History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 64

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 64

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It was not Salem witchcraft, but the witchcraft of the world. The people of Salem were constituted like others of their generation. The inflammable material lying hidden within the delusion existed in every community; it happened to be Salem where the spark ignited them and caused the consuming flame. It has been estimated that in Europe during the six- teeth and seventeenth centuries, more than a hun- dred thousand of both sexes were convicted of witch- craft and burned, drowned or hanged.

All through the earlier life of the American colonies there had been what might be called sporadic cases of supposed witchcraft which finally resulted like sporadic cases of disease in a violent epidemic at Salem. Hon. Wm. D. Northend in an address deliv- ered December 8, 1885, before the Essex Bar Asso- ciation says that "within half a century before the trials for witchcraft in this (Essex) county, accusations against persons for witchcraft had been made in Bos- ton, Dorchester, Cambridge, Springfield, Hadley, Groton, Newbury, Rowley, Salisbury, Hartford, Hampton, Portsmouth and Salmon Falls in New Hampshire. During this period in the colony five persons were executed npon conviction of witchcraft, as follows : Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, executed at Boston, June 15, 1648; the wife of Henry Lake, of Dorchester, about 1650; Annie Hibbins, of Boston, Juue 19, 1656 ; Mary Parsons, of Springfield, May 29, 1657; and Goody Glover, of Boston, November 16, 1686."

There had been also accusations within the county of Essex and in Salem and its vicinity. In 1658 John Godfrey, of Andover, was accused of causing losses in the estate of several people and "some afflic- tion in their bodies also." In November, 1669, "Goody Burt," a widow, was prosecuted, a physician testifying that no natural cause could have led to such effects as were wrought by her. Phillip Reed, a physician, preferred similar charges against Margaret Gifford, and in 1679 Caleb Powell was arrested as the warrant of arrest stated "for suspicion of working with the Devil to the molesting of William Morse and his family."

It is worthy of note that the delusion concerning witchcraft never made any considerable headway in the Plymouth colony. The people of that colony probably had as firm a faith in witchcraft as the peo- ple of Massachusetts, but it never grew into a panic as it did in the sister colony. Their laws against witchcraft were as severe as those of Massachusetts, and death was the punishment for "solemn compac- tion or conversing with the devil by way of witchcraft or conjunction." Only two cases, however, were

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

brought before the courts of the colony, in one of which the accuser was sentenced to be either whipped or to make public acknowledgement of her offense, and in the other the accused was acquitted. The fol- lowing record of these cases may be interesting to readers :

" General Court, March 5, 1660.

" Joseph Sylvester, of Marshfield, doth acknowledge to owe and to stand indebted unto his majesty, his heirs, &c., in the sum of twenty pounds sterling in good and current pay ; the condition of this obliga- tion is that in case Dina Sylvester shall and doth appear at the Court of assistants to be holden at Plymouth, the first Tuesday in May next, and attend the Courts determination in reference to a complaint made by Wm. Holmes and his wife about a matter of defamation; that then this obligation to be void or otherwise to remain in full force and virtue.

" In witness the above bounden hath hereunto set his hand the 9th of March, 1660.

" JOSEPH SYLVESTER.

" Dina Sylvester being examined saith the bear she saw was about a stone's throw from the highway when she saw it ; and being examined and asked what manner of tail the bear had, she said she could not tell for his head was towards her.

" May 9, 1661. Concerning the complaint of Wm. Holmes, of Marsh- field, against Dinah Sylvester for accusing his wife to be a witch. The Court have sentenced that the said Dina shall either be publicly whipped and pay the sum of hive pounds to the said Wm. Holmes, or in case she the said Dina Sylvester shall make public acknowledgement of her fault in the premises that then she shall bear only the charge the Plaintiff hath been at in the prosecution of his said suit. The latter of which was chosen and done by the said Dinah Sylvester, viz., a public acknowledge- ment made as followeth.

" May 9, 166I. To the Hon. Court assembled, whereas I have been convicted in matter of defamation concerning Goodwife Holmes, I do hereby acknowledge I have injured my neighbor and have sinned against God in so doing, though I had entertained hard thoughts against the woman ; for it had been my duty to declare my grounds, if I had any, unto sonie magistrate in a way of God and not to have divulged my thoughts to others to the womans defamation. Therefore I do acknowl- edge my sin in it, aod do humbly beg this Honorable Court to forgive me and all other Christian people that be offended at it, and do promise by the help of God to do so no more ; and, although, I do not remember all that the witnesses do testify, I do rather mistrust my memory and submit lo the evidence.

