In January 1697, the Massachusetts General Court declared a day of fasting for the tragedy of the Salem witch trials; the court later deemed the trials unlawful, and the leading justice Samuel Sewall publicly apologized for his role in the process. Soon, prisons were filled with more than 150 men and women from towns surrounding Salem; their names had been cried out by tormented young girls as the cause of their pain. State and Jurisdictional Humanities Councils, HUMANITIES: The Magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, SUBSCRIBE FOR HUMANITIES MAGAZINE PRINT EDITION, Sign up for HUMANITIES Magazine newsletter. The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, the local magistrates, coerced a false confession out of Tituba. A scion of one of Salems most prominent families, and a close ally of Parris, Thomas served as a key instigator of the witch trials; he wrote many of the depositions for the afflicted, including his daughter and later his wife, Ann Putnam Sr. After her parents died suddenly in 1699, Ann Jr. was left to look after her seven younger siblings. SALEM Centuries-old, fragile documents from the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 are being returned to state custody after more than four decades, Trial Court and Peabody Essex Museum officials Phips pardoned all those sentenced to be executed by Stoughton in January 1693. She married Benjamin Balch (c. 1653 - Spring 1698) on October 11, 1674; he was the son of Benjamin Balch and Sarah Gardner. Mother of Joseph Balch; Abigail Raynsford; Ann Rich; Ebenezer Balch and Ruth Balch Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. His diagnosis of bewitchment put into motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging deaths of 19 men and women. The court didnt convene until June 2, 1692, so over half those accused, around 70, were just piling up in the jail, says Burns. Did you know? The Walcotts lived next door to the Parrises, and Marys other aunt, Mary Sibley, had encouraged the baking of the witch cake that led to Betty and Abigails accusations against Tituba. Paranoia was sweeping Salem, and Elizabeth wasbeing examined by a local judge on suspicion of witchcraft. A number of villagers petitioned the court on Nurses behalf. George Burroughs and the Salem Witch Trials, Biography of Elizabeth Parris, Accuser in the Salem Witch Trials, Tituba and The Salem Witch Trials of 1692, John Alden Jr. and the Salem Witch Trials, Profile of Mary Lacey Sr. and Mary Lacey Jr, Salem Witch Trials, M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School. A witchcraft trial where Mary Walcott is shown as a witness. The museum consists of two presentations. The Salem Witchcraft TrialsHistorical records show that the Balch family, although living in the midst of the families accused of witchcraft, remained almost totally removed from the 'witchcraft delusions' of 1692 in Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts). After a years residence, Conant became convinced of the need for a more permanent settlement and found an ideal site at the mouth of the Naumkeag River (now the City of Salem). The parallels between the Salem Witch Trials and more modem examples ofwitch huntinglike the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, are remarkable. It displays the names of the accusers and the accused, and their household locations, as recorded in the court documents. Visit The Salem Witch Museum | Salem, MA Visit About the Museum The Salem Witch Museum examines one of the most enduring and emotional events in American History, the Salem witch trials of 1692. The events have also inspired countless TV shows, films, and even musical genres. These trials were because of a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts that accused different people of practicing witchcraft. At the end of the 17th century, after years of mostly resisting witch hunts and witch trial prosecutions, Puritans in New England suddenly found themselves facing a conspiracy of witches in a war against Satan and his minions. Joseph (4) Balch was born on 26 Sep 1677 in Beverly, Essex, MA and died on 14 Aug 1712 in Beverly, Essex, MA. Boston, 1702, and written by Sarah Bishop's accuser, Rev. Re: Salem Witch Trials and the Balch Family. A third of those arrested confessed but were not necessarily given lighter sentences. An illustration depicting an officer leading away an elderly woman accused of witchcraft. Witchcraft, Trials, and The Historical Record. A lot of people were against spectral evidence, so confessions were now the gold standard to find people guilty. The Regional Accusations Map displays the chronology of the accusations from February through November 1692. and shows the spread of the accusations across the towns of Massachusetts Bay. She was hanged on July 19, with Sarah Good and three others. Visitors can choose to mask or not. The court heard the cases, found 18 guilty people, and hanged them, even though they did not do anything wrong. 