|
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
Sarah Bibber played a big part in the infamous witch trial in Salem in 1692, both as an accuser of witchcraft, as well as being accused as a witch herself. The history of the witch trials makes for fascinating reading, and in order that you can understand her role I will explain a little about the background to the trials before moving on to Sarah herself. Salem village was established in the late 1630s when a group of farmers moved 5 miles from Salem Town where the inhabitants remained legally part of Salem Town, though from the 1660s they began petitioning for independence. By 1672 Salem Village became a separate parish at which time they built a meeting house and hired their own minister. In 1689 the village established a covenant church with Rev. Samuel Parris as their new minister. In early 1692, Rev. Parris's 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth, 12-year-old niece Abigail Williams, as well as other neighborhood girls began to fall into horrid fits. Their parents tried to discover what was causing their distress, and village doctor William Griggs gave his opinion that the girls were the victims of witchcraft .Asked who was causing their afflictions, the girls accused three village women, and warrants were sworn out for their arrest. On March 1, 1692, magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin conducted an examination at the Meeting House. two of the women were examined and as they answered the questions put to them, the "afflicted" girls went into horrific fits. To all present, the girls were obviously victims of these women's witchcraft. Though the two protested their innocence, one made a confession of meeting with the devil and stating there were still other witches in the neighborhood. This evidence was sufficient for the magistrates, and the three women were jailed. The girls' afflictions did not stop, however, and still more villagers became "afflicted." Soon more accusations were made, and by the end of March Church members Martha Cory and Rebecca Nurse were also arrested, examined and jailed. No longer were just the lowly being accused, but people formerly in good standing in the community. By May, scores of "witches," both men and women, had been examined in Salem Village, and jails were being filled with up to 150 accused persons from many towns including Salem, Topsfield and Andover. Dozens of people under excruciating religious, civil and family pressures found themselves confessing to being witches. In May, Governor William Phips called a special court to try the cases of those accused witches who had not confessed. Convening in Salem in June 1692, the court quickly condemned Bridget Bishop to death. During July, August, and September, 18 people were hanged. In addition, one man, Giles Cory of Salem Farms, died under torture. At least 5 others died in jail. By the new year the colony was becoming exhausted with the witchcraft frenzy, and learned persons were speaking against the validity of "spectral evidence" being used in court. When the trials resumed, this former evidence was disallowed and proof was insufficient to condemn any other accused. The witch horror was over. Of the 19 people who were executed during this tragic yet heroic period, 12 came from the Salem Village area, dying rather than confessing to what they had not done. Sarah Bibber was one of the "afflicted" who testified against the accused in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Overall Sarah is mentioned in indictments, gave depositions and testified under oath against 15 people accused of witchcraft: Mary Bradbury, George Burroughs, Giles Corey, Mary Easty, Sarah Good, Dorcas Hoar, Elizabeth How, George Jacobs, Sr., Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Alice Parker, John Proctor, Ann Pudeator, Job Tookey, and John Willard. She also was mentioned in the indictment of Mary Witheridge. There was also testimony against Sarah Bibber by several individuals: John and Lydia Porter, Joseph Fowler, Thomas and Mary Jacobs, Richard Walker, and Sarah Nurse. Although her husband John Bibber (Vibber) is mentioned in depositions and indictments and listed as a witness,there does not seem to be any evidence that he testified under oath against any of the accused. Searching for any information on Sarah and John Bibber prior to the Salem Witch Trials has proven fruitless at this point. However, much is revealed about Sarah from statements made about her during the course of the trials and in later narratives: In 1692 Sarah Bibber's age is given as about 36 years old, she's married to a John Bibber and they have a 4-year-old child. Various court documents list their town of residence as Salem or Wenham. Throughout her name is given as Bibber and Vibber interchangeably. She has been described by those who testified against her as a "loose-tongued creature, addicted to fits," a woman who quarreled often with her husband during which times she would call him "very bad names," would have "strange fits when she was crossed," a woman of turbulent spirit and "double tongued." Sarah was observed to be "very idle in her calling" and given to tattling and making mischief among her neighbors. The testimony of Thomas and Mary Jacobs against Sarah perhaps gives the most insight (in their view) into her character: "… Bibber would be very often speaking against one and another very obscenely and those things that were false and wishing very bad wishes and very often and she wish that when her child fell into the river that she had never pulled ….her child out and Bibber use to wish ill wishes to herself and her children and also to others: the neighborhood where she lived amongst after she buried her first husband has told us that this John Bibber wife could fall into fits as often as she pleased." We haven't been able to determine what happened to Sarah Bibber after the trials of 1692 were over. It is our understanding that several of the accusers and/or afflicted who were believed to have testified falsely were later prosecuted. Hopefully, further research will reveal more about Sarah and John Bibber. Records exist which detail the accusations made by Sarah Bibber against others, which are detailed below.There is a website which has all the transcripts of all of the trials, as well as further history about Salem which you can find at this URL http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/Witch.html
Sarah Bibber testified that she had been afflicted by Miss Bradbury of Salisbury and on the day Miss Bradbury was examined, "I was most grievously tormented by her" and "I have also seen Miss Bradbury or her appearance several times afflicting the bodies of Mary Walcott and Ann Putnam" and she has "tormented me and the named person by her acts of witchcraft." George Burroughs Giles Corey
Sarah Good Sarah stated in her deposition that she had often seen an apparition of Sarah Good but Mary did not hurt her until May 2, 1692 although Sarah saw the apparition "torture Mercy Lewis and John Indian in Salem on the 11th of April 1692." On May 2, 1692 the apparition of Sarah Good almost pressed the breath out of Sarah Bibber's body and "she did immediately afflict my child by pinching of it that I could hardly hold it and my husband seeing of it took hold of the child but it cried out and twisted so dreadfully…" She also stated that several times since the second of May, the apparition of Sarah Good beat and pinched her, almost choked her to death and pricked her with pins. Further testimony shows Sarah stating that she saw the apparition of Sarah Good standing by her bed, that she then pulled aside the curtain, turned down the sheet, looked upon Sarah Bibber's 4 year old child which caused the child to go into a fit. Sarah also added the she believed "upon her oath that Sarah Good had bewitched her…" Dorcas Hoar Elizabeth How Sarah "owned to the Jury of inquest: the above written to be true evidence of hers upon oath: June 30, 1692. George Jacobs, Sr. Susannah Martin Rebecca Nurse Alice Parker John Proctor Ann Pudeator Job Tookey John Willard Mary Witheridge * * * * * The above information taken from the following sources. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. George Lincoln Burr
******** My sincerest thanks go to Paula Bibber who provided all of the information on Sarah Bibbers role in the trials.
|
||
|
|
||