" The mark of DINAH SYLVESTER.

" March 6, 1676-77.

" The Inditement of Mary Ingham.

" Mary Ingham: Thou art indiled by the name of Mary Ingham, the wife of Thomas Ingham, of the towne of Scituate in the jurisdiction of New Plymouth for that thou, haveing not the feare of God before thyne eyes, hast by the healp of the devill in a way of witchcraft or sorcery, maliciously procured much hurt, mischeiffe and paine unto the body of Mehittable Woodworth, the daughter of Walter Woodworth, of Scituate aforesaid, and some others and particularly causing her the said Mehitta- ble to fall into violent fitts, and cansing great paine onto severall parts of her body att severall times, soe ns shee the said Mehittable Wood- worth hath bin almost berenved of her sencis, and hath greatly lan- guished, to her much suffering thereby, and the procuring of great greiffe sorrow nud charge to her parents ; all which thon hast procured and don against the law of God, and to his great dishonor and contrary to our soy lord the Kinge, his crowne and dignitee.

" The suid Mary Ingham did putt herselfe on the tryall of God and

the country and was cleared of this inditement in processe of law by a jury of twelve men whose names follow :

Mr. Thos. Hucken4.

Jolin Wadsworth.

John Howland.

I John Richmond.

ـصلى Abraham Jackson.

Sworn. -

Jerud Talbutt.

Benajah Pratt.

John Foster.

John Blacke.

Seth Pope.

[ Marke Suow. Joseph Bartlett.

"Sworn .-

"The jury brought in not guilty, and soe the said prisoner was cleared as above said."

While the witchcraft panic never extended to the old colony, the case of Dinah Sylvester, above quoted, bears the strongest internal evidence of the deep-scated belief there in witchcraft itself. That it should have been considered a serious defamation of character, and a deadly wound to personal reputation to be charged with communing with the devil shows that such a communion was an offense in the existence of which the whole community had faith, and one as real and positive as murder or any other well defined crime. It is probable that if at the commencement of the panic an accuser had received the punishment awarded to Dinah Sylvester, it would never have passed beyond its incipient and opening stage.

Various causes have been assigned to the outbreak of the excitement in Salem and its mad, but fortunately short, career. None of them, however, are satisfac- tory. Like vitiated blood in the human system, it gradually and necessarily came to a head, and as the location of the ulcer which gives relief to the body depends on some trivial and unknown cause, so in some mysterious and accidental way Salem became the gathering point from which was to be thrown off that insane delusion, which had for generations and centuries poisoned and terrified the minds of men. In the early months of the year 1692 the panic be- gan. On the 29th of February warrants were issued for the arrest of Tituba, an Indian servant of Mr. Parris, Sarah Osborn, a woman who was bed-ridden, and Sarah Good, a woman of ill-repute, who, upon the complaint of Joseph Hutchinson, Edward Put- nam, Thomas Putnam and Thomas Preston, were charged with afflicting sundry persons in remarkable and unaccountable ways. Other accusations and arrests speedily followed. Mr. Upham, in his ex- hanstive work on witchcraft, says,-"There was no longer any doubt in the mass of the community that the devil had etlected a lodgment in Salem village. Church members, persons of all social positions, of the highest repute and profession of piety, eminent for visible manifestations of devotion, and of every age, had joined his standard and become his active allies and confederates." Arrest followed arrest, each arrest adding to the panic, and the panic leading to new arrests. On the arrival of Sir William Phipps at Boston on the 14th of May, 1692, bearing the charter of the "Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England," and his commission as its Governor, the prisons at Salem, Ipswich, Boston and Cambridge were full of persons awaiting trial for the crime of witch-

