Salem Witch Judge (45 page)

Once again I am grateful to the historian and curator Edward Furgol, D.Phil., who answered hundreds of questions and read and commented on the manuscript. My former history teacher, Bradford Wright, again offered books, articles, and advice. Other historians who helped are David D. Hall, the John Bartlett Professor of New England Church History at Harvard Divinity School, and Adrian Chastain Weimer, a Ph.D. candidate in the Study of Religion at Harvard, who guided my reading in seventeenth-century Puritan piety. Mary Ann McLaughlin and the Rev. John Sassani, S.J., introduced me to the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, which are similar to Puritan devotional practices. I am grateful to them and to all participants in the Nineteenth Annotation Retreat of 2004-2005. Timothy Sweet, Ph.D., of West Virginia University, graciously shared with me
a prepublication draft of his essay on Sewall’s Phaenomena quaedam Apocalyptica, “What Concernment hath America in these Things!”

On Boston’s North Shore I wish to thank Richard Cunningham, the historian of Newbury, Massachusetts. A retired dairy farmer who was born there in 1920, Cunningham showed me the sights of Old Newbury, including its old burying grounds. Nancy Thurlow and Marge Motes provided assistance at the Historical Society of Old Newbury, in Newburyport. At the Peabody Essex Museum and the Phillips Library, in Salem, I am grateful to Peter McKay and to curators Kathy Flynn, Kristen Weiss, and Dean Lahikainen. Charlotte Moody, of the Historical Society of Wells & Ogunquit, Maine, assisted with research.

In Boston I wish to thank D. Brenton Simons, executive director of the New England Historical and Genealogical Society; Marilynne Roach, author of studies of the Salem witchcraft crisis; Marta Pardy-King, research librarian at the Boston Public Library; Jay Brinkerhoff, a court officer, and Joan Kenney, public information officer, at the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts; Anne C. Peters and Brian Harkins of the Social Law Library; and Edgar Bellefontaine, retired librarian of the Social Law Library. Eben Graves, author of a Sewall genealogy, and Judith Graham, Ph.D., author of a study of Sewall’s family life, graciously answered queries. Mary Collins assisted in preparing the musical examples. At the Massachusetts State House, Susan Greendyke LaChevre, Art Collections Manager of the Massachusetts Art Commission, provided images of and historical information about Albert Herter’s 1942 mural of Samuel Sewall repenting. The Museum of Fine Arts granted permission to use the 1729 portrait of Sewall by John Smibert that appears on the cover and inside the book. At the Massachusetts Historical Society, which holds the Samuel Sewall Papers, I am grateful to librarians Peter Drummey, Rakashi Chand, Elaine Grublin, Carolle Morini, Kimberly Nusco, and Carrie Supple. The Massachusetts Historical Society generously permitted me to quote from the Samuel Sewall papers and to include the texts of Sewall’s major essays.

In England I am grateful to all who made my research there pleasant and informative. The Blue Badge guide Don Bryan, a lecturer in
archaeology and history at Hampshire County’s Eastleigh College, drove me around Bishopstoke, Baddesley, and Romsey, describing Hampshire’s seventeenth-century landscape and, occasionally, knocking on doors of houses that the Sewalls might have occupied. In Winchester the staff at the Hampshire Records Office, the Lending Library, and the Local Studies Library helped me find and copy documents and historic maps of the region; archivists Nicky Pink and Adrienne Allen were particularly helpful. Local historians Phoebe Merrick, Barbara Burbridge, Nancy Kelly, Pat Gench, Helen Robinson, and Una Lonergan added details of seventeenth-century Hampshire. At Winchester College I wish to thank Prue Martin, Lachlan MacKinnon, the librarian F. Hugh Eveleigh, and W. G. Day, Ph.D., keeper of the Indian Bible that Sewall deposited there in 1689. Dr. Day showed me the Indian Bible, led me on a tour of “the chapel on the green and the library around the stairs” that Sewall described, answered numerous questions, and provided the image of Sewall’s signature that appears here by permission of the Warden and Scholars of Winchester College. Thanks to Kate Miller and Doreen Rennert of the Wykeham Arms Inn, in Winchester, and to Zinnia Watson, a guide at Salisbury Cathedral. I am grateful to two guards, one at Westminster Abbey, who allowed me in to see Henry VII’s room after hours, and another at the Queen’s House in Greenwich, who let me peek at the Painted Room of William III during a wedding. Thanks to Lutz Clausen, Kirsi Norlamo, Anthony Lee, and Angela Hartnett, of the Connaught Hotel, in London, to Jacqueline Gazzard and Vikki Wood, of Historic Royal Palaces, and to Clive Bettington, who determined exactly which Jewish cemetery Sewall visited at Mile End in East London in 1689.

