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On January 14, 1699, Massachusetts holds a day of fasting for wrongly persecuting "witches" in Salem. From the article:
"Timeline of the Salem Witch Trials
Salem, Mass is an old fishing and farming settlement originally named Naumkeag, meaning “fishing place,” by the Native Americans who lived there.
In 1692, Salem residents were overcome by a hysteria which caused them to seek out and persecute “witches” they believed were working for the Devil. This later came to be known as the Salem Witch Trials.
The following is a timeline of the Salem Witch Trials:
1542:
♠ Parliament passes the Witchcraft Act of 1542 which is England’s first witchcraft law and makes the crime punishable by death.
1547:
♠ Parliament repeals the Witchcraft Act of 1547.
1562:
♠ Parliament passes a new Witchcraft Act of 1562.
1604:
♠ Parliament passes the Witchcraft At of 1604. The Witchcraft Acts of 1562 and 1604 transfer the trial of witches from the Church to the ordinary courts.
1626:
♠ Naumkeag is settled by a group of settlers led by Roger Conant, after they abandoned their original settlement in Gloucester. Conant serves as the settlement’s governor.
1628:
♠ John Endicott and a group of settlers from the New England Company arrive with a patent from England that gives them legal rights to Naumkeag. Conant peacefully surrenders control of Naumkeag to Endicott.
1629:
♠ Naumkeag is renamed Salem in honor of the peaceful agreement between Endicott and Conant.
1636:
♠ A small group of colonists settle an area just outside of Salem town which becomes Salem Village.
1641:
♠ In 1641, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony drafts the Body of Liberties which is modeled on the Witchcraft Law of 1604 and makes witchcraft, among several other crimes, a capital offense punishable by death.
1662:
♠ In 1662, Sir Matthew Hale solidifies the legal credibility of spectral evidence in witchcraft cases by allowing it in the Bury St. Edmund case in England, thus setting a precedent to be used at Salem in 1692.
1672:
♠ On October 8, 1672, Salem Village officially separates from Salem Town and is authorized by a General Court order to tax for public improvements, to build a meetinghouse for worship and to hire its first minister, James Bayley.
1673:
♠ In the spring of 1673, the Salem Village meetinghouse is raised.
♠ In June of 1673, the Salem villagers vote to retain Bayley and to build a parsonage.
1679:
♠ By 1679, a number of Salem villagers turn against Bayley, accusing him of neglecting his church duties.
1680:
♠ In early 1680, the anti-Bayley faction in Salem Village gains the majority of seats on the Salem Village committee and forces Bayley to step down.
♠ In April of 1680, Nathaniel Putnam leads a committee to search for Bayley’s replacement.
♠ In November of 1680, the Salem villagers hire George Burroughs to serve as the Salem Village minister.
1682:
♠ In April of 1682, a parishioner writes to Burroughs complaining of widespread factionalism in the village, stating “brother is against brother and neighbors against neighbors, all quarreling and smiting one another.”
1683:
♠ In the spring of 1683, George Burroughs resigns his position as minister due to tension and factionalism within the congregation.
♠ On May 3, 1683, when George Burroughs temporarily returns to Salem Village to meet with the village committee and square his accounts, Captain John Putnam has him arrested for debt for failing to pay back advances on his salary (which he failed to do because the villagers stopped paying his salary all together.) The issue was eventually settled out of court.
1684:
♠ On October 23, 1684, the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter is revoked by King James II. In doing so, a number of laws that make it more difficult to accuse someone of a high crime, such as witchcraft, are nullified.
♠ In February of 1684, the Salem villagers hire Deodat Lawson to serve as the new Salem Village minister.
1687:
♠ In January of 1687, Job Swinnerton, Joseph Hutchinson, Daniel Andrew and Joseph Porter file a petition expressing grievances over the possible ordination of Lawson.
♠ In February of 1687, arbitrators from Salem Town side with the opponents of Deodat Lawson and encourage them to “desist at present the ordination of the Reverend Lawson till your spirits are better quieted and composed.”
