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SAMUEL PARRIS: SAINT OR SINNER? Where exactly did the Salem witch hysteria begin? Most fingers point to the house of Reverend Samuel Parris. It is told that early in 1692, his daughter Betty contracted a strange illness. A local doctor was summoned, but could not find anything medically wrong and concluded that she must be possessed by the devil. At this point, Reverend Parris decided to keep Betty’s strange affliction quiet and unannounced in his community. The question to ask is why? Did he have alterative motives or was he afraid of repercussions from an already divided congregation. The purpose of this article is not to lay blame at the feet of Reverend Parris, but rather a look at the man and the events that may have lead him to be the catalyst of the witch hysteria. Samuel Parris was born in 1653, a younger son of Thomas Parris, a London cloth merchant with peripheral interests in commerce and real-estate on the island colonies of Ireland and Barbados.[1] When Thomas Parris died, he left his Barbados cotton plantation to Samuel.[2] Samuel moved to Barbados to continue his father’s business. Disaster stuck in 1675, when the worst hurricane of the century hit the Island destroying churches, homes and crops, especially his. Samuel decided he had enough and moved to Boston in 1680. Accompanying him were two slaves, a women name Tituba and her husband John Indian, both were to play pivotal roles in the witch hysteria of 1692. Upon arrival in Boston, Samuel chose commerce as his occupation. He purchased a wharf and warehouse in Boston and soon after married Elizabeth Eldridge.[3] Samuel was not as successful as he had hoped and in the mid 1680s gave up being a merchant for life as a clergyman. In 1688 Salem Village learned that Samuel might be available to fill their pulpit. In November of that year, the Village approached Samuel with an offer to become their minister. After a long and hard negotiating session, which seemed to split the Village apart, Samuel accepted and began to preach in July of 1689. In a most revealing sermon preached only a week after his ordination, Revered Parris’s subjects includes, “trade,” “picking out a living,” private profit,” “pretence,” “deceit” – coupled with a profound longing for an unselfish dedication of a “noble calling.”[4] From 1680 to 1689, Samuel’s family had grown to include Betty his six-year old daughter and Abigail Williams his nine-year old niece, Tituba and John Indian. One wonders, what was behind Samuel’s hard business-like negotiations; a safety net in case he failed again or was he trying to provide comforts and security for his family while gaining a certain amount of personal prestige? Samuel was up to task with his ministry duties, his congregation grew, but the villagers were not so in their financial obligations. Samuel, sensing a change in his congregation, began to alter the message of his preaching, with references made more to business and obligations than to God. He sensed an under current occurring in his ministry with some congregational members trying to remove him as their pastor. As Samuel’s attention turned more and more toward his affairs, the children were left with Tituba. It is during these times that Tituba would show tricks that she had learned in Barbados. This fascinated his girls and soon others for the village arrived. Reverend Parris’s kitchen became a common meeting place for older girls in the neighborhood.[5] Strange events occurred at the Parris’s home. This brings us to January 1692 and the illness that affected his nine-year-old daughter Betty and the beginning of the witch hysteria that claimed twenty victims. Nineteen by hanging, one pressed to death and countless numbers jailed.
Did Samuel really believe that Betty was possessed by the devil rather than ill
or was it a golden opportunity, to bring his congregation together, united them
in a common cause and become their lifelong spiritual leader? Now it is time for
you to decide if Samuel is a saint or sinner, a man who was God’s secular
messenger bent on defeated the devil or an opportunist with earthly motives. Return to the Educational Center's Table of Contents Selected
Bibliography: Boyer, Paul et al., Salem Possessed
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002). Stahl, Diane M., Man of the Cloth or of Chaos: The Man Behind the Salem Witchcraft Trials, 2003, www.lourdes.edu/History/ONH/Trials.PDF (13 March 2005). In Text Citations (Click citation number to return to that portion of the text): |
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No part of this article may be used or reproduced in any manner without the expressed written consent from Hocus Pocus Tours, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles, essays and reviews in which case the following citation is required: Metzger, Richard W. Samuel Parris: Saint or Sinner?. 13 March 2005. <http://www.hocuspocustours.com/> Date that you access this page. Return to the Educational Center's Table of Contents
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