Rev.+Samuel+Parris

What happened to Reverend Samuel Parris? Posted by Drew Kanan (Bender156) Research Summary: Reverend Samuel Parris was one of the most involved in these witch trials of 1691. Mostly because he was Reverend of the Town of Salem and even had some afflictions in his own household. The problems began in 1680 when he took his two slaves from Barbados to Boston for a better life. One of the slave’s names that came with him was Tituba who would be deeply involved with the witch trials. When they arrived in Boston Parris would marry a young girl named Elizabeth Eldridge. Within two years of being married they had a son, Thomas, and then a daughter named Betty. In July 1689, Parris and his family moved to Salem to take over as Reverend of the town. In October of 1691, Parris tried to raise his salary but a committee denied raising taxes to support his salary and also denied giving him firewood throughout the harsh winters. After this request by Parris his sermons focused on a conspiracy that might have been starting in the Town of Salem against the church. This is when it is believed that Satan took a hold of Salem. In that same year witchcraft was believed to be happening in his house with his daughter Betty his niece, Abigail Williams who he took in, and Tituba the slave from Barbados. It was said that Tituba started doing fortune telling and other non-Puritan activities. This caused Betty to have strange symptoms that was said to be from witchcraft. When Parris found out he did everything he could to help Betty and the other afflicted girls. He got so desperate he started to beat Tituba trying to make her confess. When the witch trials ended and Tituba was set free Parris tried apologizing to the Town for all that happened but left in 1697 giving his job to Joseph Green who smoothed everything over. Reverend Parris later died in 1720 in his new Town of Stowe. Citation: "Samuel Parris." //UMKC School of Law//. Web. 21 Oct. 2010. [].

Annotation: This webstie is very useful for the life of Reverend Samuel Parris. It helped me throughout my whole summary giving very detailed information about his whole life. Also, it gives very accurate dates and keeps a timeline that helps you in your understanding of when important events happened. This site also gives detail in how the Town of Salem reacted to the whole witch trial era and how they reacted to Parris.