1688:
♠ In 1688, Deodat Lawson resigns his positions as minister due to tension and factionalism within the congregation.
♠ In 1688, Mary “Goody” Glover is convicted of witchcraft for afflicting the children of John Goodwin in Boston. The symptoms that the Goodwin children experienced are well documented in a book by Cotton Mather, titled Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions, and are later seen in the afflicted girls of Salem Village.
♠ In November of 1688, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 takes place in England and King William and Queen Mary become the new rulers of England in January.
1689:
♠ In 1689, Increase Mather and Sir William Phips petition William and Mary to restore the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
♠ In April of 1689, Reverend Samuel Parris is named the new minister at Salem Village.
♠ On November 19, 1689, Reverend Samuel Parris is ordained as the new minister at Salem Village.
1691:
♠ On October 16, 1691, at a town meeting, some residents of Salem Village begin to turn on Reverend Samuel Parris and vow to stop paying his salary.
♠ On October 16, 1691, in England, a new charter issued by King William and Queen Mary is approved which replaces the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter with one that establishes the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Sir William Phips is appointed the new royal Governor. The new charter places many restrictions on the colony, causing more tension amongst the colonists.
1692:
♠ On January 15-19, 1692, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams begin to have fits and exhibit strange behavior. Soon Ann Putnam, Jr, and other Salem village girls begin displaying similar behavior.
♠ On February 25, 1692, Samuel and Elizabeth Parris leave their children in the care of a neighbor, Mary Sibley, while they visit a nearby village to attend Thursday lecture, a religious sermon where they hope to seek answers about what is afflicting their daughter.
♠ On February 25, 1692, Mary Sibley instructs Samuel Parris’s slave, Tituba, and her husband John to make a witch cake to try and identify who is afflicting the girls.
♠ On February 25, 1692, two others girls in Salem Village, Ann Putnam Jr and Elizabeth Hubbard, also begin to show signs of affliction.
♠ On February 27, 1692, while walking through Salem Village on an errand, Elizabeth Hubbard claims to be stalked by a large wolf that she believes was either a witch in disguise or was sent by a witch.
♠ In late February of 1692, Dr. William Griggs reportedly examines the girls but is unable to determine the cause of the strange behavior and suggests they are under the influence of Satan.
♠ On February 29, 1692, the girls accuse three women, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of witchcraft. Arrest warrants are issued for the women.
♠ On March 1, 1692, Judge John Hathorne and Judge Jonathan Corwin examine Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, at the Salem Village Meetinghouse. During the examination, Tituba confesses to being a witch and tells the court there are many witches in Salem.
♠ On March 7, 1692, Increase Mather and his son Samuel leave London, England with the new Massachusetts governor, William Phips, for their long journey to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
♠ On March 12, 1692, Martha Corey is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On March 19, 1692, Rebecca Nurse is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On March 21, 1692, Martha Corey is examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On March 23, 1692, Four-year-old Dorcas Good, daughter of Sarah Good, is accused of witchcraft and is arrested.
♠ On March 24, 1692, Rebecca Nurse is arrested and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On April 3, 1692, Rebecca Nurse’s sister, Sarah Cloyce, is accused of witchcraft after defending her sister.
♠ On April 4, 1692, Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On April 11, 1692, Elizabeth Proctor is examined by Judge Thomas Danforth at the Salem Village meetinghouse.
♠ On April 18, 1692, Bridget Bishop, Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren and Giles Corey are accused of witchcraft.
♠ On April 19, 1692, Bridget Bishop, Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren and Giles Corey are arrested and examined.
♠ On April 22, 1692, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Easty, Nehemiah Abbott, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Mary Black, Mary English and Sarah Wildes are arrested on charges of witchcraft and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On May 2, 1692, Dorcas Hoar, Lydia Dustin, Sarah Morey and Susannah Martin are arrested on charges of witchcraft and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On May 4, 1692, George Burroughs is accused of witchcraft and is arrested in Wells, Maine.
♠ On May 9, 1692, George Burroughs is examined by Judge Hathorne, Judge Corwin, Judge Sewall, and Judge William Stoughton. Sarah Churchill, one of the afflicted girls, is also examined.
