More from Salem04:32 Jun 09 2009
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I was trying to decide what to post regarding our recent trip to Salem. I decided it would be most appropriate to put up the photos I took of the Memorial stones dedicated to the victims of the witch hysteria as well a a brief note regarding each victim.
Bridget Bishop
Hanged June 10, 1692
Bridget Bishop Biography
•She had been widowed three times in her life.
•She married her second husband, Thomas Oliver, on July 26, 1666.
•Thomas Oliver was also a widow and brought three children to their marriage.
•Thomas and Bridget had a daughter together.
•Thomas and Bridget had a very troubled marriage and fought often.
•In 1679 Thomas died.
•In 1680 she was charged with witchcraft, but wasn't convicted.
•In 1687 she married Edward Bishop.
•She was between 55 and 60 years old when she was charged with witchcraft on April 19, 1692.
Sarah Good
Hanged July 19, 1692
Sarah Good Biography
•She was a homeless woman and begged door to door.
•She would mumble words under her breath if people failed to give her alms. People believed these mumbled words to be curses directed at them.
•Her visits would be attributed to death of livestock.
•At her hanging, the Rev. Nicholas Noyes asked her to confess to being a witch. Her famous response to him was: "I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink." Twenty-five years later, Noyes died of a hemorrhage, choking on his own blood.
Elizabeth Howe
Hanged July 19, 1692
Elizabeth Howe
"If it was the last moment I was to live,
God knows I am innocent..."
Susannah Martyn
Hanged July 19, 1692
Susannah Martin
"I have no hand in witchcraft."
Rebecca Nurse
Hanged July 19, 1692
Rebecca Nurse Biography
•She was 1 of 8 children of William Towne of Topsfield.
•She was married to Francis Nurse.
•The Rev. James Allen and she once fought over the boundry of their two neighboring properties.
•She worshipped at the Salem Village church, but remained a member of the Salem Town church.
•Rebecca was hard of hearing, so she did not often respond to those who spoke to her.
•She was 71-years-old when she was charged with witchcraft.
•She was originally found not guilty by the court, but when the courtroom and the afflicted girls protested, Chief Justice Stoughton asked the jury to reconsider a statement made by one of the prisoners. Nurse was found guilty the second time because of the reconsidered evidence and her failure to respond to questions because her poor hearing.
•Her reputation as a good and prudent women didn't help her escape the gallows.
•She was excommunicated, but her decendents had it revoked on March 6, 1712.
Sarah Wildes
Hanged July 19, 1692
Sarah Wildes was the 2nd wife of John Wildes, who was involved with legal and political issues with a neighbor, John Reddington.
She was accused of witchcraft by John Reddington’s wife Marye
She was arrested in her youth for “lewd behavior” for wearing a brightly colored scarf.
George Burroughs
Hanged August 19, 1692
George Burroughs
•He was the second Salem Village minister, but quarreled over his salary and left.
•He had five children.
•He was widowed three times.
•His second wife died about a year after their arrival in Salem Village.
•After his second wife's death, he remarried and moved to Maine.
•He was rumored to have mistreated his wives.
•One of his children was not baptized; a fact that was brought up in his trial.
•He was well known for his physical strength.
•Upon his arrest for witchcraft, his wife took everything that was valuable in the house, sold his books and loaned the money for interest. She then took her own daughter and left George's children to fend for themselves.
•During his trial, witnesses testified that his two dead wives came to them in their dreams explaining that he had killed them.
•He was also identified by the afflicted girls as the "Black Minister" and leader of the Salem Coven.
•At his execution, he repeated the Lord's Prayer flawlessly.
Martha Carrier
Hanged August 19, 1692
Martha Carrier
•She was arrested upon the complaint of Joseph Holton and John Walcott.
•Four of her five children were taken with her to jail.
•Her eight-year-old daughter, Sarah, admitted to being a witch since she was six. She told the court that her mother baptized her a witch in Andrew Foster's pasture.
•Richard and Thomas Carrier also confessed to witchcraft, and blamed their mother for making them witches. Numerous others confessed that she also made them witches.
•Martha denied the charges of witchcraft and making others witches.
•She spoke her mind freely on her feelings of the Court of Oyer and Terminer and its methods.
•The Rev. Francis Dane spoke in her defense and stated that she was a victim of gossip.
•Almost 10 years after her hanging, her surviving family was paid 7 pounds and 6 shillings in restitution for her death.
George Jacobs
Hanged August 19, 1692
George Jacobs was accused of witchcraft by his Daughter-in-Law and Granddaughter.
John Proctor
Hanged August 19, 1692
John Proctor Biography
•John was a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts and moved to Salem Town in 1666.
