Bridget Bishop

Bridget Bishop (ca. 1632, England – 10 June 1692 Salem, Massachusetts) was the first person executed for witchcraft during the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692.

Reputedly outspoken, flashy in her costume (by Puritan standards), perhaps unruly in her behavior, and a prior victim of witchcraft accusations, Bishop may have been an obvious choice to be the first person hanged. Bishop was close to 60 years old at the time of her death.

Various sources give her maiden name as Playfer (or perhaps Playford).

She has often been confused with the tavern owner, Sarah Bishop.

Family

She was married three times. Her first marriage was around 1660 to George Wasselbe.

Her second marriage was on 26 July 1666 to Thomas Oliver, a widower and prominent businessman, with whom she had one daughter, Christian (born 8 May 1667), who would later marry Thomas Mason. She was earlier accused of bewitching Thomas Oliver to death, but was acquitted for lack of evidence. Upham and others have implied that her being accused in 1692 was at least in part due to relatives of her stepchildren from her second husband wanting to take possession of property she had inherited from Oliver (especially a house near the meeting house-perhaps run as a tavern), and that this was made possible because one of them was a member of the local constabulary. [Upham, Charles (1980). Salem Witchcraft: Volume II. New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.]

Her last marriage circa 1687 was to Edward Bishop, a prosperous sawyer, whose family lived in Beverly. Her stepson (Edward Bishop) [ [http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-salemname?name=Edward+Bishop+Jr.&query=bisedw2 Salem Witchcraft Pages on Edward Bishop, Jr.] ] and daughter-in-law (Sarah Bishop) [ [http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-salemname?name=Sarah+Bishop&query=bissar Salem Witchcraft Pages on Sarah Bishop] ] were also jailed on charges of witchcraft.

The trials

She denied all charges of witchcraft during the trials, saying, "I know not what a witch is."

In 1956, the Massachusetts General Court passed an act exonerating her; they also passed a similar measure some years after that.

Further reading

* [http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-salemname?name=Bridget+Bishop&query=bisbri The Salem Witchcraft Papers on Bridget Bishop]
*cite book | first=Jennifer M. | last=Wilson | title=Witch | location=www.jennifermwilson.com | year=2005 | id=ISBN 1-4208-2109-1
*cite book | first=Paul S. | last=Boyer | coauthors=Stephen Nissenbaum | title=Salem Possessed; The Social Origins of Witchcraft | publisher=Harvard University Press | location=Boston | year=1976
*cite book | first=Francis | last=Hill | title=The Salem Witch Trials Reader | publisher=Da Capo Press | year=2000
*cite book | first=Carol F. | last=Karlsen | title=The Devil in the Shape of a Woman | Publisher=WW Norton & Company | year=1998
*cite book | first=Bernard | last=Rosenthal | title=Salem Story: reading the witch trials of 1692 | publisher= Cambridge University Press | location=Cambridge | year=1993
*cite book | first=Charles | last=Upham | title=Salem Witchcraft: Volume II | publisher=Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. | location=New York | year=1980

References