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craft. Governor Phipps was a believer iu witchcraft, as was William Stoughton, the Lientenant-Governor, and took immediate steps to bring the accused to trial. Under the charter the General Court alone had the power to establish courts of justice, but by an unwar- rantable usurpation of authority, the Governor or- ganized a Court of Oyer and Terminer to act in and for the counties of Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex, and appointed William Stoughton, of Dorchester, chief justice, and Nathaniel Saltonstall, of Haverhill, Major John Richards, of Boston, Major Bartholomew Gedney, of Salem, Wait Winthrop, Captain Samuel Sewall and Peter Sargent, of Boston, associate jus- tices. Mr. Saltonstall declined the appointment, and Jonathan Corwin, of Salem, was appointed in his place. Stephen Sewall was appointed clerk, and Thomas Newton attorney-general, the latter being succeeded in office, July 22, 1692, by Anthony Check- ley. George Corwin, of Salem, was appointed sheriff. The commissions of the court were dated May 27, 1692, and the court convened at the court-house in Salem on the 2d of June. The court-house and the Salem town-house were combined in one building, which stood in the middle of what is now Washington Street, near Lynde Street, and facing south. Under the colony a law had been passed, as has already been stated, making witchcraft a crime, and fixing as a penalty the punishment of death. Sir Edward An- dros during his administration adopted the colony laws, but after his expulsion and under the new charter it was supposed that prosecutions for witchcraft could only be made under the old English statute of James the First. The first trial was that of Bridget Bishop, of Salem. She was convicted on the 8th of June and executed on Gallows Hill on the 10th. On the day of her conviction the General Conrt came together and passed an act reviving the old colonial law, and under that law it is presumed the subsequent trials were held. After the conviction of Bridget Bishop the court adjourned to June 29th. During the recess the Governor and Conncil sought the advice of the principal ministers in Boston and vicinity, who on the 15th of June replied in writing, advising that all the proceedings should be " managed with an exceed- ing tenderness towards those who may be complained of, especially if they have been persons formerly of an unblemished reputation ;" "that the evidence onght certainly to be more considerable than barely the accused persons being represented by a spectre unto the afflicted, and that they should not esteem alterations made in the sufferers by a look or touch of the acensed to be an infallible evidence of guilt." They nevertheless recommended "speedy and vigor- ons proseentions," according to the directions given in the laws of God and the wholesome statutes of the English nation for the detection of witchcraft.

The court again met on the 29th of June, and con- tinned with several adjournments to September 17th, when it adjourned to the first Tuesday in November,

before which time it was formally dissolved. During its various sessions twenty-seven persons were con- victed and condemned to death, as follows,-Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, Elizabeth How, Susanna Martin, Rebecca Nurse, George John Proctor, George Jacobs, John Willard, Martha Carrier, Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Mar- garet Scott, Wilmot Reed, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Elizabeth Proctor, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Brad- bury, Rebecca Eames, Mary Lacy, Ann Foster, Abi- gail Hobbs and Abigail Faulkner. Of these Eliza- beth Proctor was pardoned on the ground of insuffi- cient evideuce, and the six following her on the list finally escaped punishment. Such is the record of a court established expressly for the trial of crimes pun- ishable by death, but withont a justice on its bench educated to the law. In such a court nufamiliar with judicial methods, ignorant of the rules of evidence and not untouched by the popular frenzy, the trials were little more than a formal condemnation of per- sons already tried and convicted by the judgment of an excited and reckless people.

After the dissolution of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, the Superior Court of Judicature was es- tablished in November, 1692, with William Stoughton chief justice, and Thomas Danforth, Wait Winthrop, John Richards and Samuel Sewall associate justices. This court had jurisdiction in cases of witchcraft, and at its session in Essex County in the Jauuary follow- ing, indictments for the offense were found against fifty persons, and all who were tried were acquitted except three, and these were pardoned by the Gov- ernor. All not tried were discharged on payment of thirty shillings each to the attorney general. At the first session of the Conrt of Middlesex County several persons in prison under indictments were tried but all were acquitted. The storm of infatuation bad burst and spent its force, the moral atmosphere of the community was cleared and the sober judgment of men once more held sway. Let the present generation while it passes judgment on the delusions of a former age be sure that it is itself, free from delusions and follies if less dangerous and cruel, yet as little con- formable to the standards and tests which wisdom and common sense should apply to the acts of men.

Little remains to be mentioned in this chapter. The industries, the schools, the churches, the com- merce, the military, and many of the leading associa- tions, are fully treated in other chapters. The fol- lowing perhaps imperfect list will furnish some idea of the field in which the literary and scientific and benevolent tastes and energies of the people of Salem find opportunities for their exercise,-

Salem Athenæum. incorporated in 1810

Salem Lyceum instituted in 1830

Young Men's Union instituted in 1855

Salem Marine Society instituted in 1766

East India Marine Society instituted in 1799

Salem Fraternity organized in 1869

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Young Men's Christian Association. .... organized in 1858 Ilwimmer Farm School .incorporated in 1855

