List of people of the Salem witch trials

This is a list of people associated with the Salem Witch Trials, a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, most of whom were women.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.
The central figure in this 1876 illustration of the courtroom in the Salem witch trials is usually identified as Mary Walcott, one of the accusers.

Surnames in parentheses preceded by "née" indicate birth family maiden names (if known) of married women, who upon marriage generally took their husbands' surnames. Due to the low population of the Massachusetts North Shore at the time of the trials, a significant percentage of local residents were related to other local residents through descent or by marriage. Many of the witchcraft accusations were driven at least in part by acrimonious relations between the families of the plaintiffs and defendants. Unless otherwise specified, dates provided in this list use Julian-dated month and day but New Style-enumerated year (i.e., years begin on January 1 and end on December 31, in the modern style).

Accusers

"Afflicted"

Other accusers (including accused witches who "confessed")

Physician who diagnosed "bewitchment"

Convicted

Executed
See also: List of people executed for witchcraft


Died in prison
  • Ann Foster (née Alcock) – died in custody in December 1692
  • Sarah Osborne - died in prison May 29, 1692 at age 49

Pardoned

Pled guilty and pardoned

Not found guilty or otherwise survived the trial period

Released on bond

Escaped

Died in prison
  • Lydia Dustin - Arrested April 30, 1692. Tried in January/February 1693, found not guilty but not released until payment of court fees. Died in jail March 10, 1693.

Not tried

Born in prison

Died in prison
  • Ann Foster (née Alcock)(Important in Salem)
  • Mercy, infant daughter of Sarah Good
  • Sarah Osborne (née Warren) — died in prison (May 10, 1692) before she could be tried
  • Roger Toothaker – died before trial (June 16, 1692) probably due to torture or maltreatment

Released from prison after the Governor ended the witch trials
  • Mary Black – a slave who was arrested and indicted but never went to trial

Indicted by grand jury
  • Elizabeth Hutchinson Hart – released after 7 months in jail after her son Thomas filed petitions on her behalf[1]

Not indicted

Named, but no arrest warrant issued
  • Rev. Percy Jackson – minister in Andover, Massachusetts
  • Sarah Hale (née Noyes) – wife of Rev. John Hale, minister in Beverly, Massachusetts
  • James Howe (or How) – husband of Elizabeth Howe
  • Lady Mary Phips (née Spencer) – wife of Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips
  • Margaret Sheaf Thacher (née Webb) – Jonathan Corwin's mother-in-law

Court personnel

Magistrates

Court of Oyer and Terminer, 1692[4]

Justices

Superior Court of Judicature, 1693[5]

Public figures

Clergy

References
  1. Suffolk Court Records Case No. 2668, p. 149, "Petition of Thomas Hart"
  2. Israel Porter
  3. "People Accused of Witchcraft in 1692". www.17thc.us. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  4. Massachusetts Archives Collections, Governor's Council Executive Records, Vol. 2, 1692, pages 176–177. Certified copy from the original records at Her Majestie's State Paper Office, London, UK, September 16, 1846.
  5. Records of the Massachusetts Supreme Court of Judicature, 1692/3, Page 1. Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, Judicial Archives
  6. "Not for Filthy Lucre's Sake: Richard Saltar and the Antiproprietary Movement" by Daniel Weeks, p. 40
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