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John Proctor (convicted Witch)
John Proctor, Jr. (October 9, 1632 – August 19, 1692) was a landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was the son of John Proctor Sr.Robinson, 1991, p. 281Proctor, 1982, p. 264 (1594–1672) and Martha Harper (1607–1667). John and his 3rd wife were tried on August 5, 1692. He was hanged on August 19, 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Salem Witch Trials after being falsely accused and convicted of witchcraft. Early life John Proctor was born in Suffolk, England. When he was just three years old, his parents brought their family to America. They sailed from London, England, on 12 April 1635 on a ship called the ''Susan and Ellen''. Upon arrival, they settled in the Chebacco area of Ipswich, Massachusetts. The elder Proctor owned many properties and was considered one of the wealthiest residents of Ipswich. He had two shares in Plum Island in 1664. He also held various offices within the colony. Adult life Proctor was a good businessman, comfort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowestoft, Bury St Edmunds, Newmarket, and Felixstowe which has one of the largest container ports in Europe. The county is low-lying but can be quite hilly, especially towards the west. It is also known for its extensive farming and has largely arable land with the wetlands of the Broads in the north. The Suffolk Coast & Heaths and Dedham Vale are both nationally designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. History Administration The Anglo-Saxon settlement of Suffolk, and East Anglia generally, occurred on a large scale, possibly following a period of depopulation by the previous inhabitants, the Romanised descendants of the Iceni. By the fifth century, they had established control of the region. The Anglo-Saxon inhabitants later b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nathaniel Felton
Nathaniel Felton (May 15, 1615 – July 30, 1705) was a landowner in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He served as a juryman, grand juryman, constable, Ensign, and Lieutenant. He was the son of John Felton (1585–1627) and Ellen Thrower (1588–1652). His home was among the first built in what is now Peabody, Massachusetts. Together with the home of his son, Nathaniel Felton Jr., the pair of houses became known as the Nathaniel Felton Houses. He is known for his role in the drafting and, along with his wife, being the first to sign a petition in support of John Proctor. Early life Nathaniel Felton was born in Great Yarmouth, England. He emigrated from England in 1633 with his mother during the Puritan migration to New England. Nathaniel Felton is considered to be the first ancestor of the "Northern line of Feltons" to arrive in the American colonies, settling in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Salem Witch Trials Nathaniel Felton's name is found on two petitions of support for indiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Cloyce
Sarah Cloyce (alt. Cloyes; Towne; c. 1641 – 1703) was among the many accused during Salem Witch Trials including two of her older sisters, Rebecca Nurse and Mary Eastey, who were both executed. Cloyce was about 50-years-old at the time and was held without bail in cramped prisons for many months before her release. Background She was the daughter of William and Joanna Towne, who had emigrated to Salem from Great Yarmouth in England about 1630. Sarah, who was probably the youngest of their eight children, married firstly to Edmund Bridges, by whom she had six children, and secondly to Peter Cloyce (later Cloyes), a widower, by whom she had three more children. Salem Witch Trials On Sacrament Day in the spring of 1692, covenanted church member Sarah CloyceSister #11 walked out of the Salem Village meetinghouse soon after the pastor Samuel ParrisBrother #1 announced that the Biblical text would be John Chapter 6 verse 70, "Have not I chosen you twelve, and one is a devil." Sarah r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Eastey
Mary Towne Eastey (also spelled Esty, Easty, Estey, Eastick, Eastie, or Estye) ( bap. August 24, 1634 – September 22, 1692) was a defendant in the Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts. She was executed by hanging in Salem in 1692. Early life Mary Eastey was born Mary Towne to William Towne and Joanna Towne (née Blessing) in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. She was one of eight children, among them her sisters and fellow Salem defendants Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce. Mary Towne and her family moved to America around 1640. She married Isaac Estey, a farmer and barrel-maker, in 1655 in Topsfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Isaac was born in England on November 27, 1627; the couple had eleven children: Joseph (1657–1739), Sarah (1660–1749), John, Isaac (1662–1714), Hannah, Benjamin, Samuel, Jacob, Joshua, Jeffrey, and Isaac. Accusation and trial Like her sister Rebecca Nurse, Eastey was a pious and respected citizen of Salem, and her accusation came as a sur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rebecca Nurse
Rebecca Nurse (February 13, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was a woman who was accused of witchcraft and executed by hanging in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was fully exonerated fewer than twenty years later. She was the wife of Francis Nurse, had several children and grandchildren, and was a well-respected member of the community. She was tried and convicted in the spring and summer of 1692 and executed on July 19. This occurred during a time when parts of the government and people of the Province of Massachusetts Bay were seized with witch-phobia. Her married sisters Mary Eastey and Sarah Cloyce were also accused. Mary was convicted and executed, but Sarah managed to survive. Early life The daughter of William (c. 1598–1672) and Joanna a Towne (c. 1595/99–1682) (née Blessing), Rebecca Nurse was born in Great Yarmouth, England in 1621. Born February 13, 1621, her baptism is recorded as February 21, 1621. Her family emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanging
Hanging is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck.Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Hanging as method of execution is unknown, as method of suicide from 1325. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain "hanging". Hanging has been a common method of capital punishment since medieval times, and is the primary execution method in numerous countries and regions. The first known account of execution by hanging was in Homer's ''Odyssey'' (Book XXII). In this specialised meaning of the common word ''hang'', the past and past participle is ''hanged'' instead of ''hung''. Hanging is a common method of suicide in which a person applies a ligature to the neck and brings about unconsciousness and then death by suspension or partial suspension. Methods of judicial hanging T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oyer And Terminer