Salem Hospital .organized in 1873

Salem Dispensary. .organized in 1820

Obl Ladies' Home founded in 1861

Salem Charitable Mechanic Association „organized in 1817

Harmony Grove Cemetery Corporation .... .. incorporated in 1840 Salem Female Charitable Society .. .incorporated in 1804

Samaritan Society. „.organized io 1833

Salem Female Employment Society. .. incorporated in 1867 Seamen's Widow and Orpdinn Association ... incorporated in 1844 Senmen's Orphans' and Children's Friend Society .. .. inc. in 1841 City Orphan Asylum of Salem Sisters of Charity .. founded in 1866 St. Peter's Guild. .organized in 1872

American Association for the Advancement of Science .. org. 1840 Bertram Homo for Aged Men. incorporated in 1877

Essex Institute .. founded in 18-18

Association for Relief of Aged and Destitute Women in Salem,

organized in 1800

Notre Dame Educational Institutes.

Peabody Academy of Science. founded in 1867

Woman's Friend Society and Working Women's Bureau, organized in 1876

American Hibernian Society. organized in 1886

American Legion of Honor, .organized in 1879

Ancient Order of llibernians.

Ancient Order of United Workmen in three lodges.

The Oriental Lodge, No. 4. .organized in 1878

The John Endicott Lodge, No. 12. .organized io 1879

Puritan Lodge, No. G2 .organized in 1886

Bethel Aid Society organized in 1880.

Colonial Club .organized in 1882

Boston and Maine R. R. East Division Car Department Mutual Benefit Association organized in 1869 Jennie Wade Council, No. 2, Daughters of Liberty ... org. in 1877 Essex Agricultural Society incorporated in 1818

Essex Bar Association organized in 1856

Essex Sonth District Medical Association ......... organized in 1805 Franklin Mutual Benefit Association .......... incorporated in 1882 Phil. Sheridan l'ost 34, Grand Army of the Republic .. org. in 1867 Improved Order of Red Men.

Naumkeag Tribe, No. 3. .instituted io 1886 Knights of Honor Salem Lodge, No. 150. ... ..... organized in 1875 Knights of Pythias North Star Lodge, No. 38 ... organized in 1870 The Liberal C'inb, .organized in 1882

Loyal Association, No 5, Stationary Engineers .. organized in 1883 Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters. ..... organized in 1880 Master Carpenters' and Builders' Association ... organized in 1886 Naminkeag Grocers' Association ... organized in 1885 Local Branch, No. 362, of Order of Iron Hall .. organized in 1886 Niagara Council, No. II, of United American Mechanics, organized in 1872

Roger Williams Council, No. 94, of Order of United Friends, organized in 1883 North Salem Union Chapel Association .......... organized in 1881 John Endicott Colony, Nu. 9, of Pilgrim Fathers ...... org. in 1880 Hawthorne Council, No. 331, of Royal Arcanum ....... org. in 1879 Salein Council of same, No. 14. .. organized in 1877 Salem Firemen's Relief Association .organized in 1878

Salem High School Association .organized in 1867 Salem Mutual Benefit Association. organized in 1873 Salem Oratorio Society. .organized in 1868

Salem Police Relief Association .organized in 1877

Salem Reliof Committee „.organized in 1873

Salem Schubert Club

organized in 1878

Salem Senmen's Bethel Society .organized in 1883 Sulem Society of Amateur Photographers ........ organized in 1885 Salem Society of Deaf Mutes. .incorporated in 1878

Salom Symphony Club. .organized in 1885

Colonel Henry Merritt Camp No. 8 of Sons of Veterans, organized in 1884

Urban Club. organized in 1884

Ward One Associates .. organized in 1883

Twelve Temperance Associations.

Wioslow Lewis Commandery, Knights Templar ...... org. in 1865 Salem Council Royal and Select Masters (Masons) ... inst. in 1818 Washington Boyal Arch Chapter (Masons) ..... instituted io 1811 Sutton Lodge of Perfection (Masons) .. instituted jo 1864 Essex Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons ...... chartered in 1793 Starr King Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons .chartered in 1864 Essex County Masonic Mutual Relief Association ..... org. in 1875 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows.

Royal Enterprise Lodge, No. 1895 .. instituted in 1878

Naumkeag Encampment, No. 13, 1. 0. 0. F. ... organized in 1845 Salem Eocampment, No. 11, 1. 0, 0. F. organized in 1884 Unity Canton, No. 5, Patriarchs Militant, I. O. O. F.org. in 1883 Essex Lodge, No. 26, 1. 0. 0. F. .. organized in 1843 Fraternity Lodge, No. 118, 1. 0. 0. F. .organized in 1846 Union Relief Committee, 1. 0. 0. F organized in 1877 Union Lodge, No. 11, Degree of Rebekab. organized in 1870 Odd Fellows' Mutual Benefit Association .. ..... organized in 1869 Three bicycle clubs.