♠ On May 10, 1692, George Jacobs, Sr, and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs are arrested on charges of witchcraft and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On May 20, 1692, Sarah Osborne dies in prison.
♠ On May 14, 1692, Increase Mather returns from England with the new charter and new governor, Sir William Phips.
♠ On May 18, 1692, Mary Easty is released from prison but is arrested a second time after her accusers protest her release.
♠ On May 18, 1692, Roger Toothaker is accused of witchcraft and is arrested.
♠ On May 25, 1692, Governor Phips sets up a special Court of Oyer and Terminer to hear the witchcraft cases.
♠ On May 27, 1692, seven judges are appointed to the Court of Oyer and Terminer: Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Waitstill Winthrop, John Richards and John Hathorne. Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton is named the Chief Justice.
♠ On May 31, 1692, John Alden, Jr, Martha Carrier, Elizabeth Howe, Wilmott Redd and Phillip English are examined by Judge Hathorne, Judge Corwin and Judge Gedney.
♠ On June 2, 1692, Bridget Bishop is pronounced guilty of witchcraft and condemned to death. After Bridget Bishop’s trial, Nathaniel Saltonstall resigns from the court and is replaced by Judge Corwin.
♠ On June 10, 1692, Bridget Bishop is hanged at Proctor’s Ledge in Salem. Her hanging is the first official execution of the Salem witch trials.
♠ On June 16, 1692, Roger Toothaker dies in prison.
♠ On June 29-30, 1692, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe and Sarah Wildes are tried for witchcraft, found guilty and condemned.
♠ On July 19, 1692, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes are hanged at Proctor’s Ledge in Salem.
♠ On July 22, 1692, Martha Emerson, daughter of Roger Toothaker, is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On July 23, 1692, John Proctor writes a letter to the Boston clergy describing the torture used against the accused and asks for the trials to be moved to Boston.
♠ On July 23, 1692, Martha Emerson, daughter of Mary and Roger Toothaker is arrested and examined by Judge Gedney.
♠ On July 30, 1692, Mary Toothaker is arrested and examined by Judge Gedney, Judge Hathorne, Judge Corwin and Judge Higginson.
♠ On August 2-6, 1692, George Burroughs, George Jacobs Sr, Martha Carrier, John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor, and John Willard are tried for witchcraft, found guilty and condemned.
♠ On August 9, 1692, Robert Pike, the Massachusetts Bay councilor and Salisbury magistrate, writes a personal letter to Judge Corwin expressing his concerns with the admission of spectral evidence in the trials.
♠ On August 19, 1692, John Proctor, George Jacobs Sr, George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, and John Willard are hanged at Proctor’s Ledge.
♠ On August 20, 1692, Margaret Jacobs recants her testimony against her grandfather George Jacobs Sr. and George Burroughs.
♠ On September 1, 1692, Samuel Wardwell, Sarah Wardwell, Mercy Wardwell and Sarah Hawkes, Jr, are accused of witchcraft and arrested.
♠ On September 3, 1692, Margaret Prince and Elizabeth Dicer of Gloucester are accused of witchcraft by the Salem village girls and are arrested.
♠ On September 6-12, 1692, Mary Easty, Martha Corey, Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Mary Bradbury and Dorcas Hoar are tried and condemned.
♠ On September 11, 1692, Martha Corey is excommunicated from the Salem Village church.
♠ On September 13, 1692, Joan Penney of Gloucester is accused of witchcraft by Zebulon Hill.
♠ On September 14, 1692, Reverend Samuel Parris, Lieutenant Nathaniel Putnam and two deacons visit Martha Corey in prison and inform her she has been excommunicated.
♠ On September 13-17, 1692, Wilmott Redd, Mary Parker, Margaret Scott, Samuel Wardwell, Rebecca Eames, Abigail Faulkner, Mary Lacy, Abigail Hobbs and Ann Foster are tried and condemned.
♠ On September 19, 1692, Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea.
