Samuel Parris

Reverend Samuel Parris (1653-1720)

Samuel Parris (1653 – February 27, 1720) was the Puritan minister in Salem Village, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials, as well as the father to one of the afflicted girls, and uncle of another.

Life

He was born in London, England, the son of cloth merchant Thomas Parris. He emigrated to Boston in the early 1660s, where he attended Harvard University. When his father died in 1673, Samuel left Harvard to take up his inheritance in Barbados, where he maintained a sugar plantation and bought two Carib slaves to tend his household, one by the name of Tituba Indian and the other John Indian.

In 1680 he returned to Boston, where he married Elizabeth Eldridge, and they had three children together; the slaves Tituba and John remained a part of his household. Although the plantation supported his merchant ventures, Parris was dissatisfied and began to preach at local churches. In July 1689, he became minister of Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts.

He was not well liked; although his harsh preaching and rigid Puritan values may not have been unusual in the time and place, he was perceived as egotistical and greedy, especially when he demanded that he be given personal title to the Salem parsonage, in addition to his salary, as part of his compensation. This led to friction with the villagers, and some stopped contributing to his salary in October 1691.

The events that led to the Salem witch trials began when his daughter, Betty Parris, and her cousin Abigail Williams accused the family's slave Tituba of witchcraft. In February 1692, Betty Parris began having "fits" that the doctor could not explain. Parris beat Tituba and compelled her to confess that she was a witch. The hysteria lasted sixteen months, concluding with the Salem witch trials.

His church brought charges against him for his part in the trials, leading him to apologize for his error. However, despite the intense dislike of the villagers, Parris stayed on for another four years after the panic had run its course. In 1697, he accepted another preaching position in Stow, and eventually moved on to Concord and Dunstable before his death in the town of Sudbury on February 27, 1720.

Fiction

Parris features in Arthur Miller's play The Crucible relating to the witch trials. In the play, his daughter Betty Parris is one of the first to become ill due to witchcraft. In the end, he is voted from office shortly after the panic is over, leaves the village, and is never seen again. He is also a character in the book "Tituba of Salem Village" by Ann Petry, another work of fiction relating to the witch trials.

Further reading

• Fowler, Samuel P., An Account of the Life and Character of the Rev. Samuel Parris, of Salem Village, (Salem 1857)
• Gragg, Larry. A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720. Greenwood: New York. 1990. ISBN 978-0313272820
• Upham, Charles W., Salem Witchcraft. Reprint from the 1867 edition, in two volumes. Dover Publications: Mineola, NY. 2000. ISBN 978-0486408996
• Webber, C.H. and W. S. Nevins, Witchcraft in Salem Village, (Boston, 1892)