December 12, 2007: Books and Arts By Iris Blasi ’03 On childhood
visits to her great-aunt Charlotte’s Cape Cod house, Eve
LaPlante ’80 was regaled by her aunt, the family historian, with
stories about their illustrious ancestors. With roots stretching
deep into American history, their lineage boasted such figures
as Louisa May Alcott and Col. Joseph May, the 19th-century
founder of Massachusetts General Hospital. Also among the
branches of the family tree were Anne Hutchinson, banished from
Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1683 for her progressive
theological interpretations, and Samuel Sewall, LaPlante’s
direct ancestor and the only one of the Salem witch-trial judges
to publicly recant his involvement. While proud of the first
two, LaPlante recalls that when she was a child the idea of
being related to people like Anne Hutchinson and Samuel Sewall
seemed shameful and embarrassing. “I particularly didn’t
understand why Aunt Charlotte was so excited about a witch
judge,” she says. It wasn’t until years lat