I’ve written in the past about my interest in genealogy. It was a topic that seemed boring until my Dad passed away, and suddenly I just wanted to know: who were we?
The curious thing is that sometimes I’m not so keen on the answer. There is much to be proud of, and my overall impression is one of pride. But there’s something in every family that we would rather brush aside. As my Dad once said, “I began research on our family tree and it just made me want to buy a chainsaw.”
One such unpleasantry occurred in the Boston area during September 1676. I won’t get into the details; suffice to say that an ancestor of mine was arrested, tried, and executed by hanging. Yeah, like I said, there is stuff in every family we wish we could ignore!
A few weeks ago I received a note from a friend who was reading Judge Sewall’s Apology : The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of an American Conscience
Naturally, I wanted to read the book. It’s great stuff, truly a historians treasure trove. Judge Sewall was one of the judges at the Salem Witch Trials. And he was the only one to later apologize for what he though was a miscarry of justice.
Author Richard Francis argues that this was a turning point in American liberty. The nation could have evolved quite differently if people like Judge Sewall had not stood up and spoke out for true justice. Sewall, a devout Puritan, could have gone with the consensus of the contemporary culture. And he did — for a time. But when he realized what he had done, he came clean. It’s a remarkable insight from Francis and one I appreciate hearing.
Is it a book for everybody? Well, no. It can be dry and tedious because the main resource for the book was Judge Sewall’s personal journal. And most daily journal entries tend to be rather boring. But that doesn’t mean it’s not an important book. Perhaps not a great book, but it is without a doubt an important one.
Curiously, one might say the same thing about family genealogy. A lot of it is tedious. And then something jumps out that is truly a surprise. Sometimes that surprise is fantastic. And other times, not so much.