Among the many people who have sustained my family and me, I wish in particular to thank the Rev. Jack Ahern, Teodora Arias, Bob and Ida Bolster, Amy Bowles, the Rev. Brian Clary, Mark Conry, Glenn and Rebecca Gibbs, Susan Harvey, Liza Hirsch, Julianne Johnston, Jane Larsen, Kim Manasevit, Andrea and Danielle Mazandi, Alison McGandy, Richard Moriarty (who lent me a historic map of Brookline that shows the expanse of Sewall’s farm), Gayle Robertson, Mary Sheldon, Pipier Smith-Mumford, Rebecca Sneider, and David
Weinstein. Glenn Gibbs arranged for me to spend a day touring the Great Marsh and Plum Island Sound with his friend Dave Voci, who generously shared his knowledge of Sewall’s favorite place on earth.

Many family members helped me. Virginia LaPlante, Carl Dreyfus, and Deanie and Gerry Blank provided support and counsel. Tony Dreyfus made translations from the Latin and corrected others. Phoebe Hoss recalled family stories she heard as a child. Judith and Don Fouser gave me a tour of their land along the Ipswich River that Henry Sewall once owned. Gregory and Anne Bridgman provided a mariner’s view of the Kennebec region, which Samuel Sewall visited in 1717. The book is dedicated to my great-aunt Charlotte May Wilson, who introduced me to Sewall, and to my father, Joseph LaPlante, who grew up speaking French in Salem, Massachusetts, was the first member of his large family to attend college, and became a professor of law.

I could not have written this book without the emotional and editorial support of my husband, David. To our four “fruits,” thank you for motivating me to write because you were at school, and for interrupting me when you’re home. A special thanks to Rose, Clara, and Charlotte for bringing Philip home safe from school every day.

Finally, I wish to thank Katharine Cluverius, of International Creative Management; Renée Sedliar, who acquired this book and its prequel, American Jezebel; and everyone at HarperOne who brought it to life. Eric Brandt skillfully edited the manuscript and guided its author. I am also grateful to assistant editor Kris Ashley, production editor Carolyn Allison-Holland, copy editor Priscilla Stuckey, book designer Joseph Rutt, cover designer Le Van Fisher, managing editor Terri Leonard, as well as Krista Holmstrom, Laina Adler, Jennifer Johns, Julie Michaels, Claudia Boutote, Helena Brantley, and Greg Mowery.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Archives, Boston

Correspondence of Samuel Sewall.

Court records of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Vols. 5–12.

Hampshire (England) Record Office

Berrow, Phoebe. A Tour of Old Romsey. Hampshire: Lower Test Valley Archaeological Society, 1979.

Berrow, Phoebe, Barbara Burbridge, and Pat Genge. The Story of Romsey. Newbury, Berkshire: Local Heritage Books, 1984.

Laxton, Paul. Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Map-making in the County of Hampshire: A Collection of Reproductions of Printed Maps Published Between the Years 1575 and 1826. Kent, England: Harry Margery, 1976.

Lonergan, Una, and Beryl Green. The Changing Face of North Baddesley. Pamphlet. Hampshire, 1996.

Merrick, Phoebe. The History of Romsey. Romsey, Hampshire: Lower Test Valley Archaeological Society Group Publications, 2000.

Merrick, Phoebe. Dr. John Latham manuscripts. Vols. 3, 4. From seven volumes of notes held by the British Library Add Mss 26774–267780.

Ritchie, K. J. Short History of North Baddesley Church and Village. Winchester: Warren and Son, 1949.

Suckling, F. H. Bye-Gone Romsey. Collection of reprinted articles from the Romsey Advertiser of 1915–16.

Suckling. F. H. “North Baddesley.” Hampshire Chronicle, August 1919. Reprinted in Winchester, 1919.

Walker, Rev. F., ed. A Short History of Romsey. Hampshire, 1896.

When the Nuns Ruled Romsey. Pamphlet. Hampshire: Lower Test Valley Archaeological Society, 1978.

Historical Society of Old Newburyport, Massachusetts

Know Your Town. Pamphlet from League of Women Voters of Greater Newburyport, M.A n.d.

Mary Adams Rolfe papers.

Historical Society of Wells & Ogunquit, Maine

Grave marker inscriptions for Rev. George Burroughs from First Church of Wells Museum; Boston’s Old North Church; Harvard University; and First Church of Danvers.

Shelley, Hope M., and 350
^th
Celebration History Committee. My Name Is Wells: I Am the Town. A History of the Town of Wells, Maine, on the Occasion of Its 350
^th
Anniversary. Rockland, ME: Penobscot Press, 2003.

Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston

Samuel Sewall Papers, 1672–1729:

Diary, 1674–1729. 3 vols.