♠ On September 21, 1692, Dorcas Hoar confesses. Her execution is delayed.
♠ On September 22, 1692, Martha Corey, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott, Ann Pudeator, Mary Easty, Samuel Wardwell, Wilmott Redd and Mary Parker are hanged at Proctor’s Ledge. These are the last hangings to take place during the Salem Witch Trials.
♠ On October 8, 1692, Boston merchant Thomas Brattle writes a letter to an unnamed English clergyman in which he criticizes the Salem Witch Trials and its use of spectral evidence. The letter circulates widely in the colony.
♠ On October 12, 1692, Governor Phips puts an end to any new witchcraft cases in Salem and bans any new publications about the trials. Several texts about the trials are published in October including Some Miscellany Observations on Our Present Debates Regarding Witchcraft by Samuel Willard and The Wonders of the Invisible World by Cotton Mather.
♠ On October 29, 1692, Governor Phips dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
♠ On November 3, 1692, Rebecca Dike, Esther Elwell and Mary Rowe of Gloucester are accused of witchcraft and arrested.
♠ On November 14, 1692, Sarah Noyes Hale, wife of Reverend John Hale, is named as a witch but is never formally charged or arrested.
♠ On November 25, 1692, the General Court creates the Superior Court to try the remaining witchcraft cases.
♠ On December 14, 1692, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts passes a new law allowing the widow of a condemned witch to keep her dowry and inheritance, which normally would be confiscated by the court. The law also allows for a condemned witch to be given a proper Christian burial and provides alternative punishments to death for lesser witchcraft-related crimes.
1693:
♠ In January of 1693, a new Superior Court, presided over by Deputy Governor Stoughton, meets in Salem. Stoughton prohibits the use of spectral evidence, which makes the testimony of the afflicted girls inadmissible.
♠ In January-February of 1693, 52 of the remaining accused are tried and Stoughton finds three of them guilty and adds them to the list of the other five witches awaiting execution. Governor Phips grants a stay of execution for the prisoners, upon advice from the attorney general to the King and Queen, which angers Stoughton.
♠ On February 16, 1693, several dissenters in the Salem Village congregation file a complaint against Reverend Samuel Parris stating they refuse to attend church while Reverend Parris is still minister due to his role in the trials. Parris spends the next few years embroiled in legal battles with the parishioners.
♠ On February 21, 1693, Governor Phips writes to the Earl of Nottingham, Secretary of State for King William and Queen Mary, explaining why he put a stop to any new witchcraft cases in Salem, disbanded the court of Oyer and Terminer and set up a new court to hear the remaining cases.
♠ On April 15, 1693, Queen Mary issues a royal letter, drafted by the Earl of Nottingham, to Governor Phip ordering that he stop all witchcraft trials.
♠ In May of 1693, Governor Phips receives instructions from England to end the trials and all proceedings. Phips issues a proclamation stopping all further court proceedings against accused witches and pardons the remaining accused in jail.
♠ On July 27 or 30, 1693, Governor Phips receives the letter from Queen Mary which confirms his decision to end the Salem Witch Trials.
♠ On July 31, 1693, Phips hosts a meeting of the General Council at his house and reads the letter from the Queen.
1694:
♠ Governor Phips is recalled to England to answer charges against him of misappropriation of government funds. He dies in 1695.
1696:
♠ In October of 1696, Samuel Parris is dismissed as minister of Salem Village.
♠ On December 17, 1696, out of concern that God is angry at the colony for putting innocent people to death, Acting Governor William Stoughton issues a proclamation for a day of fasting and prayer in the colony.
1697:
♠ On January 14, 1697, the General Court orders a day of fasting and prayer in honor of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials. The day of fasting takes place the following day. Judge Samuel Sewall publicly apologizes for his role in the Salem Witch Trials.
♠ In late 1697, Reverend Samuel Parris is replaced by Joseph Green."
"Timeline of the Salem Witch Trials
Salem, Mass is an old fishing and farming settlement originally named Naumkeag, meaning “fishing place,” by the Native Americans who lived there.