In English law, oyer and terminer (; a partial translation of the Anglo-French ''oyer et terminer'', which literally means "to hear and to determine") was one of the commissions by which a judge of assize sat. Apart from its Law French name, the commission was also known by the Law Latin name ''audiendo et terminando'', and the Old English-derived term soc and sac. By the commission of oyer and terminer the commissioners (in practice the judges of assize, though other persons were named with them in the commission) were commanded to make diligent inquiry into all treasons, felonies and misdemeanours whatever committed in the counties specified in the commission, and to hear and determine the same according to law. The inquiry was by means of the grand jury; after the grand jury had found the bills of indictment submitted to it, the commissioners proceeded to hear and determine by means of the petit jury. The words ''oyer and terminer'' were also used to denote the court that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spectral Evidence
Spectral evidence is a form of legal evidence based upon the testimony of those who claim to have experienced visions. Such testimony was frequently given during the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries. The alleged victims of witchcraft would claim to have been tormented by the spectral images of certain named members of the community; this was taken as evidence that those named were witches, and had given the Devil permission to assume their appearance. If accepted by a court, this testimony was virtually impossible to refute. However, spectral evidence was rarely used to secure a conviction, as theologians were unable to agree that the Devil could not take on the shape of an innocent person. The debate about the validity of spectral evidence rose to a climax with the Bury St Edmunds witch trial of 1662, and the Salem witch trials of 1692–93. Bury St Edmunds witch trial At the Bury St Edmunds witch trial of 1662, charges of witchcraft were brought against Amy Denny and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Warren (Salem Witch Trials)
Mary Ann Warren (c. 1674 — unknown) was the oldest accuser during the 1692 Salem witch trials, being 18 years old when the trials began. She was a servant for John and Elizabeth Proctor. Renouncing her claims after being threatened to be hanged, she was later arrested for allegedly practicing witchcraft herself. Her life after the trials is unknown. Salem Witch Trials In early March 1692, Warren began having fits, claiming that she saw the ghost of Giles Corey. John Proctor told her she was just seeing his shadow, and put her to work at the spinning wheel, threatening to beat her if she pretended to have any more fits. For some time, she did not report any more sightings, but she started to have fits again. Warren was kept hard at work at the Proctor home and was told that if she ran into fire or water during one of her fits, she would not be rescued. When her seizures did stop, she posted a note at the Meeting House one Sabbath eve to request prayers of thanks. That night, Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary Walcott
Mary Walcott (July 5, 1675 – 1752) was one of the "afflicted" girls called as a witness at the Salem witch trials in early 1692-93. Life Born July 5, 1675, she was the daughter of Captain Jonathan Walcott (1639–1699), and his wife, Mary Sibley (or Sibly; 1644–1683), both of Salem, and was about seventeen years old when the allegations started in 1692. Her aunt, Mary (née Wolcott), the wife of Samuel Sibley (or Sibly; 1657–1708), was the person who first showed Tituba and Tituba's husband John Indian how to bake a "witch cake" to feed to a dog in order that she and her friends might ascertain exactly who it was that was afflicting them. Joseph B. Felt quoted in ''The Annals of Salem'' (1849 edition) vol. 2, p. 476 rom the town records March 11, 1692, – "Mary, the wife of Samuel Sibley, having been suspended from communion with the church there, for the advice she gave John usband of Titubato make the above experiment, is restored on a confession that her purp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abigail Williams (Salem Witch Trials)
Abigail Williams (born c. 1681, date of death unknown) was an 11- or 12-year-old girl who, along with nine-year-old Betty Parris, was among the first of the children to falsely accuse their neighbors of witchcraft in 1692; these accusations eventually led to the Salem witch trials. Salem trials In early 1692, Abigail Williams was living with her relative, Betty Parris' father, the village pastor Samuel Parris, along with his two slaves Tituba and John Indian. Tituba was part of a group of three women—with Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne—who were the first to be arrested, on February 29, 1692, under the accusation that their spectres (ghosts) were afflicting the young girls in Parris' household. The three women were questioned separately but were aware of each other and, in a classic prisoner's dilemma, they were turned against each other. Sarah Good was the first interrogated and held to her innocence. Judge John Hathorne directed all "the children ... to look upon her a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Giles Corey
Giles Corey ( August 1611 – September 19, 1692) was an English-born American farmer who was accused of witchcraft along with his wife Martha Corey during the Salem witch trials. After being arrested, Corey refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. He was subjected to pressing in an effort to force him to plead—the only example of such a sanction in American history—and died after three days of this torture. Because Corey refused to enter a plea, his estate passed on to his sons instead of being seized by the local government. Corey is believed to have died in the field adjacent to the prison that had held him, in what later became the Howard Street Cemetery in Salem, which opened in 1801. His exact grave location in the cemetery is unmarked and unknown. There is a memorial plaque to him in the nearby Charter Street Cemetery. Pre-trial history Giles Corey was born in Northampton, England. He was baptized in the church of the Holy Sepulchre on August 16, 1611. Gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
