Salem witchcraft trials abigail

Around the same time, three more women were accused: Mary Rowe, Phoebe Day and Rachel Vinson, although it is not known who accused them. Joan Penney was also accused in September by Zebulon Hill, a former Gloucester resident who had recently moved to Salem town. Shortly after, in October or November, James Stevens, a deacon of the local church and lieutenant in the militia, sent for the afflicted girls of Salem Village to name the witch he believed was bewitching his sister Mary Fitch, wife of John Fitch.

She later married a wealthy man named Samuel Elwell. Her mother, Ruth Dutch, had also once been accused of witchcraft, although it is not known when. Rebecca was neighbors with the in-laws of the Stevens family, the Eveleths, and had many problems with them.

Petition from the accused witches held in Ipswich. The family had a large amount of land in the Little Good Harbor area. Their names appear on an undated petition asking to be released on bail until their trial. She was known for being troublesome and having a sharp tongue. Phoebe Day, whose maiden name was Wildes, was related to fellow accused witch Sarah Wildes, of Topsfield, who was hanged for witchcraft on July 19, in Salem.

Fortunately for the accused, it appears that these cases never went to trial because the use of spectral evidence was banned in October of , giving prosecutors little evidence to go on, and the special court set up to hear the Salem Witchcraft cases was disbanded.

In November, public officials set up the Superior Court of Judicature to hear the remaining witchcraft cases. According to court records, Margaret Prince and Elizabeth Dicer were released on their own recognizance on December 15th.

It is not clear what happened to the other Gloucester women but between January and May of , most of the remaining accused were either released due to a lack of evidence or tried and found not guilty. Sources: Karlsen, Carol F. Taylor Trade Publishing, Drolet, Jedediah. The Geography and Genealogy of Gloucester Witchcraf t, www. He was an attorney, a colonel in the militia, a schoolteacher, and served as a selectman and town clerk in Andover.

Though he opposed the entire witchcraft delusion, he found himself in the unenviable position of Justice of the Peace in Andover during the hysteria. However, after he had issued those warrants, he refused to grant any more.

In response, Colonel Bradstreet and his wife fled the area. However, he later returned to Andover and his name appears first on the petition written in late December. The petition presented to the Superior Court of Judicature at Salem at its opening session on January 3, He died in Andover, Massachusetts in At that very moment, a dog ran out, barked at him then ran away. Immediately, the girls accused John Bradstreet of having afflicted the dog. In the meantime, the dog was hanged as a witch.

However, somewhere along the line, he obviously returned to the area, because he died in Topsfield on January 17, Mary Bridges, Jr. At her examination, she confessed and said that she and her sisters had helped to hurt people with magic. Witnesses at the examination, including Martha Sprague and Rose Foster, made further allegations. She was sent to prison, where she would stay until she was finally found not guilty on May 12, Mary Tyler Post Bridges ??

Richard already had a daughter from his first marriage named Susannah Post. The couple would have three children, Mary, Hannah, and John. Three years later, she would marry John Bridges, a blacksmith, and they would live in the northern part of Andover. John already had a daughter named Sarah, from his first marriage to Sarah Howe Bridges, who had died.

She was imprisoned. Mary Tyler Post Bridges remained in prison until she was tried on January 12, , and found not guilty. Sarah Bridges ?? Under pressure, though, Sarah would also confess and said that there were some witches in the area, that she herself had ridden on a pole, and asked forgiveness of the afflicted. She was indicted of wickedly and feloniously covenanting with the Devil, but, was later found not guilty. She would later marry Samuel Preston, and when he died, married for a second time to William Price.

Hannah Varnum or Farnum Tyler Brumidge ?? After he died in , she married Edward Brumridge. During the witch hunt of , she was accused and imprisoned. Nothing more is known of her. Sarah Smith Buckley ?? Her widowed daughter, Mary Buckley Witheridge , was arrested the same day and also imprisoned. Originally from Ipswich, Sarah Smith married William Buckley, a shoemaker, and the couple would have eight children. They lived in Ipswich until at least and later moved to Salem Village.

They were prosperous at first, but their property was seized when they lost a lawsuit brought against them by the governor, Simon Bradstreet. One of his sons was involved in another suit, and as payment, William Buckley lost shoemaker tools. Before long, the family was homeless and begging for their subsistence.

In May, Sarah and her widowed daughter, Mary Buckley Witheridge, were accused of witchcraft and arrested. Also testifying against her were Susanna Sheldon and Benjamin Hutchinson. Both were sent to prison. After spending some eight months in prison both Sarah Smith Buckley and her daughter were found not guilty in January and were discharged after paying her fees. Abigail and Betty were joined by Ann Putnam Jr.

The Rev. Parris called in Rev. John Hale of Beverley and Rev. Nicholas Noyes of Salem, and several neighbors, to observe the behavior of Abigail and the others, and to question Tituba , an enslaved household worker. Abigail's and Betty's accusations, especially those on February 26 after the making of a witch's cake the day before, resulted in the arrest on February 29 of Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne.

Thomas Putnam, Ann Putnam Jr. On March 19, with the Rev. Deodat Lawson visiting, Abigail accused the respected Rebecca Nurse of trying to force her to sign the devil's book. Lawson, claiming she saw Martha Corey's spirit separate from her body. Martha Corey was arrested and examined the next day. A warrant for the arrest of Rebecca Nurse was issued March Abigail testified that she had seen some 40 witches outside the Parris house in a ritual of drinking blood.

She named Elizabeth Proctor's specter as being present and named Sarah Good and Sarah Cloyce as being deacons at the ceremony. Of the legal complaints filed, Abigail Williams made 41 of them.

She testified in seven of the cases. Her last testimony was June 3, a week before the first execution. Joseph Hutchinson, in trying to discredit her testimony, testified that she had said to him that she could converse with the devil as easily as she could converse with him.

After her last testimony in the court records on June 3, , the day that John Willard and Rebecca Nurse were indicted for witchcraft by a grand jury, Abigail Williams disappears from the historical record.

Speculation about Abigail Williams' motives in testifying usually suggest that she wanted some attention: that as a "poor relation" with no real prospects in marriage as she would have no dowry , she gained much more influence and power through her accusations of witchcraft that she would be able to do any other way.

Linda R. Caporael suggested in that fungus-infected rye may have caused ergotism and hallucinations in Abigail Williams and the others.