Sarah Cloyce (alt. Cloyes; Towne; c. 1641 – 1703) was among the many accused during

Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...

including two of her older sisters,

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 ...

and

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. ...

, 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 Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

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 Cloyce
Sister #11
walked out of the Salem Village meetinghouse soon after the pastor

Samuel Parris Samuel Parris (1653February 27, 1720) was the Puritan minister in Salem Village, Massachusetts, during the Salem witch trials. He was also the father of one of the afflicted girls, and the uncle of another. Life and career Samuel Parris, son of T ...

Brother #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 reportedly allowed the door to slam behind her. Her departure was interpreted by some as an overt act of protest and solidarity with her sister,

(a covenanted member of another church near the harbor in Salem Town), who had recently been accused of witchcraft and committed to jail. Sarah's husband and fellow covenanted church member Peter Cloyce
Brother #7
had signed an early statement of support for Rebecca Nurse. Soon, Cloyce's name began to surface among the accusers including

Abigail Williams 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 eve ...

, the 11-year-old niece of Parris, and 16-year-old

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 Sibl ...

. An official complaint on behalf of the accusers was filed by Parris's close neighbors Jonathan Walcott and Nathaniel Ingersoll (Brother #6). Ingersoll was a senior deacon of the church; the other was Edward Putnam. On April 11, 1692, Sarah Cloyce was interrogated in public and maintained her innocence. The first accuser questioned that day was an enslaved person owned by Parris and referred to as John Indian: "When did I hurt thee?" Sarah asked. "A great many times," he said."Oh you are a grievous liar", Sarah responded. Abigail Williams was also questioned. Sarah was committed to jail without bail and soon transferred to Boston prison until June 19 when she was transferred back to a jail in Ipswich. Another sister

was also accused and arrested. Sarah and her sisters repeatedly petitioned the court for an opportunity to present evidence which supported her innocence, and to exclude

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 wo ...

(testimony that the spirit of someone did something). Rebecca Nurse was executed in July and Mary Eastey was executed in September, so that of the three sisters, only Sarah Cloyce managed to survive until the witch trials were ended by Governor Phips in 1693. In September, there was an additional accusation against Sarah coming from her niece, Rebecca Towne, daughter of Cloyce's late brother, Edmund Towne. On September 9, 1692, an indictment was made out against Sarah, "for certain detestable arts called witchcraft and sorceries, wickedly, maliciously and feloniously hath used practiced and exercised... in, upon and against one Rebecca Towne of Topsfield...and also for sundry other acts of witchcraft."

Last years

After Governor

William Phips Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, s ...

dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer in October 1692, a new Superior Court of Judicature was formed in December and given instructions to disregard all "spectral evidence" or testimony of the afflicted. In January 1693, this new court dismissed the charges against Sarah, the jurors marking the indictment "ignoramus", literally meaning "we do not know." After paying her prison fees, she and her husband moved to Boston. Her husband immediately (February 8, 1693) began working with several other church members ("aggrieved brethren") including a son of Rebecca Nurse, in bringing action against Parris, hoping for a full apology, or failing that, to have him dismissed from their church. In April 1695, the aggrieved brethren failed to get Parris ousted by a Council of neighboring churches moderated by

Increase Mather Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administ ...

, and including his prolific and witch-phobic son

Cotton Mather Cotton Mather (; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, in 1685 he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting H ...

. Later that year, Peter Cloyce asked Parris for a dismission so that he and his wife could move their membership to a Church in Marlborough (West of Framingham). Other "aggrieved brethren" continued their fight and in 1697 were successful in bringing a civil case on behalf of the Village and Parris was removed from their church. Sarah spent the last years of her life trying to clear her sisters' names. After her death, her two sisters were eventually cleared of all charges. In 1706, Ann Putnam Jr. confessed to having falsely accused Sarah Cloyce and her sisters. ''And particularly, as I was a chief instrument of accusing Goodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie in the dust, and to be humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, of so sad a calamity to them and their families; for which cause I desire to lie in the dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offense, whose relations were taken away or accused.''Upham, Charles W. (2000) 867 Salem Witchcraft, 2, Dover Publications (pg. 510);

In popular culture

In the short story, ''

Young Goodman Brown "Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th-century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that all ...

'' by

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

(himself a descendant of one of the Salem witch trial magistrates), a

social criticism Social criticism is a form of academic or journalistic criticism focusing on social issues in contemporary society, in particular with respect to perceived injustices and power relations in general. Social criticism of the Enlightenment The or ...

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

culture, a character named Goody Cloyse addresses the devil, confessing to practicing witchcraft. It is a shock to the protagonist (Brown) as she had taught him his

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adult c ...

in his youth. She makes a reference to "...that unhanged witch, Goody Cory...", a possible reference to

Martha Corey Martha Corey (1619 or 1620 – September 22, 1692) was accused and convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials, on September 9, 1692, and was hanged on September 22, 1692. Her second husband, Giles Corey, was also accused. Early life ...

, who actually was hanged as a witch in 1692. Sarah Cloyce/Cloyes is the protagonist and narrator of the 1985 public television miniseries chronicling the trials ''

American Playhouse ''American Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Overview It premiered on January 12, 1982, with ''The Shady Hill Kidnapping'', written and narrated by John Cheever an ...

: Three Sovereigns for Sarah.'' She was portrayed by the English actress

Vanessa Redgrave Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, two ...

References

External links