Rebecca Briggs Genealogy
Record modified: 2024-11-21
This is my ancestor 12 generations back.
Born: 1600-10-25 St James, Clerkenwell, London England
Died: 1673-02-08 Portsmouth, Rhode Island USA
Marriages:
1. Thomas Cornell
Children of Rebecca Briggs and Thomas Cornell:
Notes:
Rhode Island, Vital Extracts, 1636-1899
Cornell, Rebecca, widow, Portsmouth, killed strangely at her own house, Feb 8 1672.
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There is a book about her death. She died in a house fire. Her son Thomas Jr was accused, tried, convicted and hung for the "crime". In addition to there being only circumstantial evidence presented against Thomas, and a number of other potential suspects (including Thomas' wife and a local Native American) and the possibility that Rebecca simply caught fire trying to stay warm near a fireplace, an alleged visit of the ghost of Rebecca to a testifying relative (known as "spectral evidence", which was also admissible evidence in the Salem witch trials) was admitted as solid evidence in the case.
Hinds Site: Genealogy of Ken Hinds -- page 6723
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