John Proctor

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John Proctor (1632–1692) was a farmer and tavern keeper in 17th century Massachusetts. During the Salem witch trials he was accused of witchcraft, convicted and hanged.

[edit] Early life

John Proctor was born in Assington, Suffolk, England. His father was also named John Proctor (1595–1672) and his mother was Martha Harper (1607–1659). The family, by then including a younger child, Mary, born in 1634, departed from London aboard the Susan and Ellen on April 12, 1635, bound for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. After a voyage that took a little over two months, the Proctors settled in Ipswich, Essex County, a young settlement begun only in 1633. Six more children were born into the family there.

In 1655 young John married Martha Giddons, in Ipswich.^[1] They had four children, John, Martha, Mary and Benjamin, of whom only Benjamin survived childhood. The death of Martha herself, on 13 June 1659, left Proctor a widower.^[2] In December of 1662 he married his second wife, also in Ipswich. She was Elizabeth Thorndike, daughter of the founder of Ipswich, John Thorndike, and his wife, Elizabeth Stratton. Proctor had seven children with Elizabeth: Elizabeth (1663–1736), Martha (1 April 1665 – May 1665), Martha (4 April 1666 – after 1682), Mary (20 October 1667 – 15 February 1678), John (born 28 October 1668), Mary (born 30 January 1669) and Thorndike (15 July 1672 – 1758).^[3][4]

Map of West Peabody, MA showing the location of the Proctor homestead, made by William P. Upham in 1904.^[5]

In 1666 Proctor moved from Ipswich to Salem, where he leased a 700 acre estate called Groton, in Salem Farms, the section of Salem Township just south of Salem Village (now Danvers). Groton was adjacent to Proctor's own 15 acre farm. Proctor gained his first license to operate a tavern in 1668. His inn was located on the Ipswich Road in Salem, about a mile south of the Salem Village line. The men ran the farm while the women ran the tavern.^[6]

In 1672, Proctor inherited one third of his father’s estate in Ipswich. His brothers, Benjamin and Joseph also each inherited one-third shares. John’s portion of the estate was worth 1200 pounds.

In April of 1674 Proctor married for a third time, to Elizabeth Basset, daughter of William and Sarah Basset, with whom he had six children: William (born 6 December 1674 (or 1675)), Sarah (28 January 1676), Samuel (11 January 1685 – 16 March 1765), Elisha (28 April 1687 – 11 September 1688), Abigail (born 27 January 1689) and John (born 27 January 1692 (or 1693))^[7]

In 1678, the Proctors were charged for allowing a customer to pawn property in exchange for drinks, and for selling cider to a drunken Indian.^[8]

In November of 1685, an action was filed in the courts in Salem for damages to John Proctor, relating to a land boundary dispute between him and Anthony Needham, when it was claimed that "land belonging to the plaintiff as being in possession of, and hiring the said land of the Worshipful Symon Bradstreet, Esq.", the said land being part of a farm "formerly belonging to Mr. Emanuel Downing". Emanuel's daughter was married to Symon Bradstreet. Zachariah Marsch testified at the 1685 trial and again in 1690 when the case was finally settled. The farm's ownership was later transferred to Proctor's son, Thorndike.^[9]

[edit] Salem Witch Trials

[edit] Background to John Proctor's involvement

John Proctor was nearly 60 years old when the Salem Witch Trials began. His wife, Elizabeth was initially accused of witchcraft by 11 year old Abigail Williams on March 14, 1692 although no arrest warrant was drawn up until Friday April 4th when John was also named. On April 2nd Proctor kept his servant Mary Warren at home to prevent her from attending the examinations which proved to be an important error of judgement. During Elizabeth Bassett's examination on April 11th he disparaged the girls' claims and accused them of lying, which made him a prime target. He was named as afflicting several girls, primarily Abigail Williams who accused him of pinching her and sending out his spirit to hurt her both during the examination and for several days before their encounter in court. This led to his immediate arrest and imprisonment.

[edit] Letter to Boston

He wrote a letter to the authorities in Boston, Massachusetts to alert them to the issues taking place in Salem and asking them to intervene. In this letter he claimed that if a woman as well respected as Rebecca Nurse could be convicted, then no restraint was left in the town, and he asked that the trials be moved to Boston, Massachusetts or that new judges be appointed. His letter brought about a meeting of eight ministers at Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 1, 1692. No records survive of what took place at this meeting, but when the ministers emerged, they had drastically changed their position on spectral evidence, having previously decided that the devil could take on the form of innocent people. Unfortunately for John Proctor, their decision made no practical difference until after his execution.

