Abigail Williams is a girl who started the Salem witch trial.
Even though she was one of the main accusers during the Salem Witch Trials, not much is known about her before or after the trials ended.
Historians know that Williams was born in July of 1680.Reverend Samuel Parris, his daughter Betty, and their slaves Tituba and John Indian were living with her at the time.Historians think that her parents died and that she was living with them.
The troubles of William began in the winter of 1691/2, when some of the afflicted girls were experimenting with fortune-telling techniques, specifically a technique known as the "venus-glass", in which the girls dropped egg whites into a glass of water and interpreted whatever shapes or symbols appeared
The girls became frightened when they saw the shape of a coffin in the glass, according to the book A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft by local minister, Reverend John Hale.
In January of 1692, after the incident, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams began behaving strangely, having fits, screaming out in pain, and complaining that invisible spirits were pinching them.The afflicted girls began to experience the same symptoms.
Alfred Fredericks' illustration of Tituba and the Children was published in A Popular History of the United States.
At the end of February, Reverend Samuel Parris called for a doctor, who is believed to be Doctor William Griggs, but he couldn't find anything wrong with the girls and decided they must be bewitched, according to Samuel Page Fowler in his book Account of the Life and CharacterSamuel Parris is from Salem Village.
Mr.When the physicians told him that his daughter and niece were under an evil hand, he was surprised.Mr. Parris tried to keep the opinion of the physicians a secret until he could make a decision.Mary Sibley, a member of his church, gave directions to John Indian to find out who bewitched Betsy and Nabby Williams.This was not done with the knowledge of Parris.The way to make the discovery was to bake a cake with the children's urine and give it to a dog to eat.During the whole period of the delusion, disgusting practices appeared to have been used to discover and kill witches.
A few days after the witch cake incident, the afflicted girls named three women they believed were bewitching them: Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osbourne.
On March 1, 1692, the women were arrested and examined.Tituba confessed that she was a witch and warned the court that there were other witches in Salem.The confession confirmed the fears of the colonist that the Devil had invaded the colony and caused a mass hysteria.
The Salem minister returned to Salem in March to find out more about the suspicious activities in the village after the news of the witch hunt spread.
The author of A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Affected by Witchcraft, at Salem Village, witnessed and published a firsthand account of one of them.
In the beginning of the evening I went to give Mr. P. a visit.When I was there, his kinswoman, who was about 12 years of age, had a grievous fit; she was at first hurried with violence to and fro in the room.Do you not see her?Why is she standing?And said, Goodw.N. offered her the book, but she said she would not take it because she did not know what it was.She ran to the fire, throwing fire-brands about the house, and running against the back, as if she would run up the chimney.
The Salem Village meetinghouse was disrupted several times due to the presence of an accused witch.A warrant was issued for her arrest on Saturday, March 19 after she was accused of being a witch.
Since there wasn't enough time in the day to arrest him, he was free until Monday and decided to attend services, which upset the afflicted girls, according to Rev.There is a person named Deodat Lawson.
The afflicted persons at meeting were Mrs. Pope, Goodwife Bibber, Mary Walcut, and Doctor Grigg's maid.Goodwife C. was examined on suspicion of being a witch after the meeting.They had a lot of sore fits in the time of public worship, which interrupted me in my first prayer."Now stand up, and name your text!" he said after the psalm was sung.After it was read, she said, "It is a long text, if you did name one, I have forgotten it."Goodwife C. was present in the meeting-house.Abigail Williams said, "Look where Goodwife C. sits on the beam suckling her yellow bird betwixt her fingers!"There was a yellow bird on my hat as it hung on the pin in the pulpit, but those that were by restrained her from speaking about it.
On March 31, the colonists held a public fast due to the suspicious activities in the village, in which a woman claimed to have seen witches at a house.The witches appeared to have eaten red bread and a red drink.
According to court records, this claim came up again during Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Cloyces's examination on April 11, 1692.
Q. What is the name of the man?Did you see a company at the house?A.Sir, that was their worship.What is the situation?How many people were there?A.Goody Cloyse andGoody Good were their deacons.What is the situation?What was it?A.They said they had our blood twice that day.
During this examination, the afflicted girls turned on John Proctor and accused him of being a witch.
It is not known why the girls accused John Proctor, but it is thought that he called them liars and that they should be whipped for lying.
In Arthur Miller's 1953 play, The Crucible, Williams is portrayed as having an affair with John and accusing Elizabeth of being a witch so she can marry John after Elizabeth is executed.
It is not likely that this happened due to the age difference between the two people.There is no proof that they knew each other before the witch trails began.