•Upon his father's death, he inherited a share of a profitable estate.
•He was a wealthy landowner and owned a tavern on Ipswich Road.
•He was known to be very outspoken and to have a hot temper--traits which did not help him during the trials.
•John was the first male to be accused a witch in Salem.
•He publicly supported and defended his third wife, Elizabeth, when she was accused and tried for witchcraft.
•He was sternly opposed to the witchcraft trials, and was 60-years-old at the time of his arrest.
•At his execution, he pleaded for more time because he was not fit to die (he felt he had not made peace yet with others and God.)
John Willard
Hanged August 19, 1692
At the time of the first allegations of witchcraft Willard was serving as a constable in the village of Salem and his duties included bringing the accused before the court. Soon, however, he began to doubt the truth of the accusations and in May 1692 he refused to make any more arrests. In retaliation Ann Putnam and others accused him of witchcraft, and of murdering thirteen citizens.
Giles Corey
Pressed to Death September 19, 1692
Giles Corey
•He had a criminal record prior to his arrest for witchcraft. The record was mostly for stolen foods and tobacco.
•John Proctor once accused him of setting fire to his house, but he couldn't prove it.
•He was known for his quick, hot temper and also would argue and threaten neighbors.
•He was the only victim to perish by being crushed to death, taunting his assailants by saying "more weight" as they added heavier stones on top of him until his body collapsed.
Martha Corey
Hanged September 22, 1692
Martha Corey
•Known throughout Salem to be a religious person.
•She had a reputation for being opinionated and outspoken.
•Martha gave birth to an illegitimate mulatto, whom lived with her and her second husband, Giles.
•She was against the witch trials from the beginning.
•She never confessed to being a witch, nor did she believe in them.
Mary Easty
Hanged September 22, 1692
As she was the Sister of Rebecca Nurse and witchcraft was thought to be hereditary her accusation was inevitable. She was released from custody after the accusers backed away from their story, but was put back in jail when one of the girls went into fits claiming that Easty was tormenting her.
Alice Parker
Hanged September 22, 1692
She is accused of causing the Death of the Mother of Mary Warren
Mary Parker
Hanged September 22, 1692
Mary Ayer Parker of Andover came to trial in Salem Massachusetts, suspected of witchcraft. During her examination she was asked, "How long have ye been in the snare of the devil?" She responded, "I know nothing of it." Many people confessed under the pressure of the court of Oyer and Terminer, but she asserted the court had the wrong woman. "There is another woman of the same name in Andover," she proclaimed.
Anne Pudeator>
Hanged September 22. 1692
Executed on Sept. 22, 1692, the widow Ann Greenslit Pudeator was one of the seven unfortunate victims of the final hanging on Gallows Hill during the Salem witch trials. Highlights from her trial included the usual testimony of the circle of accusing girls that Ann had afflicted them in "spectral" form. John Best, Sr. also accused Ann of having murdered his wife, whom Ann had served as a nurse. Mary Warren went to the extreme of implicating Pudeator in the deaths of four people. Historian Carol Karlsen speculates that Pudeator may have been targeted due to her profession as a midwife that placed her in direct competition with male care providers, as well as her defiance of the Puritan female gender ideal of meekness and submission to male authority.
Wilmot Redd
Hanged September 22, 1692
Wilmot Redd was apprehended on May 28, 1692, by local constable James Smith. The warrant was signed by Magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne. The charge brought against her was one of having "committed sundry acts of witchcraft on bodys of Mary Wolcott & Mercy Lewis and others in Salem Village to their great hurt."
A preliminary examination took place on May 31, 1692 at Nathan Ingersoll's house in Salem Village. This was Redd's first meeting with the children she allegedly bewitched. They promptly fell into fits, and when asked what she thought ailed them, Redd said, "I cannot tell." Urged to give an opinion, she stated, "My opinion is they are in a sad condition.”
Margaret Scott
Hanged September 22, 1692
Margaret Scott was the only person to be accused of being a witch from Rowley during the Salem trials. This was mainly due to the fact that community members long thought of her as a witch. She most likely was suspected of witchcraft because of her low stature in the community, the number of child fatalities ,long widowhood, and begging; all common traits among people accused of witchcraft.
Samuel Wardwell
Hanged September 22, 1692
The fact he was found guilty is not surprising, as he had dabbled in fortune telling as a young man, had family members who were disliked in Andover, and had married a woman whom many did not think he was worthy of marrying. During his court examination, he confessed to being a witch by submitting a long and detailed story of his indiscretions in order to save his life. His conscience and personal courage led him to recant the story and claim innocence, knowing the risk involved.
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