Witches of Massachusetts – T
The dark chapter of the Salem Witch Trials, a period of intense paranoia and injustice, continues to captivate and disturb. Within the historical records of this tragic era in Massachusetts, numerous individuals were accused, tried, and sometimes executed based on flimsy evidence and rampant fear. This article delves into the lives of several figures whose names begin with the letter "T," examining their stories and the circumstances that led to their involvement in the witchcraft hysteria. The keyword Witches of Massachusetts – T will appear multiple times in the next paragraphs.
This exploration of the Witches of Massachusetts – T offers a glimpse into the complexities of the Salem Witch Trials. It highlights the social, religious, and personal factors that contributed to the accusations and the devastating consequences that followed. The stories of these individuals serve as a reminder of the dangers of mass hysteria and the importance of due process. These accounts remind us how easily accusations can be made and how quickly lives can be destroyed when fear overtakes reason. The keyword Witches of Massachusetts – T is used to provide insight into the injustices.
The keyword Witches of Massachusetts – T are a poignant example of the dangers of superstition and the fragility of justice. These stories, drawn from historical records, offer a glimpse into the lives disrupted and the communities torn apart by the Salem Witch Trials.
This article focuses on individuals from the period of the Salem Witch Trials whose names begin with "T", offering a glimpse into the lives caught in the crosshairs of the 17th-century hysteria.
Mary Harrington Taylor (16??-1733)
Mary Harrington Taylor, a woman of Malden, Massachusetts, found herself entangled in the web of witchcraft accusations during the height of the hysteria. Born the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Harrington, Mary led a seemingly ordinary life, marrying Seabred Taylor in 1671. Together, they built a family, raising seven children. However, their peaceful existence was shattered when Mary was accused of afflicting Mary Marshall, also of Malden.
The accusations against Mary Taylor stemmed, at least in part, from her association with Lydia and Sarah Dustin, two women who had already been arrested and imprisoned on suspicion of witchcraft. In the climate of fear and suspicion, mere association with accused individuals was enough to cast doubt and suspicion upon a person. Mary Marshall testified that Mary Taylor had harmed her through witchcraft, attempting to coerce her into devil worship. Adding to the accusations, Mary Foster Lacey, Sr., also testified against Taylor.
During her examination on September 5, 1692, the atmosphere in the room was charged with tension and fear. Several girls present, including Hannah Post, Susan Post, and Mary Warren, reportedly fell into fits whenever Mary Taylor looked at them. This dramatic display further fueled the accusations against her, reinforcing the belief that she possessed supernatural powers. Taylor was accused of having a hand in the death of William Hooper, who had died in a house fire.
On January 31, 1692, Mary Taylor was formally indicted for witchcraft. However, unlike many others accused during this period, Mary Taylor was later released, escaping the tragic fate that befell so many others.
Margaret Webb Sheaf Thacher (1625-1694)
Margaret Webb Sheaf Thacher’s story is a stark reminder that no one, regardless of social standing or reputation, was immune from the accusations of witchcraft. Born in Boston in 1625 to Henry and Dorabell Smith Webb, Margaret was part of a prominent family. Her life took a turn when she married Jacob Sheaf in 1642, with whom she had two children. Jacob died in 1658.
Margaret’s father and her husband, Jacob Sheafe, had business interests in Maine and New Hampshire, and Margaret Thacher retained control of some of their property. She also held extensive holdings in Boston, including her home and acreage next to Governor William Phips’ house. Several years after her first husband’s death, she married the Reverend Thomas Thacher, a respected figure in the community and the founding minister of the Old South Church.
Despite her connections and standing, Margaret found herself accused of witchcraft in 1692. Her accuser was none other than Mercy Short, a maidservant who worked in her household. As Mercy began to experience fits and other strange behavior, she accused her mistress, Margaret Thacher, of afflicting her with witchcraft. While known as a woman of great piety, Margaret Thacher was never formally charged, but the accusation highlights the pervasive fear and suspicion that gripped the colony. Mercy Short would spend time behind bars after confessing to witchcraft.
Margaret’s daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Magistrate Jonathan Corwin, one of the key figures involved in the Salem Witch Trials. Margaret Thacher died in Boston on February 23, 1694, her reputation likely tarnished by the accusations, even though she was never formally charged.
Tituba (1665?-??)
Tituba’s story is perhaps one of the most well-known and complex of the Salem Witch Trials. As the first person to be accused of witchcraft, her testimony and confession played a pivotal role in escalating the hysteria. Tituba was an enslaved woman who belonged to Reverend Samuel Parris. Parris purchased Tituba and another slave named John Indian while living in Barbados in the 1670s. Originally from an Arawak village in South America, Tituba had been captured as a child and enslaved in Barbados. She was thought to have been between 12 and 17 years old when Parris purchased her.