In 1692, Salem residents were overcome by a hysteria which caused them to seek out and persecute “witches” they believed were working for the Devil. This later came to be known as the Salem Witch Trials.
The following is a timeline of the Salem Witch Trials:
1542:
♠ Parliament passes the Witchcraft Act of 1542 which is England’s first witchcraft law and makes the crime punishable by death.
1547:
♠ Parliament repeals the Witchcraft Act of 1547.
1562:
♠ Parliament passes a new Witchcraft Act of 1562.
1604:
♠ Parliament passes the Witchcraft At of 1604. The Witchcraft Acts of 1562 and 1604 transfer the trial of witches from the Church to the ordinary courts.
1626:
♠ Naumkeag is settled by a group of settlers led by Roger Conant, after they abandoned their original settlement in Gloucester. Conant serves as the settlement’s governor.
1628:
♠ John Endicott and a group of settlers from the New England Company arrive with a patent from England that gives them legal rights to Naumkeag. Conant peacefully surrenders control of Naumkeag to Endicott.
1629:
♠ Naumkeag is renamed Salem in honor of the peaceful agreement between Endicott and Conant.
1636:
♠ A small group of colonists settle an area just outside of Salem town which becomes Salem Village.
1641:
♠ In 1641, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony drafts the Body of Liberties which is modeled on the Witchcraft Law of 1604 and makes witchcraft, among several other crimes, a capital offense punishable by death.
1662:
♠ In 1662, Sir Matthew Hale solidifies the legal credibility of spectral evidence in witchcraft cases by allowing it in the Bury St. Edmund case in England, thus setting a precedent to be used at Salem in 1692.
1672:
♠ On October 8, 1672, Salem Village officially separates from Salem Town and is authorized by a General Court order to tax for public improvements, to build a meetinghouse for worship and to hire its first minister, James Bayley.
1673:
♠ In the spring of 1673, the Salem Village meetinghouse is raised.
♠ In June of 1673, the Salem villagers vote to retain Bayley and to build a parsonage.
1679:
♠ By 1679, a number of Salem villagers turn against Bayley, accusing him of neglecting his church duties.
1680:
♠ In early 1680, the anti-Bayley faction in Salem Village gains the majority of seats on the Salem Village committee and forces Bayley to step down.
♠ In April of 1680, Nathaniel Putnam leads a committee to search for Bayley’s replacement.
♠ In November of 1680, the Salem villagers hire George Burroughs to serve as the Salem Village minister.
1682:
♠ In April of 1682, a parishioner writes to Burroughs complaining of widespread factionalism in the village, stating “brother is against brother and neighbors against neighbors, all quarreling and smiting one another.”
1683:
♠ In the spring of 1683, George Burroughs resigns his position as minister due to tension and factionalism within the congregation.
♠ On May 3, 1683, when George Burroughs temporarily returns to Salem Village to meet with the village committee and square his accounts, Captain John Putnam has him arrested for debt for failing to pay back advances on his salary (which he failed to do because the villagers stopped paying his salary all together.) The issue was eventually settled out of court.
1684:
♠ On October 23, 1684, the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter is revoked by King James II. In doing so, a number of laws that make it more difficult to accuse someone of a high crime, such as witchcraft, are nullified.
♠ In February of 1684, the Salem villagers hire Deodat Lawson to serve as the new Salem Village minister.
1687:
♠ In January of 1687, Job Swinnerton, Joseph Hutchinson, Daniel Andrew and Joseph Porter file a petition expressing grievances over the possible ordination of Lawson.
♠ In February of 1687, arbitrators from Salem Town side with the opponents of Deodat Lawson and encourage them to “desist at present the ordination of the Reverend Lawson till your spirits are better quieted and composed.”
1688:
♠ In 1688, Deodat Lawson resigns his positions as minister due to tension and factionalism within the congregation.
♠ In 1688, Mary “Goody” Glover is convicted of witchcraft for afflicting the children of John Goodwin in Boston. The symptoms that the Goodwin children experienced are well documented in a book by Cotton Mather, titled Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions, and are later seen in the afflicted girls of Salem Village.