Account book, 1688–1692.

Almanacs, 1689–1729, annotated.

Bill of lading book, 1686–1698.

Common-place book, 1677–1698.

Diary, 1672–1677.

Diary and common-place book, 1675–1721, containing drafts of Phaenomena quaedam Apocalyptica and Talitha Cumi.

Diary, 1685–1703.

Diary, 1703–1712.

Diary, 1712–1729.

Diary, 1714–1729.

Diary, 1717–1726.

Journal of his visit to England, 1688–1690.

Letterbook, 1686–1737.

Memoranda from the Diary, 1685–1728.

Notes on sermons, 1672–1674

Probate Court Records, 1715–1728.

Phaenomena quaedam Apocalyptica. Boston: Bartholomew Green, 1697, 1727.

The Selling of Joseph: A Memorial. Boston: Bartholomew Green, 1700.

Sewall, Samuel Jr. “Arithmetick and Commonplace Book.” 1698.

Sewall, Rev. Samuel. “A Brief Memoir of Samuel Sewall, Harvard College 1671.” Compiled by the Rev. Samuel Sewall of Burlington, 1838.

PUBLISHED PRIMARY SOURCES

Cotton, John, and other New England ministers. The Bay Psalm Book, or The Whole Book of Psalms, Faithfully Translated into English Meter. Facsimile reprint of the first edition of 1640. Chicago, IL: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1956. Facsimile including the 1640 preface by the Rev. John Cotton is at http://www.thedcl.org/bible/bpb/baypslbk. pdf.

Green, Joseph. Biographical Sketch and Diary of Rev. Joseph Green, of Salem Village. 1866. Reprinted in A Library of American Puritan Writings: The Seventeenth Century. Vol. 7. Puritan Personal Writings: Diaries. New York: AMS Press, 1983.

Hull, John. Diaries of John Hull, Mint-master and Treasurer of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, with a Memoir of the Author. 1857. Reprinted in A Library of American Puritan Writings: The Seventeenth Century.

Vol. 7. Puritan Personal Writings: Diaries. New York: AMS Press, 1983.

Mather, Cotton. Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681–1724. 2 vols. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 7
^th
ser., vols. 7 and 8.>Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1911–1912.

———. On Witchcraft: Being the Wonders of the Invisible World. 1692. Reprint. New York: Bell Publishing, 1974.

Old South Church. An Historical Catalogue of the Old South Church (Third Church) Boston, 1669–1882. Boston: David Clapp and Son, 1883.

Ravenscroft, Thomas. The Whole booke of psalmes with the hymnes euangelicall. London: Sternhold, Thomas, 1621. Available on microfilm from UMI (Early English books, 1475–1640; 1809:12) and online at http://www.cgmusic.com/workshop.

Salem Witchcraft Papers. Verbatim transcriptions of the court records in three volumes. Revised, corrected, and augmented by Benjamin C. Ray and Tara S. Wood. Cambridge, MA: DaCapo, 1977. The Salem Witchcraft Web site at the University of Virginia is http:// etext.lib.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft.

Sandoz, Ellis, ed. Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730–1805. Indianapolis: Liberty Press, 1991.

Sewall, Joseph. Diary. Excerpts on his father’s decline, death, and funeral appear in Hill, H. A., History of the Old South Church (Third Church), Boston, 1669–1884, vol. 1: 442-444.

Sewall, Samuel. Diary of Samuel Sewall, 1674–1729. Edited by M. Halsey Thomas. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973. Includes The Selling of Joseph (1700) and Sewall’s Journey to Arrowsick (1717).

———. LetterBook of Samuel Sewall, 1685–1729. 2 vols. New York: AMS Press, n.d. Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 6
^th
Series, 1886–1888.

———. Phaenomena quaedam Apocalyptica. Boston: Bartholomew Green, 1697. Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans Readex Digital Collections, 813.

———. The Selling of Joseph. Boston: Bartholomew Green, 1700. Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans Readex Digital Collections, 951.

———. Talitha cumi, or “An Invitation to Women to Look After Their Inheritance in the Heavenly Mansions.” Reprinted in part in an essay by the Rev. George E. Ellis in Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings 12 (1871–73): 358–85.

Shurtleff, Nathaniel B., MD, ed. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. Boston: William White Press, 1853.

Walter, Thomas, MA. The grounds and rules of Musick Explained: Or, An Introduction to the Art of Singing by Note. Fitted to the Meanest Capacities. Boston, MA: Benjamin Mecom for Thomas Johnston, 1721. Reprinted by University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, MI, 1979.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Adams, Charles Francis. Three Episodes of Massachusetts History. Vols. 1 and 2. New York: Russell and Russell, 1965.