- Samuel Parris
Samuel Parris (1653 –
February 27 ,1720 ) was the Puritan minister inSalem Village ,Massachusetts during theSalem witch trials , as well as the father to one of the afflicted girls, and uncle of another.Life
Samuel Parris was born in
London , England, the son of cloth merchantThomas Parris . He immigrated toBoston in the early 1660s, where he attendedHarvard University . When his father died in 1673, Samuel left Harvard to take up his inheritance inBarbados , where he maintained a sugar plantation and bought two Carib slaves to tend his household, one by the name ofTituba and the otherJohn Indian .In 1680 he returned to Boston, where he married Elizabeth Eldridge, and they had three children together; the slaves Tituba and John remained a part of his household. Although the plantation supported his merchant ventures, Parris was dissatisfied and began to preach at local churches. In July 1689, he became minister of Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts.
He was not well liked; although his harsh preaching and rigid
Puritan values may not have been unusual in the time and place, he was perceived as egotistical and greedy, especially when he demanded that he be given personal title to the Salem parsonage, in addition to his salary, as part of his compensation. This led to friction with the villagers, and some stopped contributing to his salary in October 1691.The events that lead to the
Salem witch trials began when his daughter,Betty Parris , and her cousinAbigail Williams accused the family's slave Tituba ofwitchcraft . In February 1692, Betty Parris began having "fits" that the doctor could not explain. Parris beat Tituba and compelled her to confess that she was a witch. Thehysteria lasted sixteen months, concluding with the Salem witch trials. It is said just before a woman was hanged, she yelled, "You will drink blood!" Parris died by choking on his blood after a haemmorage.His church brought charges against him for his part in the trials, leading him to apologize for his error. However, despite the intense dislike of the villagers, Parris stayed on for another four years after the panic had run its course. In 1697, he accepted another preaching position in Stow, and eventually moved on to Concord and Dunstable before his death in the town of Sudsbury on
February 27 ,1720 .Fiction
Parris features in
Arthur Miller 's play "The Crucible " relating to the witch trials. In the play, his daughterBetty Parris is one of the first to become ill due towitchcraft . He is also a character in the book "Tituba of Salem Village" by Ann Petry, another work of fiction relating to the witch trials.References
* Fowler, Samuel P., "An Account of the Life and Character of the Rev. Samuel Parris, of Salem Village", (Salem 1857)
* Gragg, Larry. "A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720". Greenwood: New York. 1990. ISBN 978-0313272820
* Upham, Charles W., "Salem Witchcraft." Reprint from the 1867 edition, in two volumes. Dover Publications: Mineola, NY. 2000. ISBN 978-0486408996
* Webber, C.H. and W. S. Nevins, "Witchcraft in Salem Village", (Boston, 1892)
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