The First Witch of Boston

Thomas and Margaret Jones arrived from England in 1646. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a strict Puritan settlement, governed by a small group of leaders. After nearly losing hope, the deeply in-love couple was finally blessed with a successful pregnancy and a little girl. Margaret, a midwife, also practiced medicine—common among women of the time who learned to use herbs and natural remedies to heal the sick. Yet her feisty, outspoken personality soon wore on her neighbors, who prized quiet obedience. Her husband Thomas, a skilled craftsman, was easygoing and well-liked, while Margaret’s helpfulness was met with gratitude—or condemnation if anything went wrong. In a community quick to find a scapegoat, unguarded words and suspicion led to her being accused of witchcraft. Word spread like wildfire, and before long others joined in. When local hysteria demanded action, Margaret was imprisoned, and after a one-sided trial, publicly executed. As the first person killed for witchcraft in Massachusetts, Margaret Jones went down in history as a woman who knew too much, spoke too freely, and paid the ultimate price—a grim prelude to the witch hunts that would follow. An incredible work of historical fiction that I could not put down—perfectly chilling and captivating, making it a spellbinding read for Halloween. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