♠ In November of 1688, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 takes place in England and King William and Queen Mary become the new rulers of England in January.
1689:
♠ In 1689, Increase Mather and Sir William Phips petition William and Mary to restore the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
♠ In April of 1689, Reverend Samuel Parris is named the new minister at Salem Village.
♠ On November 19, 1689, Reverend Samuel Parris is ordained as the new minister at Salem Village.
1691:
♠ On October 16, 1691, at a town meeting, some residents of Salem Village begin to turn on Reverend Samuel Parris and vow to stop paying his salary.
♠ On October 16, 1691, in England, a new charter issued by King William and Queen Mary is approved which replaces the Massachusetts Bay Colony charter with one that establishes the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Sir William Phips is appointed the new royal Governor. The new charter places many restrictions on the colony, causing more tension amongst the colonists.
1692:
♠ On January 15-19, 1692, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams begin to have fits and exhibit strange behavior. Soon Ann Putnam, Jr, and other Salem village girls begin displaying similar behavior.
♠ On February 25, 1692, Samuel and Elizabeth Parris leave their children in the care of a neighbor, Mary Sibley, while they visit a nearby village to attend Thursday lecture, a religious sermon where they hope to seek answers about what is afflicting their daughter.
♠ On February 25, 1692, Mary Sibley instructs Samuel Parris’s slave, Tituba, and her husband John to make a witch cake to try and identify who is afflicting the girls.
♠ On February 25, 1692, two others girls in Salem Village, Ann Putnam Jr and Elizabeth Hubbard, also begin to show signs of affliction.
♠ On February 27, 1692, while walking through Salem Village on an errand, Elizabeth Hubbard claims to be stalked by a large wolf that she believes was either a witch in disguise or was sent by a witch.
♠ In late February of 1692, Dr. William Griggs reportedly examines the girls but is unable to determine the cause of the strange behavior and suggests they are under the influence of Satan.
♠ On February 29, 1692, the girls accuse three women, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of witchcraft. Arrest warrants are issued for the women.
♠ On March 1, 1692, Judge John Hathorne and Judge Jonathan Corwin examine Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, at the Salem Village Meetinghouse. During the examination, Tituba confesses to being a witch and tells the court there are many witches in Salem.
♠ On March 7, 1692, Increase Mather and his son Samuel leave London, England with the new Massachusetts governor, William Phips, for their long journey to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
♠ On March 12, 1692, Martha Corey is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On March 19, 1692, Rebecca Nurse is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On March 21, 1692, Martha Corey is examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On March 23, 1692, Four-year-old Dorcas Good, daughter of Sarah Good, is accused of witchcraft and is arrested.
♠ On March 24, 1692, Rebecca Nurse is arrested and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On April 3, 1692, Rebecca Nurse’s sister, Sarah Cloyce, is accused of witchcraft after defending her sister.
♠ On April 4, 1692, Elizabeth Proctor is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On April 11, 1692, Elizabeth Proctor is examined by Judge Thomas Danforth at the Salem Village meetinghouse.
♠ On April 18, 1692, Bridget Bishop, Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren and Giles Corey are accused of witchcraft.
♠ On April 19, 1692, Bridget Bishop, Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren and Giles Corey are arrested and examined.
♠ On April 22, 1692, Edward and Sarah Bishop, Mary Easty, Nehemiah Abbott, William and Deliverance Hobbs, Mary Black, Mary English and Sarah Wildes are arrested on charges of witchcraft and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On May 2, 1692, Dorcas Hoar, Lydia Dustin, Sarah Morey and Susannah Martin are arrested on charges of witchcraft and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On May 4, 1692, George Burroughs is accused of witchcraft and is arrested in Wells, Maine.
♠ On May 9, 1692, George Burroughs is examined by Judge Hathorne, Judge Corwin, Judge Sewall, and Judge William Stoughton. Sarah Churchill, one of the afflicted girls, is also examined.
♠ On May 10, 1692, George Jacobs, Sr, and his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs are arrested on charges of witchcraft and examined by Judge Hathorne and Judge Corwin.
