Bethia Carter (Pearson), Salem Witch Trials - Conflicting Parents

I added the info from Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/154441496/bethia-carter

That lists her folks as John and Maudlin, so if it is decided that those are her parents, someone who can cut the other portion of the parentage loose will be responsible for that task. The two Johns may be a merge.

Thank you for finding this, Debbie. My daughter Georgi visited Salem several years ago and loved the old history and how ignorant people were back then about "witchcraft."

What a mess! I did a bit of cleanup on the About section but it's going to take someone way more skilled than I to sort out the relationships. It appears that someone did an inappropriate merge, grafting an additional set of parents and children to the tree. Private User is the curator, perhaps she might be able to help? Erica Howton is also an expert in Colonial America.

"Bethiah Pearson Carter (1645-??) – Bethiah Pearson was born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1645, and as a child, she and her sister had thought themselves bewitched by the healer Ann Holland Bassett Burt, the grandmother of accused witch Elizabeth Bassett Proctor. She grew up to marry Captain Joseph Carter Jr., with whom she would have seven children. Her husband died in about 1690. Not long afterward, she became the target of gossip, perhaps because her own marriage was not a happy one. On May 8, 1692, the widow, Bethia Carter of Woburn, and her daughter of the same name were arrested for witchcraft upon the complaint of Sargeant Thomas Putnam, Jr. and his cousin, Constable John Putnam. Along the Carter women, the complaint also alleged that Ann Farrar Sears, also of Woburn, and Sarah Dustin of Reading were suspected of having afflicted Ann Putnam, Jr., Mercy Lewis, and Mary Walcott. The women were brought in, but Bethiah Carter, Jr. was not jailed with the rest, having been released shortly after she was examined. Bethiah Pearson Carter, Sr. was imprisoned

Bethiah Carter, Jr. (1671-??) – On May 8, 1692, 21-year-old Bethia Carter of Woburn, and mother of the same name, were arrested for witchcraft upon the complaint of Sargeant Thomas Putnam, Jr. and his cousin, Constable John Putnam, which alleged that they had afflicted Ann Putnam, Jr., Mercy Lewis, and Mary Walcott. After being examined Bethiah Carter, Jr. was set free, but her mother would be imprisoned until December 1692."

***

"Joseph ( 2 ) , son of Joseph ( 1 ) and Susanna Carter, lived in Woburn, where he married Bethia Pearson, born September 15 , 1645 ,
daughter of John , who came to Lynn in 1637, and left behind at the date of his
death , May 29, 1706 , three sons and three daughters. John , son of Joseph ( 2 )
and Bethia ( Pearson ) Carter, was born February 26 , 1676. He moved to
Canterbury, Connecticut, with his wife Mary about 1706. John ( 2 ) , son of
John ( 1 ) and Mary Carter, was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, February 24,
1709. He married , April 13, 1731 , Deborah, daughter of Ebenezer Bundy, so..."

Colonial and Revolutionary
Families of Pennsylvania
Genealogical and Personal Memoirs
EDITOR
JOHN W. JORDAN, LL.D.

Also:

"Joseph married Bethia Pearson, daughter of John Pearson (ca 1616-1679) & Maudlin Bullard (-12 Dec 1690). Born on 15 Sep 1645 in Reading, MA."

https://mathcs.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/report/rr02/rr02_432.html

Thanks for the collaboriate work on this.