Scientists Traced the Bloodlines of the Salem Witch Trials — Millions Descend From Them Today!

In 1692, twenty people were executed in the Salem witch trials. Because Puritan New England kept meticulous records of enormous families, the accused, the accusers, and the judges left a vast web of descendants reaching into millions of living Americans today. From Rebecca Nurse and Bridget Bishop to the famous names hiding in modern family trees, we trace the bloodlines out of Salem and ask what genealogy and DNA can really tell us about who carries 1692 forward. Sources (real, verified links): Salem Witch Trials — overview and execution record (Wikipedia) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_w... The 15-million-descendant estimate (Salem Witch Museum) https://salemwitchmuseum.com/descenda... Famous Salem descendants (New England Historical Society) https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.c... Descendant lines and notable names (Boston Public Library research guide) https://guides.bpl.org/salemwitchtria... Joseph Chang, "Recent Common Ancestors of All Present-Day Individuals," 1999 (Yale) http://www.stat.yale.edu/~jtc5/papers... How much of your genome you inherit from a particular ancestor (Graham Coop, gcbias) https://gcbias.org/2013/11/04/how-muc... One optional seventh, if you want a public-facing version of the genetics math instead of the technical blog: National Geographic, "Charlemagne's DNA and Our Universal Royalty" https://www.nationalgeographic.com/sc...