Mary Warren, twenty years of age, was a servant in the family of John Procter and Sarah Churchill, of the same age, was a servant in that of George Jacobs, Sr. Elizabeth Booth and Susannah Sheldon, each eighteen years of age, belonged to families in the neighborhood. Elizabeth Hubbard, seventeen years of age, who also occupies a bad eminence in the scene, was a niece of Mrs. Mercy Lewis performed a leading part in the proceedings, had great energy of purpose and capacity of management, and became responsible for much of the crime and horror connected with them. He was a son of Nathaniel, and resided in the neighborhood of Thomas and Deacon Edward Putnam. George Burroughs: and, in 1692, was living as a servant in the family of Thomas Putnam although, occasionally, she seems to have lived, in the same capacity, with that of John Putnam, Jr., the constable of the village. When quite young, she was, for a time, in the family of the Rev. Mercy Lewis was also seventeen years of age. It is a singular fact, and indicates the estimation in which Captain Walcot was held, that, although not a church, he filled the office of deacon of the parishįor several years before the formation of the church.
His first wife, Mary Sibley, to whom he was married in 1664, had died in 1683. This young girl is perhaps entitled to be regarded as, in many respects, the leading agent in all the mischief that followed. The character and social position of her parents gave her a prominence which an extraordinary development of the imaginative faculty, and of mental powers generally, enabled her to hold throughout. Ann Putnam, daughter of Sergeant Thomas Putnam, the parish clerk or recorder, was twelve years of age. She acted conspicuously in the witchcraft prosecutions from beginning to end.
Parris, and a member of his household, was eleven years of age. She was sent to the town, where she remained in the family of Stephen Sewall, until the proceedings at the village were brought to a close. It is a noticeable fact, that her father early removed her from the scene. She seems to have performed a leading part in the first stages of the affair, and must have been a child of remarkable precocity. It consisted, besides the Indian servants, mainly of the following persons: -Įlizabeth, daughter of Mr. Practising palmistry, and other arts of fortune-telling, and of becoming experts in the wonders of necromancy, magic, and spiritualism. Parris's former residence in the neighborhood of the Spanish Main, and the prominent part taken by his Indian slaves in originating the proceedings at the village, may account for some of the features of the transaction.ĭuring the winter of 16, a circle of young girls had been formed, who were in the habit of meeting at Mr. Persons conversant with the Indians of Mexico, and on both sides of the Isthmus, discern many similarities in their systems of demonology with ideas and practices developed here. The former was always known by the name of “John Indian ” the latter was called “Tituba.” These two persons may have originated the “Salem witchcraft.” They are spoken of as having come from New Spain, as it was then called, - that is, the Spanish West Indies, and the adjacent mainlands of Central and South America, - and, in all probability, contributed, from the wild and strange superstitions prevalent among their native tribes, materials which, added to the commonly received notions on such subjects, heightened the infatuation of the times, and inflamed still more the imaginations of the credulous. One of them, whom he calls, in his church-record book, “my negro lad,” had died, a year or two before, at the age of nineteen. Parris appears to have had in his family several slaves, probably brought by him from the West Indies. Persons charged with witchcraft, belonging to neighboring towns, were already in prison. Deputy Danforth had begun the work of arrests and The story of the Goodwin children, as told by Cotton Mather was known and read in all the dwellings of the land, and filled the imaginations of a credulous age.
Cute gay men cunning gifs full#
The doctrines of demonology had produced their full effect upon the minds of men, and every thing was ready for a final display of their power. Events were ripening that were to give him a new and fearful strength, and open a scene in which he was to act a part destined to attract the notice of the world, and become a permanent portion of human history. The opposition to him had assumed a form which made it quite probable that it would succeed in dislodging him from his position. Parris in the early part of November, 1691, at the crisis of his controversy with the inhabitants of Salem Village, under circumstances which seemed to indicate that its termination was near at hand.