[edit] Accusations and trial

Although Abigail Williams was John Proctor's chief accuser, he was also named by Mary Walcott who stated he tried to choke her and his former servant Mary Warren on April 21. Warren told magistrates that Proctor had beaten her for putting up a prayer bill before forcing her to touch the Devil's Book. Further allegations of an increasingly salacious nature followed.

John Proctor continued to challenge the veracity of spectral evidence and the validity of the Court of Oyer and Terminer which led to a petition signed by 32 neighbours in his favour. The signatories stated that Proctor had lived a 'Christian life in his family and was ever ready to help such as stood in need..'

John and Elizabeth Proctor were tried on August 5, 1692. They were both found guilty and sentenced to hang. Still maintaining his innocence, Proctor prepared his will to secure the welfare of his sons but left his wife with nothing. He was executed on August 19, 1692 along with George Burroughs, John Willard, George Jacobs and Martha Carrier.

Elizabeth, who was then pregnant, had her execution postponed until she had given birth. The baby was born in January and her execution was overlooked. She was released in May 1693 in a general release of those remaining in jail.

[edit] Accusations towards others in the Proctor family

In 1692, 141 complaints were filed. 12 were against relatives of the Proctor family. It should be noted, only John and Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor were convicted and only John was executed.

• John Proctor, husband of Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor and the father of Benjamin, William and Sarah Proctor.
• Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor, third wife of John Proctor
• Benjamin Proctor, son of John and his first wife Martha Giddons
• William Proctor, son of John and Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor
• Sarah Proctor, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor
• Mary DeRich, maiden name Bassett, was the sister of Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor
• Sarah Bassett, Elizabeth's sister-in-law (wife of William Bassett, Jr., Elizabeth's brother)
• Extended family:
  • Thomas Farrar, Sr., father-in-law of Elizabeth (Hood) Farrar, sister of Sarah (Hood) Bassett
  • Elizabeth Hart, wife of Isaac Hart whose sister, Deborah Hart, was married to Benjamin Proctor, brother of John Proctor
  • Rebecca Nurse, maiden name Towne, was the sister of Sarah (Towne) Cloyce & Mary (Towne) Esty and the wife of Francis Nurse. Elizabeth Proctor, daughter of John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor, married Thomas Very in 1681. His sister, Elizabeth Very was the second wife of John Nurse, the eldest son of Rebecca Nurse.
  • Mary Easty, maiden name Towne, was the sister of Rebecca (Towne) Nurse and Sarah (Towne) Cloyce and the wife of wife of Isaac Esty.
  • Sarah Cloyce, maiden name Towne, was the sister of Rebecca (Towne) Nurse and Mary (Towne) Esty and the wife of Peter Cloyce.

Family Tree:

There was also one family member among the accusers; John DeRich, son of Mary (Bassett) DeRich.

[edit] Aftermath

In January 1693, while still in jail, Elizabeth (Bassett) Proctor gave birth to a son, John Proctor III. Elizabeth and John III remained in jail until May 1693, when a general release freed all of those prisoners who remained jailed. Unfortunately, even though the general belief of the people was that innocent people had been wrongly convicted, Elizabeth had in fact been convicted and was considered guilty. In the eyes of the law she was considered a "dead woman" and could not claim any of her husband's estate. Elizabeth petitioned the court for a reversal of attainder to restore her legal rights. No action was taken for seven years.

In June 1696, Elizabeth filed an appeal to contest her husband's will. At the time John wrote his will, he had assumed that Elizabeth would be executed and had left her nothing. On September 22, 1696 Elizabeth married again to Daniel Richards.

In July 1703, several more people filed petitions before any action was taken on Elizabeth’s appeal for reversal of attainder. The Massachusetts House of Representatives finally passed a bill disallowing spectral evidence. However, they only gave reversal of attainder for those who had filed petitions. This basically applied to only two people – Elizabeth Proctor and Rebecca Nurse.

In 1705, another petition was filed requesting a more equitable settlement for those wrongly accused. In 1709, the General Court received a request to take action on this proposal. In May 1709, 22 people who had been convicted of witchcraft, or whose parents had been convicted of witchcraft, presented the government with a petition in which they demanded both a reversal of attainder and compensation for financial losses.

On October 17, 1711, the General Court passed a bill reversing the judgment against the 22 people listed in the 1709 petition. There were still an additional 7 people who had been convicted, but had not signed the petition. There was no reversal of attainder for them.

