Jonnet Kempe resided in the village of Samuelston in Haddington, a locality that became deeply embroiled in the intense judicial scrutiny of the mid-seventeenth century. Her involvement with the legal authorities began as early as 1649, when she was first denounced, though the records from that initial period remain silent regarding the outcome of those proceedings. It was not until April 1662 that Jonnet reappeared in the official registers, caught within the widening dragnet of an escalating series of accusations that swept through the region.
This resurgence was driven by the testimony of James Welch, whose denunciations were instrumental in identifying a large number of individuals for trial. Although Welch was deemed too young to stand trial himself and was consequently held in imprisonment, his confessions and the specific names he provided were treated with significant gravity by the authorities. Caught in the wake of these declarations, Jonnet was processed through the legal system under several distinct trial records—designated T/JO/1070, T/JO/1833, and T/LA/1052—marking the culmination of a process that had first identified her more than a decade prior.