♠ On May 20, 1692, Sarah Osborne dies in prison.
♠ On May 14, 1692, Increase Mather returns from England with the new charter and new governor, Sir William Phips.
♠ On May 18, 1692, Mary Easty is released from prison but is arrested a second time after her accusers protest her release.
♠ On May 18, 1692, Roger Toothaker is accused of witchcraft and is arrested.
♠ On May 25, 1692, Governor Phips sets up a special Court of Oyer and Terminer to hear the witchcraft cases.
♠ On May 27, 1692, seven judges are appointed to the Court of Oyer and Terminer: Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Waitstill Winthrop, John Richards and John Hathorne. Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton is named the Chief Justice.
♠ On May 31, 1692, John Alden, Jr, Martha Carrier, Elizabeth Howe, Wilmott Redd and Phillip English are examined by Judge Hathorne, Judge Corwin and Judge Gedney.
♠ On June 2, 1692, Bridget Bishop is pronounced guilty of witchcraft and condemned to death. After Bridget Bishop’s trial, Nathaniel Saltonstall resigns from the court and is replaced by Judge Corwin.
♠ On June 10, 1692, Bridget Bishop is hanged at Proctor’s Ledge in Salem. Her hanging is the first official execution of the Salem witch trials.
♠ On June 16, 1692, Roger Toothaker dies in prison.
♠ On June 29-30, 1692, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe and Sarah Wildes are tried for witchcraft, found guilty and condemned.
♠ On July 19, 1692, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes are hanged at Proctor’s Ledge in Salem.
♠ On July 22, 1692, Martha Emerson, daughter of Roger Toothaker, is accused of witchcraft.
♠ On July 23, 1692, John Proctor writes a letter to the Boston clergy describing the torture used against the accused and asks for the trials to be moved to Boston.
♠ On July 23, 1692, Martha Emerson, daughter of Mary and Roger Toothaker is arrested and examined by Judge Gedney.
♠ On July 30, 1692, Mary Toothaker is arrested and examined by Judge Gedney, Judge Hathorne, Judge Corwin and Judge Higginson.
♠ On August 2-6, 1692, George Burroughs, George Jacobs Sr, Martha Carrier, John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor, and John Willard are tried for witchcraft, found guilty and condemned.
♠ On August 9, 1692, Robert Pike, the Massachusetts Bay councilor and Salisbury magistrate, writes a personal letter to Judge Corwin expressing his concerns with the admission of spectral evidence in the trials.
♠ On August 19, 1692, John Proctor, George Jacobs Sr, George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, and John Willard are hanged at Proctor’s Ledge.
♠ On August 20, 1692, Margaret Jacobs recants her testimony against her grandfather George Jacobs Sr. and George Burroughs.
♠ On September 1, 1692, Samuel Wardwell, Sarah Wardwell, Mercy Wardwell and Sarah Hawkes, Jr, are accused of witchcraft and arrested.
♠ On September 3, 1692, Margaret Prince and Elizabeth Dicer of Gloucester are accused of witchcraft by the Salem village girls and are arrested.
♠ On September 6-12, 1692, Mary Easty, Martha Corey, Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Mary Bradbury and Dorcas Hoar are tried and condemned.
♠ On September 11, 1692, Martha Corey is excommunicated from the Salem Village church.
♠ On September 13, 1692, Joan Penney of Gloucester is accused of witchcraft by Zebulon Hill.
♠ On September 14, 1692, Reverend Samuel Parris, Lieutenant Nathaniel Putnam and two deacons visit Martha Corey in prison and inform her she has been excommunicated.
♠ On September 13-17, 1692, Wilmott Redd, Mary Parker, Margaret Scott, Samuel Wardwell, Rebecca Eames, Abigail Faulkner, Mary Lacy, Abigail Hobbs and Ann Foster are tried and condemned.
♠ On September 19, 1692, Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to enter a plea.
♠ On September 21, 1692, Dorcas Hoar confesses. Her execution is delayed.
