http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/Towne.html. Her parents were William Towne and Joanna Blessing.
Her husband was a "tray maker" by trade, who likely made many other wooden household items. As was the custom, after she was hanged, her body was buried in a shallow grave near the execution spot. It was later written that she had "acquired a reputation for exemplary piety that was virtually unchallenged in the community," making her one of the first "unlikely" witches to be accused. When Rebecca was about 24, she married Frances Nurse, who made trays and other wooden household items. Unfortunately, birth records are not available for Rebecca Towne, only baptismal records. She was the daughter of William Towne, and wife of Francis Nurse of Salem Village. Mother of John Nurse, Sr.; Rebecca Preston; Sarah Bowden; Samuel Nurse; Nathaniel Michael Nurse and 10 others; Mary Tarbell (Nurse); Francis Nurse, Jr.; Elizabeth Russell; Martha Russell; Rebecca Preston; Samuel Nurse; Sarah Baldwin; Elizabeth Russell; Benjamin Nurse and Mary Tarbell « less
178 i. Rebecca10 Towne was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England bef 21 Feb 1621. There will be 10 performances from Oct. 17 to 27; tickets start at $19.50. Baker is particularly enthused about the new play, not because of the past, but because of the current social climate in the country. [www.rebeccanurse.org the Nurse farmhouse, Danvers, MA, now a museum]. Sister of John Towne; Sgt. Where, exactly, is lost to history. @R250373593@ Family Data Collection - Deaths Edmund West, comp. On 3 July 1692, Rebecca Nurse was excommunicated - "abandoned to the devil and eternally damned."
Jim Davis/Globe Staff Rebecca Towne (1622-1692) m. 1644: Francis Nurse (1619-1697) Francis Nurse (1661-1733) m. 1685: Sarah Craggen (?-?) They settled in Salem Village in 1640. They were considered unfit for a Christian burialin a churchyard. The charges against Rebecca came as a surprise to her neighbors — in addition to being an elderly woman who was highly respected, she was also known for being a devout churchgoer. Others like author, historian, and Salem State University interim dean and professor Emerson “Tad” Baker, focus on the rush to judgment and the innocent lives and families that were destroyed by the 1692 trials. ", In 1710 Samuel Nurse made this statement: "We were at the whole charge of providing for her during her imprisonment in Salem and Boston for the space of almost four months. In July 1885, her descendants erected a tall granite memorial over her grave in what is now called the Rebecca Nurse Homestead Cemetery in Danvers (formerly Salem Village), Massachusetts.