Miller wrote in an essay for the New Yorker in 1996 that he believed John Proctor had a relationship with Williams.He said that he based the entire play on this idea after reading about how Williams tried to strike Elizabeth during her examination but instead brought her hand down and softly touched her before screaming out that her fingers burned:
I believed a play could be made out of this gesture of a troubled young girl.After Elizabeth fired the girl, they lived in the same small house.By this time, I was certain that John Proctor hadbedded Abigail, who had to be dismissed most likely to appease Elizabeth.There was bad blood between the two women.The human center of all this turmoil was suddenly the one who started to condemn Elizabeth to death with her touch.
The other people were accused of being witches.According to court records, Williams accused about 57 people of being witches.
Sarah Buckley, Martha Giles, Elizabeth Colson, Bethia Carter, Lydia Easty, and John Flood are all related to Arthur Abbott.
Even though she accused many people at the beginning of the trials, she only testified against eight of them.
Williams doesn't show up for the court hearings after that date.There is no evidence that Reverend Samuel Parris sent her away to prevent her from participating in the witch trials.
Of the people Williams accused and/or testified against, 15 were executed, one was tortured to death, and the others either died in jail, were pardoned, or escaped arrest all together.
Several members of Reverend Samuel Parris' congregation fought for years to have him kicked out of the church because of his involvement in the Salem witch trials.A number of issues that were directly related to Williams and the afflicted girls were submitted by his dissenters.
The dissenter was unable to attend church during the witch trials because of the distracting and disturbing tumults and noises made by people under power and delusions.
In November of 1694, Parris wrote an essay titled "Meditations for Peace" in which he stated that God tried to teach him a lesson by allowing the witch hunt to begin in his family.
The fact that some people in his household were accused in the Salem Witch Trials was reprimanded by God according to the essay.
The essay stated that the Devil sometimes afflicts people in the shape of innocent people but also deludes them that their hurt is not from them.
He acknowledged that using one afflicted to inquire by who afflicts the others may have been used to Satan's advantage.
The acknowledgments didn't help him or his cause.In 1697, the dissenters won and the minister of the church was dismissed.He left Salem Village after taking Betty and Abigail with him.
They never apologized for their roles in the trials.The only afflicted girl who did was Ann Putnam, Jr., who apologized to the church in Salem Village in 1706.
There is no record of what happened to Abigail Williams after the Salem witch trials ended.
According to the book The Salem Witch Trials: a Day by Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege, Williams died in 1697.
Abigail Williams died before the end of 1697, no older than seventeen.
This particular claim seems to be a vague reference to an anonymous afflicted girl mentioned in Reverend John Hale's book A Modest Inquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft.
A girl who was afflicted with diabolical manifestations until her death was mentioned in Hale's book.It is possible that Hale was referring to Williams, since only three of the girls are accounted for at the time.
The site of the Salem Village Parsonage is open to the public.
The home of Rev. Salem Village Parsonage is an archaeological site.The address is Rear 67 Centre Street, Danvers, Ma.
The former site of the Salem Village Meetinghouse is in Danvers, Mass.There is a historical marker on the site.
Opposite the Masonic Temple is the former site of the Salem Courthouse.There is a plaque on Masonic Temple.
Hill and Francis are the sources.The reader of the Salem witch trials.DaCapo Press was published in 2009.Fowler, Samuel Page.The life, character, and C. of the Rev. are described in an account.Samuel Parris is from Salem Village.George W. Pease and William Ives were married in 1856.Cotton.It is an account of the tryals of several witches recently executed in New England.John Dunton was born in 1692.The name of the person is Lawson, Deodat.From the 19th of March, to the fifth of April, 1692, there was a brief and true narrative of some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons.Benjamin Harris was born in 1692.The Salem Witchcraft Papers name index can be found at the University of Virginia salem.lib.virginia.edu/texts/salemSearch.htm.
Rebecca is the author of the History of Massachusetts.After graduating from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A., Rebecca got her start in journalism working for small-town newspapers in Massachusetts.In journalism.You can find more about Rebecca on the About page.
I have been having weird dreams of being able to blow things up with a point of a finger or fly and the other night I saw a black cat who was talking to me.
I have not watched it.I have never seen a cat like that in my life, but I dream about it all the time, and I want to go to Salem to find out what happens.
This information is fascinating to read.I wish we could find out what happened to him.I would love to visit some of the historical sites as I am from the UK.
Thanks for the kind words, Sigourney!I wish we could find out what happened to the people involved in the trials.After the trials ended, many of them vanished into thin air.I hope you visit Salem someday, it is a fascinating place.
I found this article very useful.I hope to learn more about this subject and the Salem witch trials.
It has come to my attention that Ann Putnam Jr is a great Aunt of mine down my family tree.I have dreams of being a Warlock and having weird feelings at night.I wonder if I have always been drawn to Salem because someone is reaching out to me and I know one day I will find out.
If you want to find out how you are related to abigail williams, please contact me.
Does anyone know what the afflicted girls looked like?There had to be art.