https://wiki.sarg.dev/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=2601%3A18F%3A283%3AB290%3A7C68%3AFEFD%3AFBFD%3A97F1Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]2026-08-14T09:31:11ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.44.2https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Samuel_Parris&diff=617989Samuel Parris2025-10-28T01:13:35Z<p>2601:18F:283:B290:7C68:FEFD:FBFD:97F1: /* Life and career */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Short description|Puritan minister during the Salem witch trials}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| pre-nominals = [[The Reverend]]<br />
| name = Samuel Parris<br />
| image = Samuel Parris.jpeg<br />
| caption = Portrait of Samuel Parris<br />
| birth_date = 1653<br />
| alma_mater = [[Harvard College]]<br />
| birth_place = [[London]], England<br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1720|2|27|1653}}<br />
| death_place = [[Sudbury, Massachusetts]], Province of Massachusetts Bay<br />
| known_for = Father and uncle of [[Salem witch trials]] accusers; accuser along with his daughter and niece<br />
| spouse = {{plainlist|<br />
* {{marriage|[[Elizabeth Eldridge]]|1680|1696|end=died}}<br />
* {{marriage|Dorothy Noyes<br>|1699}}<br />
}}<br />
| children = [[Thomas Parris]]<br/>[[Elizabeth Parris]]<br/>[[Susannah Parris]]<br />
| relatives = [[Abigail Williams (Salem witch trials)|Abigail Williams]] (niece)<br />
}}<br />
'''Samuel Parris''' (1653{{spaced ndash}}February 27, 1720) was a [[Puritanism|Puritan]] minister in the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]]. Also a businessman and one-time plantation owner, he gained notoriety for being the minister of the church in [[Salem Village, Massachusetts]] during the [[Salem witch trials]] of 1692. Accusations by Parris and his daughter against an enslaved woman precipitated an expanding series of witchcraft accusations.{{sfn|Gragg|1990}}<br />
<br />
==Life and career==<br />
Samuel Parris, son of Thomas Parris, was born in [[London]], England to a family of modest financial success and religious [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformity]].{{sfn|Gragg|1990|pp=1–2}} Samuel emigrated to [[Boston]] in the early 1660s, where he attended [[Harvard College]] at his father's behest. When his father died in 1673, Samuel left Harvard to take up his inheritance in [[Barbados]], where he maintained a sugar plantation.<br />
<br />
In 1680, after a hurricane hit Barbados, damaging much of his property, Parris sold a little of his land and returned to Boston, where he brought the woman he enslaved, [[Tituba]], and married Elizabeth Eldridge.{{sfn|Gragg|1990|pp=14–32}} Eldridge was noted by many as being incredibly beautiful, and was said to be one of the most beautiful women in Salem Village.<ref name="acab" />{{sfn|Fiske|1704}} Together they had three children, Thomas Parris, [[Elizabeth Parris]], and Susannah Parris. Although the plantation supported his merchant ventures, Parris was dissatisfied with his lack of financial security and began to look to the ministry. In 1685 he briefly served as minister in Stow Massachusetts. In July 1689, he became [[Religious minister|minister]] of Salem Village (now [[Danvers, Massachusetts|Danvers]]), Massachusetts.<br />
<br />
Salem Village was a contentious place to live and was known to be quarrelsome by neighboring towns and villages.{{sfn|Gragg|1990|pp=39–76}} Its dispersed settlement pattern may have resulted in a lack of a sense of common purpose that may have united more orderly and arranged communities.{{sfn|Gragg|1990|pp=45–46}} Parris was the fourth minister appointed in a series of unsuccessful attempts to keep a permanent minister. James Bayley (1673–79) and [[George Burroughs]] (1680–83) each stayed only a few years, departing after the congregation failed to pay their full rates. [[Deodat Lawson]] (1684–88) left with less contention. Further tension was caused by Parris' delay in accepting the position and his inability to resolve his parishioners' disputes. There were also disputes over Parris' compensation. In October 1691, the town decided to stop paying his wages. These issues, and others that were more personal between the villagers, continued to grow unabated.{{sfn|Starkey|1949|pp=26–28}}Samuel Parris had the power to jail the people of Salem and used it on specific occasions.<br />
<br />
