Hanged, July 19, 1692

Sarah Good was born in 1653 to a wealthy innkeeper but faced financial hardships due to her father's estate being tied up in litigation. Her marriages to poor individuals and her reputation for being socially unpleasant made her a target for witchcraft accusations during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Despite denying the accusations, she was convicted and sentenced to hang, though her execution was delayed until after the birth of her child. Her daughter was also accused of witchery and imprisoned. Good's refusal to confess led to her execution, which took place on July 19, 1692. The popular portrayal of Good as an old hag in literature reflects the unfairness of the trials and the stereotypes associated with accused witches.

Summary from University of Virginia History of Salem Project

Released

Elizabeth Proctor, wife of Salem Village farmer John Proctor, was accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.

The Proctors were a wealthy family who lived on a large rented farm on the outskirts of Salem Village, in what is now modern day Peabody.  In late March, two of the afflicted girls, Mercy Lewis and Abigail Williams, claimed Elizabeth Proctor visited them at night in spirit form and tormented them.  On April 4, a warrant was issued for her arrest.

On August 5, both Elizabeth and John Proctor were found guilty and sentenced to death. Since Elizabeth was pregnant at the time of her conviction, her execution was postponed until after she gave birth. John Proctor pleaded for more time as well, claiming he was too ill for the execution, but was hanged on August 19th.

On January 27, 1693, Elizabeth Proctor gave birth to a boy and named him John Proctor III, after his father. Although she had given birth, Elizabeth was not immediately executed, for reasons unknown.

In May of that same year, after the witch hysteria had died down and most of the prisoners had been released due to a lack of evidence, Governor Phipps released the remaining prisoners, which included Elizabeth Proctor.

Summary from the History of Massachusetts Organization

Hanged, August 19, 1692

John Proctor arrived in America from England when he was three years old, settling with his family in Ipswich, MA. He married his first wife Martha (maiden name unclear) circa 1652. The couple had four children, only one of whom, Benjamin, lived to adulthood. Martha died in childbirth in 1659. In 1662, Proctor married Elizabeth Thorndike, with whom he had seven children. At least two died before reaching adulthood. The Proctors moved to the western side of Salem Town, aka Salem Fields or the village of Brooksby, in 1666, first leasing fifteen acres and then the adjoining 300-acre farm from the illustrious Emmanuel Downing.  John and Elizabeth were both convicted of witchcraft, largely on spectral evidence. Elizabeth received a stay of execution because it had been discovered that she was pregnant.

John Proctor was hanged, along with Reverend George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, and John Willard on Proctor’s Ledge at Gallows Hill on August 19.

Summary from the History of Massachusetts Organization

Rebecca Nurse’s arrest on March 24, 1692 came as a complete surprise to the citizens of Salem because she was considered such a pious and upstanding citizen.

Nurse was accused of witchcraft by Ann Putnam, Jr, Ann Putnam, Sr, and Abigail Williams of Salem village, as well as several others, including Reverend Deodat Lawson of Boston, who claimed to have seen Nurse’s spirit tormenting Ann Putnam, Sr, at her home that March.

Nurse was hanged at Proctor’s Ledge on July 19, along with Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin and Sarah Wildes.

Summary from the History of Massachusetts Organization

Bridget Bishop was not the first to be accused of witchcraft but she was the first to be executed for the crime in 1692.  On April 16, two women ‑ Bridget Bishop and Mary Warren – were newly accused by the afflicted girls. Two days later, complaints were filed against the two, as well as against Giles Corey and Abigail Hobbs.

Bishop was convicted of witchcraft in short order. On June 10, Sheriff George Corwin escorted her from Salem jail, along Prison Lane to Main Street, and finally to “a spot of common pasture at the edge of town.” A crowd gathered. Bridget Bishop was “hanged by the neck until she was dead,” on Proctor’s Ledge at Gallows Hill, the first of 19 people to be so executed. Instead of this first execution bringing people to their senses, it was not the end, but the beginning.

Summary from the History of Massachusetts Organization

Three principal accusers during the Salem witch trials in 1692 were members of the Putnam family: Sergeant Thomas Putnam (1652-1699), his wife Ann (Carr) Putnam (1661-1699), and their oldest daughter Ann Jr. (1680-1716). At the time of the trials, the Putnam clan owned hundreds of acres in the western part of Salem Village, on and around Hathorne Hill (originally settled by William Hathorne, father of Court of Oyer and Terminer judge John Hathorne).  Thomas and his family were living in a house on the southwest side of the hill, while his brother Edward and his half-brother Joseph both lived nearby.

The Putnams were a powerful and wealthy family, yet by the 1690s, Thomas Putnam was seeing his prospects diminish as property continued to be divided with each generation. He watched as neighbors like the Porters and the Nurses, who lived  closer to Salem Town, became more prosperous. 

Perhaps Thomas Putnam resented his neighbors’ successes, both economically and politically. Something drove him, along with his wife and 12-year-old daughter, to accuse neighbors, and strangers, with practicing witchcraft. Many of their accusations resulted in the execution of innocent people.

Summary from the Salem Witch Museum