Which trials took place in salem ma

In the end, the three convicted women were reprieved by Phips, which greatly angered Chief Justice William Stoughton. He would have liked to see them hang. Additional note: The building where the witch trials occurred was the second Town House erected in Salem, located in the middle of Washington Street from until The lower part of it served for a school, while the floor of the old court above was mostly taken up, except where the seats of the judges and juries were located.

Here the boys would sometimes collect before master came, and play over the scene, once acted there in dread reality, of trying witches. There is a marker on the outside of the Masonic Temple building at 70 Washington Street on the west side of the street , noting the location of the Courthouse in Charges against Martha Corey, a loyal member of the Church in Salem Village, greatly concerned the community; if she could be a witch, then anyone could.

Magistrates even questioned Sarah Good's 4-year-old daughter, Dorothy, and her timid answers were construed as a confession. The questioning got more serious in April when Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth and his assistants attended the hearings.

Dozens of people from Salem and other Massachusetts villages were brought in for questioning. The first case brought to the special court was Bridget Bishop, an older woman known for her gossipy habits and promiscuity. When asked if she committed witchcraft, Bishop responded, "I am as innocent as the child unborn. Five days later, respected minister Cotton Mather wrote a letter imploring the court not to allow spectral evidence—testimony about dreams and visions.

The court largely ignored this request and five people were sentenced and hanged in July, five more in August and eight in September. On October 3, following in his son's footsteps, Increase Mather, then president of Harvard, denounced the use of spectral evidence: "It were better that ten suspected witches should escape than one innocent person be condemned. Governor Phipps, in response to Mather's plea and his own wife being questioned for witchcraft, prohibited further arrests, released many accused witches and dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer on October Phipps replaced it with a Superior Court of Judicature, which disallowed spectral evidence and only condemned 3 out of 56 defendants.

Phipps eventually pardoned all who were in prison on witchcraft charges by May But the damage had been done: 19 were hanged on Gallows Hill, a year-old man was pressed to death with heavy stones, several people died in jail and nearly people, overall, had been accused of practicing "the Devil's magic. Following the trials and executions, many involved, like judge Samuel Sewall, publicly confessed error and guilt. On January 14, , the General Court ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching for the tragedy of Salem.

In , the court declared the trials unlawful. However, it was not until —more than years later—that Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of I am looking forward to the challenge of uncovering a multitude of analysis on this matter. Hi Rebecca…I saw that you have a lot of knowledge about Mary Easty…I was told this year at a funeral that I am a direct decendent of hers…I live in Salem and My Grandfather was name William Estey…do you by any chance have any history of the family tree?

Unfortunately, I do not have any information on her family tree but you might want to check out a genealogy site like ancestry. Ancestry is the easiest way. Just pay for a month and go nuts adding records to a tree. Lines going back to Salem and Colonial New England in general are usually well documented. It will be very easy. I have countless ancestors out of Massachusetts Bay Colony and one of my grandmothers was Martha Carrier.

Her son Richard is one of my 8th great grandfathers and I keep waiting for a DNA match to pop up with one of his other descendants. I need a bibliography for my class report. Native Americans and other religions represented threats by the Devil.

And this was for a people who saw themselves as ordered by God to build their shining City on a Hill. Massachusetts was like the early state of Israel. In , New England revolted and deposed the government of the Dominion of New England, and sent a representative back to London to report it, only to find that Parliament had deposed James II, and replaced him with William and Mary. William was happily a Calvinist, but not even that changed the fact New England theocracy was at an end.

No more restricting property ownership and voting rights to only church members. The devil had won. Salem witch trial started as feud between Porters n putnums cuz putnums felt Porters gave too much freedom to their black servants. After my greaty great uncle Israel Porter formed political group to gather support against putnums, putnums responded by accusing supporters n friends of Porter Family of witchcraft esp their daughters.

Hysteria was from little girls facin threat of death by torture. They basically played the trump card of the times. Church was all powerful in those days. No way to fight its power. Luckily ann putnum jr lived to apologize. That darn Satan fooled them good. Oh well, live n learn. Its sad when you can pick out names of your relatives in every list.

Porters never forgot about this n intermarried with many of the families afterwards. We also have kept good records of everything. Let me know if you are related to story too. I guarantee Im not related to any putnum. Does anyone know who was the last one to be accused of witchcraft and died , all she did was healing and someone who she knew turned her in. I Think it was her kids. It was last updated Sept 4, I need to compare 2 victims of the salem witch trails and find a way that they are linked as indiviguals and how their lives had similar paths that lead to victimhood but this thing is wayyyyy to long.

If you are looking for more info on the victims themselves, you can check out the article I wrote specifically about them titled The Salem Witch Trials Victims: Who Were They? The link can be found in the section of this article titled Salem Witch Trial Victims. The history both good and bad is something we should all know about. William Stoughton is an ancestor of mine, sorry to say.

I also have an ancestor, Mary Parsons, who was accused of witchcraft but she was allowed to live. You never know what you will find when you start researching your family tree!

Thank-you for the great info you have shared. Rebecca, how long did this take you? Thank you for the kind comments. The initial article took me a few days to write and then I have been slowly adding to it and expanding it over the years.

Thank you for this amazing article! This is basically what got me an A on my history fair assignment, I appreciate all the time and effort put into writing this!

The bibliography at the bottom of this article list a number of secondary sources. You have been so helpful! I really enjoy reading your blog! This was so helpful for my project! HI there! I was wondering if there was a written document or agreement signed that ended the trials. Also I was curious to know what the specific compromise was. Is this a homework question? Perhaps this question has something to do with the closure of the court of Oyer and Terminer, which was the special court established to hear the trials.

Or maybe it was the bill that cleared the names of the accused witches. Went to the library to look for my family history but came across my friends families name. His grandfather is a Putnam.

It went all the way back to the Salem Witch trials. Got the movie and became more interested in what really happened. Seemed like there was alot of hate towards one another just for being different. Susannah Martin was my 10th great grandmother and John Proctor was my 11th great uncle. This is like the only website i found most helpful on Salem Witch Trial. The Salem Witch Trials were one of the best documented trials of colonial times.

There is actually a compilation of all of the primary sources on the Salem Witch Trials. It is voluminous and comes in paperback and hardcover. Note: it is expensive. Did the Salem Witch Trials have any affect on the way that the American court systems were designed once the United States became a country?

Has their been any further studies into the ergot theory besides the collage student in the early 70s? What source other than A Story of Witchcraft would you recommend to look up more information about the trials? Thank you for making this blog post! I find the Salem Witch trails to be the most interesting event in the colonization of whats now US. Is there any credence to this theory? I know that the accusers, at least some of them were aligned with the Putnam family who was known to have land disputes with several of the villagers.