Lydia Dustin was a sixty-five year-old widow from Reading, a town to the west of Salem, with a long standing reputation for witchcraft. Few details of her trial remain, other than the fact that two of her daughters and her granddaughter were also arrested. All four women were eventually acquitted, although Lydia was held in prison because she could not pay her fees.

Lydia Dustin died in Salem Prison, March 10, 1693.