32, 450, Family History Library. Edward and Sarah Bishop were found to have committed witchcraft against Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, and Abigail Williams. Lewis, Jone Johnson. On March 23, 1692, a warrant was issued for the arrest of four-year-old Dorothy Good of Salem Village on suspition of acts of Witchcraft. She was taken into custody the next day and jailed with her mother, Sarah, who had been accused of the same capital crime three weeks earlier. Thirty were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men). Whispers of the devil's presence spread like wildfire across the Massachusetts Bay village of Salem in the winter of 1692. You know a witch was arrested in Chelmsford and another up in Ipswich. Geni requires JavaScript! Five more were hanged in August and eight in September. Other times, she sat in the courtroom and knitted calmly while other afflicted girls had fits around her. Today Salem is a city of fascinating complexity. In response, the afflicted in the courtroom went into severe fits, and Warren responded with similar behavior. 5 Notable Women Hanged in the Salem Witch Trials, How the Salem Witch Trials Influenced the American Legal System. in the archives. The neighbor, Christian Trask, wife of John Trask, had attempted to reprove Sarah Bishop but "received no satisfaction from her about it." Edward and Sarah Bishop were examined on April 22 by magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne, on the same day as Sarah Wildes, Mary Easty, Nehemiah Abbott Jr., William and Deliverance Hobbs, Mary Black, and Mary English. They were during the Colonial times. The Archive's historical maps of Salem Village, Salem, and Andover show the locations of the houses of many of the people involved in the trials. According to Mark Podvia (see Timeline, PDF), the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony adopted the following statute in 1641: "If any man or woman be a WITCH, that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death. Even the governor's wife, Lady Mary Phips, was called out as a witch. Daughter of John "the Mariner" Woodbury and Elizabeth Dodge Beverly V.R. There were three or four Edward Bishops living in the area at that time. Goodof the Damage Salem Witch Museum. A period of less than a year caused such turmoil that Salem, Massachusetts, is still widely known for the trials. Often referred to as the afflicted girls, they included members of prominent village families, as well as domestic servants and refugees of King Williams War, a long-running conflict that pitted English settlers against Wabanaki Native Americans and their French allies. 7Torrey, Clarence Almon, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985. The basic gist of her testimony is that Elizabeth and her sister came across Edward Bishop and his wife Sarah as they were riding on horseback. Trials continued with dwindling intensity until early 1693, and by that May Phips had pardoned and released all those in prison on witchcraft charges. Witch hunts Getty Images It's hard to imagine that the sleepy . In 1975 David Greene suggested that the Edward Bishop accused with his wife Sarah was not related to Bridget Bishop and her husband, Edward Bishop "the sawyer," but was the son of another Edward Bishop in town. The Salem witch trials of 1692 have become a prominent feature of the American cultural consciousness. Warrens fate after the trials is unknown. Salem Witch Museum He died at the age of 18 in 1690. At the time of the Salem witch trials, an older Edward Bishop also lived in Salem. Hathorne and Corwin could have said, Okay, we dont buy this. 19 1/2 Washington Square North Aug 15 1654 - Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay, British Colonial America, 1698 - Beverly, Essex, Massachusetts, United States, Anna Balch, Joseph Balch, Ebenezer Balch, Abigail Rainsford (born Balch), Elizabeth Balch, Ruth Wood (born Balch). It displays the names of the accusers and the accused, and their household locations, as recorded in the court documents. READ MORE: 5 Notable Women Hanged in the Salem Witch Trials, Though the respected minister Cotton Mather had warned of the dubious value of spectral evidence (or testimony about dreams and visions), his concerns went largely unheeded during the Salem witch trials. Trials ensued and, when the episode concluded in May 1693, fourteen women, five men, and two dogs had been executed for their supposed supernatural crimes. Roach opens her work with chapters on the history of the Puritan . Beverly V.R. A doctor diagnosed the children as being victims of black magic, and over the next several months, read more, John Proctor sat in the courtroom, watching his pregnant wife, Elizabeth on the stand. Hale stated that "Edward Bishop's would have been a house if great profaneness and iniquity" if the behavior had not been stopped. The Salem witch trials inspired Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible, which is a partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials. Before America Had Witch Trials, Europe Had Werewolf Trials, Women Weren't the Only