On December 11, 1711, monetary compensation was finally awarded to the 22 people in the 1709 petition. The sum of ₤578 and 12 shillings was authorized to be divided among the survivors and relatives of those accused. Most of the accounts were settled within a year. The award to the Proctor family for Elizabeth was ₤150, much more money from the Massachusetts General Court than most families of accused witches.

Thorndike Proctor purchased the Groton Farm from the Downings of London, following the hanging of his father. The farm was renamed Downing Farm. Eight generations of Proctors resided, until 1851. Thorndike subsequently sold nearly half of the Downing Farm to his half-brother Benjamin.

By 1957, not all the condemned had been exonerated. Descendants of those falsely accused demanded the General Court clear the names of their family members. In 1957 an act was passed pronouncing the innocence of those accused, however, it only listed Ann Pudeator by name and the others as "certain other persons", still failing to include all names of those convicted.

In 1992, the Danvers Tercentennial Committee persuaded the Massachusetts House of Representatives to issue a resolution honoring those who had died. After much convincing and hard work by Salem school teacher Paula Keene, Representatives J. Michael Ruane and Paul Tirone and a few others, the names of all those not previously listed were added to this resolution. When it was finally signed on October 31, 2001 by Governor Jane Swift, more than 300 years later, all were finally proclaimed guiltless.

[edit] The Crucible

The Crucible by Arthur Miller, a fictionalized version of the trials casts John Proctor as one of the main characters in the play. Proctor is portrayed as being in his thirties and Abigail Williams is 17 and a half years old, while the real John Proctor and Abigail Williams were respectively about sixty and eleven years old at the time of the witch trials. In the play, they have an affair, as a result of which Abigail accused Elizabeth Proctor of witchcraft. In reality, Elizabeth Proctor was initially named by Ann Putnam on March 6 after her spectre allegedly attacked the girl. She was accused by Abigail on March 14 and further accusations were made by Mercy Lewis. Miller has Mary Warren accuse Proctor of afflicting her but this followed his initial accusation by Abigail in early April 1692. There is no historical evidence to suggest that Abigail even knew John Proctor before she accused him of witchcraft.

In the 1996 film based on the play, Proctor was played by Daniel Day-Lewis.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• University of Massachusetts: John Proctor as a home
• The Salem News, “Documents Shed New Light On Witchcraft Trials”, By BETSY TAYLOR, news staff Danvers, Massachusetts
• The History of the Town of Danvers, from its Earliest Settlement to 1848, by J. W. Hanson, copyright 1848, published by the author, printed at the Courier Office, Danvers, Massachusetts
• House of John Proctor, Witchcraft Martyr, 1692, by William P. Upham, copyright 1904, Press of C. H. Shephard, Peabody, Massachusetts,
• Puritan City, The Story of Salem, by Frances Winwar, King County Library System, 917.44, copyright 1938, Robert M. McBride & County, New York.
• The Salem witchcraft papers : verbatim transcripts of the legal documents of the Salem witchcraft outbreak of 1692 / compiled and transcribed in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration, under the supervision of Archie N. Frost ; edited and with an introduction and index by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum; Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library; pg. 662; Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 1
• The Founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, A Careful Research of the Earliest Records of Many of the Foremost Settlers of the New England Colony: Compiled From The Earliest Church and State Records, and Valuable Private Papers Retained by Descendants for Many Generations, by Sarah Saunders Smith, Press of the Sun Printing Company, 1897, Pittsfield Massachusetts.
• The Devil Discovered : Salem Witchcraft, 1692 by Gaylord Robinson
• Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft by Paul Boyer
• Chronicles of Old Salem, A History in Miniature by Francis Diane Robotti
• The Devil in Massachusetts, A Modern Enquiry Into the Salem Witch Trials, by Marion L. Starkey, King County Library System, copyright 1949, Anchor Books / Doubleday Books, New York
• A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials by Frances Hill
• The Salem Witch Trials Reader by Frances Hill
• The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson
• Salem Witchcraft; With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects. by Charles W. Upham
• The Devil Hath Been Raised: A Documentary History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Outbreak of March 1692 by Richard B. Trask
• The Visionary Girls: Witchcraft in Salem Village by Marion Lena Starkey
• The Salem Witch Trials, A Day by Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege, by Marilynne K. Roach, copyright 2002, Cooper Square Press, New York, NY.
• The Crucible, Arthur Miller

[edit] External links

• John Proctor at Find A Grave