In 1680, Parris moved to Boston, bringing Tituba and John Indian with him. The Parris family later moved to Salem Village in July 1689, where Samuel Parris became the minister. Tituba and John Indian married that same year and remained part of the Parris household. They are thought to have had only one child, Violet.
When Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams began to exhibit strange "afflictions," they were the first to accuse Tituba of witchcraft. Tituba had unwittingly made herself a target for accusations. After Elizabeth began having strange fits and symptoms, Tituba prepared a "witch cake" in an attempt to reveal the identity of the afflicted. Reverend Samuel Parris was enraged when he found out about the cake, and shortly after, the "afflicted girls" named Tituba a witch.
Initially, Tituba denied any involvement in witchcraft. However, under pressure and coercion, she eventually confessed to having spoken with the Devil and spun wild tales about black dogs, a yellow bird, red and black rats, and other animals, as well as riding sticks to various places. She was the first person to confess to witchcraft in Salem Village. She also accused other women, including Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, whom the children had also named as witches, as her accomplices. She even claimed that Sarah Osborne possessed a creature with the head of a woman, two legs, and wings.
Rumors circulated that Tituba had enthralled the local teenage girls with her stories of African or Caribbean voodoo and magic spells and that she had taught Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams the forbidden practice of fortune-telling. However, court records have not confirmed this. The girls’ fortune-telling technique was nothing more than an egg white in a glass of water, a commonly known device in New England at the time. She also said she was beaten by her owner, the Reverend Samuel Parris, and was told to confess to witchcraft. Interestingly, she confessed to all being culturally European, not African or Caribbean.
Despite confessing to a capital offense and being an enslaved person, Tituba was never tried or executed for her role in the witchcraft trials. By confessing early on, Tituba avoided the ordeal of going to trial, joining with the "afflicted girls" in providing key evidence against accused witches. When public sentiment toward the accusers and the trials began to change, Tituba recanted her confession, which enraged Reverend Samuel Parris. He refused to pay the jailer’s fee to get her out of prison, and she spent 13 months in jail until an unknown person paid the seven pounds for her release and bought her. The same person likely bought her husband, John, because Puritans were not inclined to split up married couples, even slaves. What happened to her after she began her life with her new owner is unknown.
Job Tookey (1665-??)
Job Tookey, a laborer from Beverly, Massachusetts, also found himself accused of witchcraft during the Salem hysteria. He was accused by Mary Warren, Susanna Sheldon, Ann Putnam, Jr., Sarah Bibber, Mary Walcott, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Elizabeth Booth on June 4, 1692. All the "afflicted girls" claimed that he had tormented them.
Mary Warren testified that Tookey was responsible for several deaths, utilizing poppets that he stabbed in the heart. Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Booth echoed these charges, stating that they had seen the apparitions of dead people crying out for vengeance. Job Tookey must also have been a somewhat boastful man, as several people would testify as to things he had said, such as how he could freely discourse the Devil, that he would take the Reverend George Burroughs apart, and that he was not the Devil’s servant, but that the Devil was his.
Tookey was indicted in September and sent to prison. However, he was not immediately tried. In January 1693, he was tried and found not guilty. He was ordered discharged after paying his fees.
Margaret Toothaker (1682-??)
Margaret Toothaker’s story is particularly tragic. Born in Billerica, Massachusetts, on January 31, 1682, to Roger and Mary Allen Toothaker, Margaret was the youngest of nine children. At the tender age of ten, Margaret was arrested along with her mother, Mary Allen Toothaker, for witchcraft. The complaint, made by Joseph Houlton and Jonathan Walcott of Salem Village on May 28, 1692, stated that she and her mother had afflicted Mary Walcott and Abigail Williams.
No records of any examination of her survive, but she is referred to in several court records. Her name never appears, she was referred to repeatedly as the daughter of her father or mother or even as a cousin, but never as an individual. Her father, Roger Toothaker, who was also accused, died in prison shortly after Margaret’s arrest. Margaret Toothaker was the only child of two accused parents, witches.
The ten-year-old appears never to have been indicted but remained in prison with her mother, Mary, for over seven months. Her mother was tried in January 1693 and found not guilty. Margaret was released with her mother. In the meantime, the Toothaker homestead had been burned by Indians. Margaret and her mother returned to the remains of their home. However, their turmoil was not yet over. On August 5, 1695, Indians attacked their small town of Billerica. Some 15 people were killed, including Mary Allen Toothaker. Margaret, who was 12 years old at the time, was kidnapped and never seen again.
