Salem Witch Trials

Two books, Salem Witchcraft: An Account of Salem Village, Volumes 1 and 2 by Charles W. Upham. Boston: Wiggin and Lunt, 1867. Hardcover, 5.75 x 8.5, 469 pages and 553 pages. Tipped into page 281 of the first volume is a DS, one page, 6 x 5, December 24, 1694. In part: “John Bullock of Salem in the county of Essex in New England, Inn-keeper, did…sell & make over to Mr. Jonathn. Putman & my self a parcell Meadow being about 10 Acres…I do therefore hereby authorize & fully impower my…co-partners…to act…as fully as if I my self were personally present.” Signed at the conclusion by Samuel Parris and co-signed by Nathaniel Ingersoll and John Putman, Jr.

Salem minister, mayor and US Congressman, Upham is known as one of the first historians to delve into the murky waters of the history of Salem Village and the tragedy of the 1692 witch trials. He is also cited as one of the only historians to have utilized such documents as the seventeenth century Salem Village parish records and the Essex County and probate records. Although many more in-depth accounts have since been published, Upham’s effort paved the way, giving future researchers the tools they needed to further dissect and analyze cultural phenomena and events that Upham only touched upon, including land ownership and the bitter rivalry between the Putnam and the Porter families.

This DS, signed by the Village minister, Reverend Samuel Parris, was written only a year after the infamous trials of 1692. Originally invited to preach in the Village church by John Putnam in 1689, Parris entered into an already quarrelsome community that had already seen the coming and going of three ministers. Through harsh, power-hungry behavior, Parris exacerbated an already inflamed situation. In the desolate winter of 1692, Parris’ own daughter, Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Parris, was the first to fall ill with inexplicable symptoms. Fingers were quickly pointed at the Parris’s Indian slave, Tituba, calling attention to her background in voodoo. Parris himself ran with the allegations, blazing forth a murderous hysteria that eventually claimed the lives of over 20 people between February, 1692 and May, 1693. Perhaps an attempt to procure land and secure his hold on the Village, this land agreement marks the time of Parris’s ultimate fall, which lead to his eventual break from the community in 1697, leaving behind him what would be seen as Massachusetts’ darkest, most horrific days.

Nathaniel Ingersoll was an important figure in Salem, and many of the early meetings and events of the Salem Witch Trials occurred at his home/tavern since church meetings were held at his home. He participated in the trials themselves, as well. Thomas Putnam (March 22, 1652 [O.S. March 12, 1651] – June 3 [O.S. May 24], 1699) was a member of the Putnam family and a resident of Salem Village (present-day Danvers, Massachusetts) and a significant accuser in the notorious 1692 Salem witch trials.

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