren, who lived from 1587 to 1662.
Sarah was born "circa 1643" (exact date not given). The nine children born before her were MANY years before her. Three had died young (born 1615, 1617, and 1620); six were adults or teenagers by the time Sarah was born. I wonder about that gap in time, and whether she knew any of her siblings well.
From information on MyHeritage, I see that all her siblings had been born in Nayland, Suffolk, England. Her parents came to America in 1630. Did all those siblings come too?
Sarah died in 1692 in a Boston jail. I wonder if any of her siblings had been in touch with her in her later years. How much did they know about the terrible happenings in Salem Village in 1692? Sarah (Mrs. Osborne by then) was accused of witchcraft, arrested, and taken on horseback to the Boston jail. Later, a bill from the jail for the cost of her chains and food was sent to her family.
Here is a list of the Warren siblings who were alive during Sarah's lifetime:
Susan (1612-1667)
John (1622-1703), known as Capt. John Warren
Mary (1624-1691)
Daniel John (1627-1715)
Peter (1628-1704)
Elizabeth (1629-1715)
Of course I could look up each of these names, and hope to learn locations where they married or died. That's a project for another day. Probably some readers of this blog will already know the answers. The case of accused-witch Sarah Warren Prince Osborne is so well-known that there may be many writings about her family of origin. I've never before turned my attention in that direction. Now I'm curious.