The events which led to the [[Salem witch trials]] began when Parris' daughter, [[Betty Parris|Betty]], and her cousin, [[Abigail Williams (Salem witch trials)|Abigail Williams]], accused Tituba, the woman Parris enslaved, of [[witchcraft]]. Parris beat Tituba until she confessed herself as a witch,<ref>Breslaw, Elaine G. Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies. Page 158. Retrieved on 8 Feb. 2021. "John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin must have known that a day or two before the questioning Tituba had been pressured by the Reverend Parris to extract a statement of involvement with the Devil. She had agreed to confess to prevent further punishment."</ref> and John Indian, her husband, began accusing others.{{fact|date=February 2021}}{{dubious|date=February 2021}} The delusion spread, and many were apprehended, most of whom were imprisoned. During the 16-month duration of the Salem witch trials phenomenon, 19 persons were hanged, and one, [[Giles Corey]], was pressed to death.<br />
<br />
During a 1692 sermon, Parris declared that "as in our text [https://www.bible.com/bible/1/JHN.6.10-13.KJV John 6:10] there was one [[devil]] among the 12 [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]]… so in our churches, God knows how many Devils there are," encouraging antagonistic villagers to locate and destroy "witches" who, as it happened, were frequently individuals with whom Parris and his key allies, the Putnam family, had taken umbrage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://historyofmassachusetts.org/reverend-samuel-parris/|title=Reverend Samuel Parris: Was He to Blame for the Salem Witch Trials?|author=Rebecca Beatrice Brooks |date=September 8, 2015|access-date=October 18, 2017}}</ref><br />
<br />
As Parris had been an active prosecutor in the witchcraft cases, in 1693, his parish brought charges against Parris for his part in the trials.<ref name=acab>{{harvnb|Wilson|Fiske|1900}}.</ref>{{sfn|Rines|1920}} Parris apologized in his essay ''Meditations for Peace'', which he presented in November 1694.<ref name=dab>{{harvnb|Stearns|1934}}</ref> [[Increase Mather]] led a church council which then vindicated him.<ref name=dab/><br />
<br />
Parris was then involved in a dispute with his congregation over parsonage land he had seized to compensate himself for the salary he was owed. The dispute found its way to an [[Ipswich, Massachusetts|Ipswich]] court, which, in 1697, ordered his salary to be paid and the land to be returned. By 1696, however, he had found his situation untenable. He resigned that year and left Salem. Records in the ''[[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk]] Deeds'' indicate it likely he returned to business in Boston in 1697.<ref name=dab/><br />
<br />
His wife Elizabeth died in 1696. In 1699, he remarried, to Dorothy Noyes, in Sudbury.<ref name=dab/> He returned to preach for two or three years at [[Stow, Massachusetts|Stow]]. He then moved to [[Concord, Massachusetts|Concord]] (1704/05).<ref name=acab/><ref name=dab/> He also preached six months in [[Dunstable, Massachusetts|Dunstable]] in 1711.<ref name=acab/> He died on February 27, 1720, in [[Sudbury, Massachusetts|Sudbury]].<ref name=acab/><ref name=dab/><br />
<br />
==Fiction==<br />
{{Moresources|section|date=August 2022}}<br />
Parris features in [[Arthur Miller]]'s 1953 play ''[[The Crucible]],'' set against the backdrop of the witch trials. In the play, his daughter Elizabeth Parris is the first to become ill because of supposed witchcraft, of which she is accused. In the [[The Crucible (1957 film)|1957]] and [[The Crucible (1996 film)|1996]] film adaptations of Miller's play, he was portrayed by [[Jean Debucourt]] and [[Bruce Davison]], respectively.<br />
<br />
Author [[John Neal]] made Parris a character in ''[[Rachel Dyer]]'' (1828), which is the first bound novel about the witch trials.<ref>{{cite book | last = Sears | first = Donald A. | title = John Neal | publisher = Twayne Publishers | location = Boston, Massachusetts | year = 1978 | isbn = 978-0-8057-7230-2 | page = 82}}</ref> In this version of the story his name is Matthew Paris,<ref>{{cite thesis | last = Richards | first = Irving T. | date = 1933 | title = The Life and Works of John Neal | degree = PhD | publisher = [[Harvard University]] | location = Cambridge, Massachusetts | url = http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990038995990203941/catalog | oclc = 7588473 | page = 697n2}}</ref> a socially isolated man who is threatened by Tituba's relationship with John Indian and accuses her out of sexual frustration.<ref>{{cite book | last = Fleischmann | first = Fritz | title = A Right View of the Subject: Feminism in the Works of Charles Brockden Brown and John Neal | publisher = Verlag Palm & Enke Erlangen | location = Erlangen, Germany | year = 1983 | isbn = 978-3-7896-0147-7 | pages = 302–303}}</ref><br />
<br />
Parris is also a character in the 1964 novel ''[[Tituba of Salem Village]]'' by [[Ann Petry]] and the 1986 novel ''[[I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem]]'' by [[Maryse Condé]], both books depicting the witch trials.<br />
<br />
