A Register of Union: Puritan and Quaker Marriages in Seventeenth Century Salem

This post is another preview of my forthcoming two-volume, 1,800+ page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2026/01/update-on-new-book-book-sent-to.html. 

While researching the new book, I learned of a seventeenth century Salem marriage register that demonstrates a growing acceptance towards Quakers, a group that, only a short time earlier, had been persecuted within Salem's Puritan establishment. Here is that story.

"...This historical document is a page from the Salem, Massachusetts, Vital Records, which served as the official register for the town's births and marriages during the seventeenth century. 

One of its most significant entries is the marriage record for Isaac Cook (1640-1692) and Elizabeth Buxton (1640-1690), who were married on May 3, 1664. Isaac was the son of Henry Cooke (1615-1661), an early English immigrant who arrived in Massachusetts before 1639, as part of the Great Puritan Migration.

The ledger also illustrates the interconnected nature of early Salem by listing several other prominent marriages from the same era. Among these are records for members of the Southwick family, such as the marriages of Sara Southwick (1644-1733) to Thomas Dunton (1645-1680) in 1671 and Mary Southwick (1646-1733) to Thomas Burton (1645-1700) in 1672. These combined entries provide some visual representation of the family lineages and community growth that defined the early Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Mary and Sara Southwick were the granddaughters of the persecuted Quaker couple Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick and the daughters of their eldest son, John. Their inclusion in these marriage records alongside Puritan families is significant, as it illustrates the gradual integration of the Southwicks into the Salem community following the intense religious persecution they faced during the 1650s and 1660s. The significance of the Southwick family is further discussed in Chapter 6 in Volume I of this book.

Additionally, like the other marriage records illustrated in Volume I, these registers list both Puritan and Quaker families. During this early period, the Quaker settlement had not yet reached the scale seen later in eighteenth century Salem and Danvers, though some of the families named in this document eventually became prominent Quaker potters in Danvers in the eighteenth century."

Note: For more information about the persecution of the Southwicks - see a feature story I wrote that was published on page 10 in the December 12, 2025 issue of Antiques And The Arts Weekly, titled, The Southwick Family Of Potters Of Salem & South Danvers, Mass.: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2025/12/new-published-feature-story-in-antiques.html.

17th Century Marriage Register from Salem, Massachusetts

Both Quaker and Puritan Families Are Included

See Article for More Information

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...