I read this book in the mid-1970s.  It was set in about the witch trial time.  A young boy had an single aunt (she would be called a free-spirit now).  Because she did not conform the the norms of the day, she was accused of being a witch.  He tried to save her from being a witch by plunging a needle repeatedly into his leg.  She ran away rather than be tried as a witch.  He went after her and she was claimed to have kidnapped him.  At the end of the book, the aunt was in jail and two brothers, both ship captains, offered to marry her.  One brother wanted her to finish the jail term and then he would marry her.  He claimed his sterling reputation would make her acceptable to the community.  The other brother said he would break her out of jail that night and sail away with her, never to return to the colonies.  She took the second brothers’ offer.
It has been at least 50 years since I read the book.  I seem to remember the title contained the witch, silver or wake but I could be completely wrong about the title.  I checked the book out from a bookmobile in Oklahoma.