"...HAD SOLD STRONG LIQUORS TO THE INDIANS..." PT2

A few things about my previous post about Thomas Johnson being charged and convicted
of selling liquor to the Indians:

One of the things that struck me reading the court files was how Nicholas Holt referred
to Thomas Johnson as his son-in law. It was common back in Puritan New England to refer
to in-laws as son, daughter, father, or mother to show you considered them as close to you
as your own parents or children by blood.  So I think by using the term"son -in-law" Nicholas
is trying to show his displeasure with Thomas Johnson and distance himself from his actions.
Conversely, Thomas'  father John Johnson refers to Mary (Holt) Johnson as "his daughter".
Was their a break between Nicholas Holt and his daughter Mary over the actions of her husband? Sometimes I wish there was a way to go back in time to question the people in
these storie to get their thoughts and opinions of each other.

 Another thought I had was about the people involved in the case. It may have been a sign
of changes in Andover, Ma. where they all lived. Here's a list of the original settlers of
Andover. The ones with an asterisk after their names are my ancestors or relatives, the
names in red were witnesses in the case:

Mr. Bradstreet
John Osgood
Joseph Parker
Richard Barker*
John Stevens*
Nicholas Holt*
Benjamin Woodbridge
John Fry
Edmond Faulkner
Robert Barnard
Daniel Poor*
Nathan Parker
Henry Jaques
John Aslett (or Aslebe)
Richard Blacke(Black)
William Ballard*
John Lovejoy*
Thomas Poore
George Abbott*
John Russe
Andrew Allen
Andrew Foster
Thomas Chandler*
pp20-21
Abbot, Elinor, Our Company Increases Apace: History, Language, and
Social Identity in Early Colonial Andover, Massachusetts.
(Dallas, Texas: SIL International, 2007)

Nicholas Holt, Willam Ballard, John Lovejoy and Thomas Chandler are all my 9x great grandfathers.  Thomas Johnson was someone who came to Andover after the original
settlers.One can only speculate if my ancestors regarded such activities as selling
liquor to the local Indians as a sign that Andover was straying from the Christian
principles of its beginnings.