Three hoat clubs,

One yacht club.

In closing this chapter, it is only necessary to add a few statistics. According to the last census in 1885, the population of Salem was 28,084, and the valuation in the same year $27,765,824. During the year 1885, 1599 vessels arrived at Salem, 114 of which were from foreign ports, and their aggregate tonnage was 270,003,29 tons. The receipts for duties in the same year were $20,145.01, and the customs expenses $7,095.15. If to the business by sea which these fig- ures represent the large inland commerce by rail be added, it is easy to sec that while Salem has lost the foreign trade upon which, as its seal indicates, its early prosperity was based, it has nevertheless made a satisfactory advance in its industries, its population and wealth.

CHAPTER X. SALEM-(Continued).

SOCIETIES, ETC.

THE LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES.1-A history of the literature of Salem, giving an acconut of those who have individually devoted themselves to this pursuit or collectively in the organization of the various institutions of learning, for the encourage- ment of which a beneficent public spirit has existed from the beginning, and has worthily exerted itself as exigencies called it forth, would form an interest- ing and important chapter in the history of Salem.

Sufficient space has not been allowed to do justice to the subject in this communication. It will be fully treated elsewhere. A few incidents that have

1 By Heury Wheatland.

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SALEM.

occurred in this direction can only be noted in their chronological order.

As preliminary to the notice of these institutions of learning, a brief allusion to some of the agencies leading ultimately to their present condition may not be deemed inappropriate.

The first great trausaction in the settlement of the town was the organization of the church, a step marked by profound wisdom as well as ardent piety. Francis Higginson, "the father and pattern of the New England clergy," as he is justly called, prepared a document, which, while it formed an admirable manual of Christian faith and duty, embodied the principles of improvement and progress, and recog- nized the importance of a right education of children.

His brave compeer, Gov. Endicott, heartily co- operated with him, and subsequently took a provident care for the education of poor children at the ex- pense of the town.

Salem has been blessed above most other towns in the wisdom, learning, piety and energy of the leading men among the early settlers or their immediate de- scendants. At the opening of the Grammar School arrived Rev. Johu Fiske, a learned scholar and di- vine qualified for the work. Roger Williams, after- wards the founder of Rhode Island, and Hugh Peters, who proved himself an able statesman and powerful friend of the whole colony, as well as a popular preacher and an energetic benefactor of Salem.

Peters's effective influence gave an impulse to in- dustry and enterprise in every direction. Then we had the Brownes, whose charities, through successive generations, flowed freely in aid of education, learn- ing, religion aud the poor. William Browne was here with Fiske and Peters, to catch the love of learning from the one and the spirit of commerce from the other, and for more than half a century was considered a liberal and successful promoter of learn- ing. He came over with his wife, in 1635, residing in Salem till his death, in 1688. William Browne, whose name appears among the early members of the Social Library, was a descendant in the fifth genera- tion. Emannel Downing came to Salem iu 1636, where he lived in great esteem, after representing the town in the General Conrt. His wife, Lucia, was a sister of Gov. John Winthrop. His son George was then a lad of some fifteen summers, preparing under the tuition of Rev. John Fiske to enter the college, where he graduated in the first class, that of 1642. The son went to England, entered Cromwell's service and became highly distinguished.

Major William Hathorne came over in the "Arbella," with Winthrop, as stated by Savage, and came to Salem in 1636. Salem tendered him grants of land. From that time his name appears in the records as holding important positions, as commissioner, Speak- er of the House of Representatives, counsel in cases before the courts, jndge on the bench, etc. Johnson, in his "Wonder-working Providence," thus says of

him : " Yet through the Lord's mercy we still retaine, among our Democracy, the Godly Captaine, William Hathorn, whom the Lord hath imbued with a quick apprehension, strong memory and Rhetorick, volu- bility of speech, which hath caused the people to make use of him often in Publick Service, especially when they have to do with any foreign government." He died in 1681.

His son John seems to have inherited many of his prominent traits of character, and to have succeeded to all his public honors. He died in 1717. The name appears, thus far, to have been as prominent in the civil history of that period, as it has been in the elegant literature of the present, in a descendant of the sixth generation, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 64

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538