In the novel ''Supernatural: One Year Gone'', Parris is portrayed as having been manipulated by the real witches into starting the trials and also manipulated the girls to accuse his enemies and rivals to get rid of them. At the end of the novel, after the truth is revealed, he swears to put an end to the innocent women.<br />
<br />
''Road to Endor'' was written in 1940 by Esther Barstow Hammand. It uses facts from Parris' life and weaves them into fictional life. Hammand tells readers in an author's note, "This book is fiction. Although I have delved into many old records and used all reasonable care to dig up whatever historical facts are available, the research has been hampered by unusual difficulties." The tale begins with Samuel's birth and continues until the dreaded year of the trials.<br />
<br />
==Music==<br />
Samuel Parris is portrayed in the [[Jayce Landberg]] song "Happy 4 U", featured on Landberg's 2020 album ''The Forbidden World''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bostonrockradio.com/forum3/articles.php?article_id=1024&fbclid=IwAR1CBUQqIWGYe9_7oTpi6U4KYWfDsbsGgFOw6w6XU6MET2eTUqdMgsyFHd8|title = Boston Rock Radio - BRR Articles: Interview with Swedish Guitarist Jayce Landberg by Thomas Amoriello Jr}}</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==Bibliography==<br />
*{{cite book |last=Fiske |first=Sarah Symms |year=1704 |title=A Confession of Faith: or, A Summary of Divinity. Drawn Up By a Young Gentle-Woman, in the Twenty-Fifth Year of Her Age |location=Boston |publisher=Benjamin Elliot }}<br />
*{{cite book |last=Gragg |first=Larry |year=1990 |title=A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653–1720|publisher=Greenwood |location=New York |isbn=978-0-313-27282-0 }}<br />
*{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Parris, Samuel}}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Starkey |first=Marion L. |year=1949 |title=The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Inquiry into the Salem Witch Trials |url=https://archive.org/details/devilinmassachus0000unse |url-access=registration |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/devilinmassachus0000unse/page/n35 26]–28 }}<br />
*{{Cite DAB |last=Stearns |first=Raymond P. |year=1934 |title=Parris, Samuel }}<br />
<br />
'''Attribution'''<br />
*{{Appletons|wstitle=Parris, Samuel|year=1900}}<br />
<br />
==Further reading==<br />
*{{cite book |last=Fowler |first=Samuel P. |url=https://archive.org/details/anaccountlifech00fowlgoog|title=An Account of the Life and Character of the Rev. Samuel Parris, of Salem Village|publisher=William Ives and George W. Pease, Printers |location=Salem|year=1857}}<br />
*Gagnon, Daniel A., ''A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse''. Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2021.<br />
* [[Charles W. Upham|Upham, Charles W.]], ''Salem Witchcraft.'' Reprint from the 1867 edition, in two volumes. Dover Publications: Mineola, NY. 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-486-40899-6}}<br />
* Webber, C.H. and W. S. Nevins, ''Witchcraft in Salem Village'', (Boston, 1892)<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Parris, Samuel|year=1905 |short=x}}<br />
<br />
{{salem}}<br />
<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parris, Samuel}}<br />
[[Category:1653 births]]<br />
[[Category:1720 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:17th-century Christian clergy]]<br />
[[Category:18th-century New England Puritan ministers]]<br />
[[Category:American slave owners]]<br />
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]<br />
[[Category:English emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony]]<br />
[[Category:Clergy from colonial Massachusetts]]<br />
[[Category:Accusers in the Salem witch trials]]<br />
[[Category:People from Dunstable, Massachusetts]]<br />
[[Category:People from Sudbury, Massachusetts]]<br />
[[Category:Witch hunters]]<br />
[[Category:Clergy in the Salem witch trials]]</div>2601:18F:283:B290:7C68:FEFD:FBFD:97F1https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Betty_Parris&diff=184072Betty Parris2025-10-28T00:55:48Z<p>2601:18F:283:B290:7C68:FEFD:FBFD:97F1: /* Early life */</p>
<hr />
<div>{{Short description|Accuser in the Salem witch trials}}<br />
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2019}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Betty Parris<br />
| birth_date = {{birth date|1682|11|28}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]]<!--extant 1628–1691--><br />
| death_date = {{death date and age|1760|03|21|1682|11|28}}<br />
| death_place = [[Concord, Massachusetts|Concord]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]]<!--extant 1691–1780--><br />
| known_for = Accuser in the [[Salem witch trials]]<br />
| relatives = {{plainlist|<br />