♠ On September 22, 1692, Martha Corey, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott, Ann Pudeator, Mary Easty, Samuel Wardwell, Wilmott Redd and Mary Parker are hanged at Proctor’s Ledge. These are the last hangings to take place during the Salem Witch Trials.
♠ On October 8, 1692, Boston merchant Thomas Brattle writes a letter to an unnamed English clergyman in which he criticizes the Salem Witch Trials and its use of spectral evidence. The letter circulates widely in the colony.
♠ On October 12, 1692, Governor Phips puts an end to any new witchcraft cases in Salem and bans any new publications about the trials. Several texts about the trials are published in October including Some Miscellany Observations on Our Present Debates Regarding Witchcraft by Samuel Willard and The Wonders of the Invisible World by Cotton Mather.
♠ On October 29, 1692, Governor Phips dissolves the Court of Oyer and Terminer.
♠ On November 3, 1692, Rebecca Dike, Esther Elwell and Mary Rowe of Gloucester are accused of witchcraft and arrested.
♠ On November 14, 1692, Sarah Noyes Hale, wife of Reverend John Hale, is named as a witch but is never formally charged or arrested.
♠ On November 25, 1692, the General Court creates the Superior Court to try the remaining witchcraft cases.
♠ On December 14, 1692, the Great and General Court of Massachusetts passes a new law allowing the widow of a condemned witch to keep her dowry and inheritance, which normally would be confiscated by the court. The law also allows for a condemned witch to be given a proper Christian burial and provides alternative punishments to death for lesser witchcraft-related crimes.
1693:
♠ In January of 1693, a new Superior Court, presided over by Deputy Governor Stoughton, meets in Salem. Stoughton prohibits the use of spectral evidence, which makes the testimony of the afflicted girls inadmissible.
♠ In January-February of 1693, 52 of the remaining accused are tried and Stoughton finds three of them guilty and adds them to the list of the other five witches awaiting execution. Governor Phips grants a stay of execution for the prisoners, upon advice from the attorney general to the King and Queen, which angers Stoughton.
♠ On February 16, 1693, several dissenters in the Salem Village congregation file a complaint against Reverend Samuel Parris stating they refuse to attend church while Reverend Parris is still minister due to his role in the trials. Parris spends the next few years embroiled in legal battles with the parishioners.
♠ On February 21, 1693, Governor Phips writes to the Earl of Nottingham, Secretary of State for King William and Queen Mary, explaining why he put a stop to any new witchcraft cases in Salem, disbanded the court of Oyer and Terminer and set up a new court to hear the remaining cases.
♠ On April 15, 1693, Queen Mary issues a royal letter, drafted by the Earl of Nottingham, to Governor Phip ordering that he stop all witchcraft trials.
♠ In May of 1693, Governor Phips receives instructions from England to end the trials and all proceedings. Phips issues a proclamation stopping all further court proceedings against accused witches and pardons the remaining accused in jail.
♠ On July 27 or 30, 1693, Governor Phips receives the letter from Queen Mary which confirms his decision to end the Salem Witch Trials.
♠ On July 31, 1693, Phips hosts a meeting of the General Council at his house and reads the letter from the Queen.
1694:
♠ Governor Phips is recalled to England to answer charges against him of misappropriation of government funds. He dies in 1695.
1696:
♠ In October of 1696, Samuel Parris is dismissed as minister of Salem Village.
♠ On December 17, 1696, out of concern that God is angry at the colony for putting innocent people to death, Acting Governor William Stoughton issues a proclamation for a day of fasting and prayer in the colony.
1697:
♠ On January 14, 1697, the General Court orders a day of fasting and prayer in honor of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials. The day of fasting takes place the following day. Judge Samuel Sewall publicly apologizes for his role in the Salem Witch Trials.
♠ In late 1697, Reverend Samuel Parris is replaced by Joseph Green."
Timeline of the Salem Witch Trials
Posted from historyofmassachusetts.org
World History
American History
Religion
Fear
Propaganda
Posted 6 y ago
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SGT (Join to see) I didn'tknow some of the people actually confessed. A total new look on this.
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