Rachel is probably a descendant of ancestor Thomas NicholS but the link has not yet been established. She could be the daughter of one of Thomas's younger sons, Ephriam or Nathaniel.

Historical
1676-1681: Russia, Turkey - Russia and the Ottoman Empire fight the second (of ten) Russo-Turkish Wars, Turkish victory
1676: Poland, Turkey - The Treaty of Zurawno brings Polish-Ottoman hostilities to a halt
1676: Turkey - Kara Mustafa becomes Grand Vizier
1678: Netherlands, France - The Treaty of Nijmegen ends the hostilities between the Netherlands and France
1680: United States, Spain - The Pueblo Revolt drives the Spanish out of New Mexico until 1692
1681: Hungary - The Pasha of Buda supports rebellion led by Imre Thokoly in Hungary
1682-1683: Turkey - The Ottomans make camp at Adrianople
1682: Russia - Peter the Great becomes joint ruler of Russia (sole tsar in 1696)
1682: Turkey - Sultan Mehmed IV, advised by Kara Mustafa, decides to disregard the existing peace treaty with Leopold I, due to expire in 1684
1682: United States - La Salle explores the length of the Mississippi River and claims Louisiana for France
1683: Austria - A Habsburg council of war is held in Vienna
1683: Austria - The Battle of Vienna finishes the hegemony of the Ottoman Empire in southeastern Europe
1683: China - China conquers the Kingdom of Tungning and annexes Taiwan
1685: France - Edict of Fontainebleau outlaws Protestantism in France, King Charles II dies
1686-1700: Turkey, Russia - The Russo-Turkish War (third of ten), Russia wins
1687: England - Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
1688-1689: Netherlands, England - The Glorious Revolution starts with the Dutch Republic Invading England, England becomes a constitutional monarchy
1688-1691: Ireland - The War of the Two Kings in Ireland
1688-1697: France - The Grand Alliance sought to stop French expansion during the Nine Years War
1688: England - The Siege of Derry
1689: England, Ireland, Scotland - William ascends to the throne over England, Scotland, and Ireland
1689: England - John Locke publishes his first work called Letter Concerning Toleration
1689: Russia, China - The Treaty of Nerchinsk established a border between Russia and China
1689: Scotland, England - Battle of Killiecrankie is fought between Jacobite and Williamite forces in Highland Perthshire
1690: Ireland - The Battle of the Boyne in Ireland
1691: United States - Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Plymouth Colony merge. This is in response to an attempt started in 1685 by King James II attempts to establish control over the colonies
1692: United States - Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. Over twenty people are hung for being witches.
1693-1694: France - Famine in France kills two million
1694: England - Mary II of England dies
1694: England - The Bank of England is established
1696-1697: Finland - Famine in Finland wipes out almost a third of the population
1697: England - The earliest known first-class cricket match took place in Sussex
1699: England - Thomas Savery demonstrates his first steam engine to the Royal Society
1699: Turkey - The Treaty of Karlowitz ends the Great Turkish War
1700-1721: Russia, Sweden - Russia supplants Sweden as the dominant Baltic power after the Great Northern War
1700: Japan - The 1700 Cascadia earthquake (magnitude nine) occurs off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, the coast of Japan is struck by a tsunami
1701-1702: England - The Daily Courant and The Norwich Post becomes the first daily newspapers in England
1701-1714: Spain - War of the Spanish Succession (aka. Queen Anne's War) was a conflict which Involved most of Europe
1702-1715: France - Camisard Rebellion in France
1702: Japan - Forty-seven Ronin (aka. Forty-seven Samura) attack Kira Yoshinaka (court title of Ko-zuke no suke, a province overseer) and then commits seppuku (a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment, originally reserved only for samurai)
1703-1711: Austria - The Rakoczi Uprising against the Habsburg Monarchy
1703: Russia - St. Petersburg founded by Peter the Great, Russian capital until 1918
1704: Japan - End of Genroku period in Japan
1706: United States - Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston
1707: England, Scotland - Act of Union passed merging the Scottish and the English Parliaments, thus establishing The Kingdom of Great Britain
1707: India - After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal Empire enters a long decline and the Maratha Empire slowly replaces It
1707: India - War of 27 years between the Marathas and Mughals ends in India
1707: Japan - Mount Fuji erupts in Japan
1708-1709: Germany - Famine kills one third of the population of East Prussia
1708: East Indies - The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies and English Company Trading to the East Indies merged to form the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies
1709: Afghanistan - Hotaki dynasty founded in Afghanistan
1709: Russia, Sweden, Turkey - Charles XII of Sweden flees to Ottoman Empire after Peter I of Russia defeats his army at the Battle of Poltava
1710-1711: Russia, Turkey - Ottoman Empire fights Russia in the Russo-Turkish War (fourth of ten), Turkish victory
1713-1714: India - Tarabai establishes rival Maratha Empire government in Kolhapur against Chattrapati Shahu
1714: England - Accession of George I, Elector of Hanover, to the throne of Great Britain, he rules until 1727
1715: England, Scotland - First Jacobite rebellion breaks out
1715: France - Louis XIV dies, leaving France deep in debt
1715: Italy - Pope Clement XI declares Catholicism and Confucianism Incompatible
1716: India - Establishment of the Sikh Confederacy along the India Pakistan border