Mary Allen Toothaker (1642?-1695)
Mary Allen Toothaker, the wife of Roger Toothaker, was also arrested, along with her ten-year-old daughter, Margaret. Mary was born in about 1642 in Andover to Andrew and Faith Ingalls Allen. She married Roger Toothaker on June 9, 1665, and the couple eventually had nine children.
Her husband, a folk healer who claimed to be able to hunt and get rid of "witches," was arrested for witchcraft in May 1692. Soon, Mary and her ten-year-old daughter, Margaret, would also be accused. Upon a complaint by Joseph Houlton and Jonathan Walcott of Salem Village on May 28, 1692, for allegedly afflicting Mary Walcott and Abigail Williams. Both were brought in and imprisoned in Salem Towne.
When questioned, she would admit that her husband, Roger Toothaker, had skills in practicing countermagic against witches and confirmed that her daughter, Martha Toothaker Emerson, had killed a witch. Mary would also be accused by her seven-year-old niece, Sarah Carrier, and Elizabeth Johnson Jr.
Just a few weeks later, on June 16, Mary’s husband, Roger Toothaker, died in prison. Mary’s daughter, Martha Toothaker Emerson, was arrested and jailed.
Mary Toothaker was examined and confessed to practicing witchcraft. She was deathly afraid of Indians because their homestead was far from the center of town. Stating that she had many dreams of fighting with them, she had yielded to the Devil, who promised her they would not hurt her. She said she had signed the Devil’s book and had been a witch for about two years. She admitted to attending a witches’ meeting where others were present and that the Reverend George Burroughs was the leader. She implicated Mary Green and Hannah Varnum Tyler Brumidge of Haverhill and Ann Alcock Foster of Andover, as well as others.
Mary had good reason to be afraid of the Indians. Just two days after her examination, on August 1, her hometown of Billerica was attacked, and six people were killed. A couple of days later, the Indians returned and burned down the deserted Toothaker farm. On August 5, 1692, Mary’s sister was condemned by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, and on August 10, she was hanged at Salem Towne. In the meantime, Mary and her daughters remained in prison.
The Superior Court of Judicature finally tried her at Charlestown at the end of January 1693. Both she and her daughter, Martha Emerson, were found not guilty. Mary’s daughter, Margaret Toothaker, was never tried but was also released. Mary and Margaret returned to their burned-out home. Mary Toothaker had been through hell.
But, her terror was not yet over. On August 5, 1695, her worst fear came true when Indians attacked the small town of Billerica again. Some 15 people were killed, including Mary Allen Toothaker. Her daughter, Margaret, who was 12 years old, was kidnapped and never seen again.
Roger Toothaker (1634-1692)
Roger Toothaker, a doctor, was charged with witchcraft and died in prison. He was born in England on November 27, 1634, and he traveled with his parents to America when he was just a baby. When he was only four years old, his father, also named Roger, died in 1638, and a year later, his mother remarried a man named Ralph Hill. The couple settled in Billerica.
When Roger grew up, he served as an assistant to another physician and later became a doctor himself, though he had no formal training. In about 1660, he was given a lot of land by his stepfather, Ralph Hill, located in the northern part of Billerica. On June 9, 1665, he married Mary Allen, daughter of Andrew and Faith Allen of Andover and sister of Martha Allen Carrier. The couple would eventually have nine children.
Roger Toothaker was known to have practiced a natural form of medicine, making him more of a "folk healer." He also claimed that he specialized in detecting and punishing witches. For several years before the Salem witch trials began, Toothaker had bragged to locals that he had taught his daughter, Martha Emerson, wife of Joseph Emerson, his trade and that she had killed a witch by boiling her urine in a pot overnight.
Despite his claims of being a "witch hunter," a warrant for his arrest was issued in May 1692 for allegedly having afflicted Elizabeth Hubbard, Ann Putnam, Jr., and Mary Walcott of Salem Village. Roger was then sent to prison in Boston. Later that month, another complaint would be filed against his wife, Mary Allen Toothaker, and their ten-year-old daughter, Margaret, who were imprisoned in Salem Towne.
Roger Toothaker died in the Boston jail on June 16, 1692, before he could come to trial. Though a full inquiry was conducted into his death, and it was determined he died of natural causes, many found it suspicious. After his death, his grown daughter, Martha Toothaker Emerson, would also be arrested. The rest of his family would spend some time in prison, but all were spared the hangman’s noose.
The stories of these individuals, whose names begin with "T," offer a window into the tragic events of the Salem Witch Trials. Their experiences highlight the dangers of fear, suspicion, and the abuse of power that characterized this dark period in American history.