* [[Samuel Parris]] (father)<br />
* [[Abigail Williams]] (cousin)<br />
}}<br />
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Benjamin Baron]]|1710|1754|end=d.}}<br />
| children = 4 <br />
}}<br />
'''Elizabeth Parris''' (November 28, 1682 – March 21, 1760)<ref name="Brooks">{{cite web|first=Rebecca B.|last=Brooks|title=Elizabeth Parris: First Afflicted Girl of the Salem Witchcraft Trials|date=June 10, 2013|url=http://historyofmassachusetts.org/betty-parris-first-afflicted-girl-of-the-salem-witch-trials|website=historyofmassachusetts.org|access-date=December 23, 2014}}</ref> was one of the young girls who accused other people of being witches during the [[Salem witch trials]]. The accusations made by Parris and her cousin [[Abigail Williams (Salem witch trials)|Abigail Williams]] caused the direct death of 20 [[Salem, Massachusetts|Salem]] residents: 19 were hanged, while another, [[Giles Corey]], was [[Crushing (execution)|pressed to death]].<ref name="Johnson">[http://womenshistory.about.com/od/salempeople/a/Elizabeth-Parris.htm Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626021457/http://womenshistory.about.com/od/salempeople/a/Elizabeth-Parris.htm |date=June 26, 2016 }}, womenshistory.about.com; accessed December 23, 2014.</ref><br />
<br />
==Early life==<br />
Parris was born in [[Boston]], Massachusetts, on November 28, 1682.<ref name="Brooks"/> Her father, [[Samuel Parris]], was a well-known minister in the Salem Church. Her mother, Elizabeth Parris, died a few years after the witch trials. Her older brother Thomas Parris was born in 1681, and her younger sister Susanna Parris was born in 1687. Others living in the Parris household included Betty's orphaned cousin, [[Abigail Williams (Salem witch trials)|Abigail Williams]], and [[Tituba]], an enslaved woman from [[Barbados]].<ref name=Brooks/><br />
<br />
Her father was appointed the Minister of Salem Church in 1688 following a community effort to find a new minister.<ref name="Graggbook">{{cite book|first=Larry|last=Gragg|title=A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris 1653–1720|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|location=Westport, Connecticut|date=1990|isbn=978-0313272820|pages=168–169}}</ref> His family, including his wife Elizabeth, son Thomas, daughters Betty and Susannah, Abigail Williams, and Tituba all moved from Boston to join Parris in Salem.<ref name="Linder">{{cite web|first=Douglas O.|last=Linder|url=http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_ACCT.HTM|title=The Witchcraft Trials in Salem: A Commentary|website=law2.umkc.edu|publisher=[[University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Law]]|location=Kansas City, Missouri|access-date=November 29, 2014}}</ref> By contract, Parris and his family were granted to live in the ministry house and owned the land around it. The house accommodated the whole Parris family including Abigail, Tituba, and another slave by the name of John.<ref>Gragg, pg.83</ref><br />
<br />
==Salem witch trials==<br />
===Overview===<br />
In 1692, the [[Salem witch trials]] broke out after several girls claimed to be targeted by a 'devilish hand'. After several months, over 150 men, women, and children were charged with witchcraft and sorcery. The Trials were diminishing around September 1692 when the public began to resist the idea of witchcraft. Eventually, the Massachusetts General Court granted freedom to all those accused of sorcery and apologized to their families for the hardships created by the Salem witch trials.<ref>[http://www.history.com/topics/salem-witch-trials Salem Witch Trials], history.com; accessed December 23, 2014.</ref><br />
<br />
===Betty Parris' role===<br />
Shortly after Samuel Parris' affairs with the church in 1692, his daughter Elizabeth (Betty) Parris and niece Abigail Williams seemed to go missing for short periods of time. "... Along with other New England youth, Elizabeth and Abigail had been led away with little Sorceries" (105).<ref name=Graggbook/> Elizabeth, Abigail, and the girls attempted fortune-telling methods during their missing periods in hopes of discovering future husbands and social statuses. They used an object called a "Venus glass", which allowed them to observe the shape of an egg white as it floated in a glass of water. In the water, the egg white would resemble a shape or symbol depicting their futures. In one instance, a girl found a coffin shape inside her glass and became quite frightened after the incident according to [[John Hale (Beverly minister)|John Hale]]'s ''A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft''.<ref name=Brooks/><br />
<br />