Victims of the Salem Witch Trials. Betty later married a shoemaker and had five children; she died in 1760. ), p. 308, Los Angeles Public Library. She later rejoined the ranks of the accusers and testified against the Proctors, whom she claimed had tricked her into signing the devils book, and numerous other accused witches. The 19th-century saw the advent of immigrants who enriched the business and cultural life of the city as shipping was replaced by rail transportation. So that was tantamount to saying Rebecca Nurse gave the devil permission to go out and afflict these girls in her image.. Ebenezer (4) Balch was born on 4 Jun 1680 in Beverly, Essex, MA. Roger Toothaker - died before trial (June 16, 1692) probably due to torture or maltreatment. ThoughtCo. *William Good Salem. To understand the events of theSalem Witch Trials, it is necessary to examine the times in which accusations of witchcraft occurred. In January of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill. William Griggs, the village doctor, was called in when they failed to improve. The Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project consists of an electronic collection of primary source materials relating to the Salem witch trials of 1692 and a new transcription of the court records. Eighteen others followed Bishop to Salems Gallows Hill, while some 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months. The 1692 Salem witch trials are a big blot on American history. John Balch, who lived on this property by 1638, was one of the first five original Old Planters who settled the area, coming to Salem with Roger Conant from Gloucester in 1626. InJanuary of 1692, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris of Salem Village became ill.William Griggs, the village doctor, was called in when they failed to improve. Lewis experiences, along with her uncertain future as an orphaned servant and her connection with the Putnam family, could have played a role in her actions. BOSTON (AP) Hundreds of court documents from the 1692 Salem Witch Trials are being transferred from the Salem museum where they have been stored for more than four decades to the newly . The girls were having a type of epileptic fit and would scream out . Salem will be 400 years old in 2026. Often referred to as the read more, In early 1692, during the depths of winter in Massachusetts Bay Colony, a group of young girls in the village of Salem began acting strangely. This article is available for unedited republication, free of charge, using the following credit: Originally published as Records of the Salem Witch Trialsin the Winter 2022 issue ofHumanitiesmagazine, a publication of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Please notify us atpublications@neh.govif you are republishing it or have any questions. children of John (d 1673) and Elizabeth Woodbury: From http://balchipedia.wikidot.com/elizbalch. Most of the accused in the Salem witch trials lived in nearby "Salem Village", now known as Danvers, although a few lived on the outskirts of Salem. Salem Witch Trials: The Hysteria Spreads Salem Witch Trials: Conclusion and Legacy The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem. of the sufferings of his family upon the account of supposed Witchcraft. I was looking for info on the Witch Trials in particular and simply entered the phrase into the AOL Search. Located at Stage Point, now Gloucester, the company invited Roger Conant to join them in 1625 as their governor for the management and government of all their affairs at Cape Ann.. Brought before the judges in April 1692, she was confronted with her past statement that the afflicted persons did but dissemble, or fake their symptoms. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The Salem Witch Trials occurred just as Europe's "witchcraft craze'' from the 14th to 17th centuries was winding down, where an estimated tens of thousands of European witches, mostly women, were executed. 1 Most of the accused were women but men were accusedand executedtoo. The most. During the spring of 1692, the infamous Salem witch trials had begun where many innocent lives were ruined due to false accusation. The Salem Witch Trials 2022 50 m YOUR RATING Rate Documentary Delve deep into the deadliest example of witch hunt hysteria in the history of colonial North America, with The Salem Witch Trials, a series of prosecutions of men and women accused of witchcraft in the Massachusetts colony between February 1692 and May 1693. ), p. 34, Los Angeles Public Library, Gen 974 T694. About Elizabeth Balch Elizabeth Woodbury was born 15 August 1654 in Salem. I, myself, have come across the Salem Witch Trail mentions of our Balch family. Have one to sell? (Pg. Q: How is the Salem Witch Trials Memorial designed? With Kirstie Alley, Henry Czerny, Gloria Reuben, Jay O. Sanders. The Salem witch trials marked a seven-month period of mass hysteria in 1692 Colonial America. The records of the trials contain only two documents involving the Balchs.
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