Betty's other friends were also beginning to show similar symptoms of bewitching. Griggs found it difficult to key in on an exact cure and noticed the victims were only children. This enabled other villagers to believe that this event was indeed brought on by witchcraft.<ref name=Linder/> A neighbor, Mary Sibley, recommended a witch's cake to reveal the names of the witches.<ref name=Johnson/> She instructed Tituba to bake a rye cake with the victim's urine and feed the cake to a dog. Dogs were believed to support witches and their supernatural powers by following the witches' requests.<ref name=Linder/> Without alleviation of the illness, Betty eventually named Tituba as one of the 'Evil Hands'.<ref name=Johnson/> Linder suggests Elizabeth and Abigail wrote their story before making any accusations allowing their scenario to be more realistic.<ref name=Linder/> In the meantime, Tituba underwent questioning, and other victims, such as [[Ann Putnam Jr.]] and [[Elizabeth Hubbard (Salem witch trials)|Elizabeth Hubbard]], began to name their culprits as well. Other specified witches including [[Sarah Osborne]] and [[Sarah Good]] were questioned. All three would likely have had few of any advocates on their behalf due to their low social status in Salem. During their trials, Tituba confessed as well as turning in the other two women.<ref name=Johnson/><br />
<br />
Later that year in March, Elizabeth dreamed about a "Black Man" who she presumed was the Devil. He wanted her to join his forces and be "ruled by him."<ref name=Johnson/> However, Betty's family found this extremely terrifying and sent her off to live with another family, the Sewalls, hoping she could get away from witchcraft. In the Sewall household, Betty did experience some symptoms but ultimately regained full health.<ref name=Brooks/><br />
<br />
==Later life==<br />
In 1693, the Salem witch trials ended. Betty Parris never retracted her accusations or made any acknowledgements.<ref name=Brooks/> <br />
<br />
In 1710, aged 27, she married Benjamin Baron, a yeoman, trader, cordwainer, and shoemaker. Her father still cared for her and her siblings. Parris provided her with "household stuff" to better furnish her home with Benjamin. He bought her silver, money, and plates as well as pictures and décor to hang on the walls.<ref name=Graggbook/> She and Baron had four children: Thomas, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Susanna. Betty survived her husband by six years, dying on March 21, 1760, in [[Concord, Massachusetts]], aged 77.<ref name=Brooks/><ref name="Johnson"/><br />
<br />
==In fiction and popular culture==<br />
Betty Parris appears as Samuel Parris' daughter in [[John Neal]]'s historical novel, ''[[Rachel Dyer]]'' (1828).<ref>{{cite book |last=Neal |first=John |author-link=John Neal |title=Rachel Dyer: North American Story |year=1828 |publisher=Shirley and Hyde|url=https://archive.org/details/racheldyeranort00nealgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/racheldyeranort00nealgoog/page/n249 21] }}</ref><br />
<br />
[[Arthur Miller]]'s 1952 play ''[[The Crucible]]'' is loosely based on actual events that Betty/Elizabeth Parris and other contributing characters faced during the actual Salem Witch Trials in the 1600s. Some aspects of the play are accurate in comparison to the real event while others are not. According to all reliable sources,<ref name=Brooks/><ref name=Johnson/><ref name=Graggbook/><ref name=Linder/> Elizabeth had two siblings, and in ''The Crucible'' she has none.<ref name="Crucible">[http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SAL_CRU.HTM ''The Crucible''] by Arthur Miller (1952); accessed December 23, 2014.</ref> She is a supporting character as a 10-year-old girl who falls under a strange illness, which leads to dissembling a bunch of young women's behavior and, soon, many accusations of witchcraft against other citizens of Salem.<ref name="Miller">[http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/crucible/characters.html Profile], sparknotes.com; accessed November 30, 2014.</ref><ref>[http://www.hatboro-horsham.org/cms/lib2/PA01000027/Centricity/Domain/339/The%20Crucible%20-%20Arthur%20Miller%20.pdf Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209004844/http://www.hatboro-horsham.org/cms/lib2/PA01000027/Centricity/Domain/339/The%20Crucible%20-%20Arthur%20Miller%20.pdf |date=December 9, 2014 }}, hatboro-horsham.org; accessed December 23, 2014.</ref><br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist|2}}<br />
<br />
{{salem}}<br />
<br />
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parris, Betty}}<br />
[[Category:1682 births]]<br />
[[Category:1760 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:People from colonial Boston]]<br />
[[Category:American children]]<br />
[[Category:18th-century American women]]<br />
[[Category:Accusers in the Salem witch trials]]</div>2601:18F:283:B290:7C68:FEFD:FBFD:97F1