ELIZABETH “BETTY”
PARRIS
By: Anthony Tran
11/7/11
MY LIFE
 I was born on Tuesday,
November 28th, 1682 to
Reverend Samuel Parris and Mrs.
Parris.
 I died on Tuesday, March 21st
1760 in my Concord home. I
lived 6 years past my husband.
MY CHILDHOOD
 When I was nine, Abigail, my cousin, and I did some fortune telling,
since these days there’s no telling what the future may bring, with a “venus
glass”. It was an egg white suspended in water, and it showed shapes.
 It was mostly for determining what occupation our future husbands
would have.
 However, one of the girls who knew about our fortune telling saw a
coffin and this started the witch hysteria because a coffin means
“diabolical molestation”, according to my father.
MY FAMILY LIFE
 My father is Reverend Samuel Parris. He is a preacher at our town,
Salem and a firm Puritan.
 My mother is Elizabeth Eldridge. She told the courts to stop using
me to determine witches.
 I had an older brother, Thomas, and a younger sister, Sushanna.
 Our family also had two slaves, Tituba and a male.
M Y E D U C AT I O N
 Most of my education comes
from my father’s preaching to
me.
 The rest came from Tituba’s
tales of Barbados.
MY CAREER
 After the hysteria, I got
 During the hysteria, I was
myself married in 1710 to
used to convict “witches” and
Benjamin Baron, who is a
find others.
yeoman, trader, cordwainer, and
 Before the hysteria, I simply
shoemaker.
ran errands like any Puritan girl
 I lived an ordinary life and
would have.
had four children.
MY RELIGION
 My religion was Puritan,
although I did do some fortune
telling, which was a demonic
activity these days.
 My father, mother and my
brother and sister are also
Puritan.
M Y RO L E I N T H E S A L E M W I T C H
TRIALS
 I was one of the accusers during
the trials and the first to be
“bewitched”.
 I was also used to point out other
witches.
 After I identified Sarah Good,
Sarah Osborne and Tituba as witches, I
testified that I was being tormented
spectrally by visions haunting me.
VENUS GLASS
The girls would crack an egg and get
the egg white from it and drop it into
a glass of water. Then, whatever
pictures show up represents what
future they will have. In one girl’s
case, it showed a coffin. A coffin,
according to Reverend Parris,
represented diabolical molestation.
WORKS CITED
Walsh, Sarah-Nell. “Elizabeth Parris.” Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive
and Transcription Project. 2001.
Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature\An Undergraduate
Course, University of Virginia.
10 Nov. 2011
<http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/salem/people/e_parris.html>.
“Samuel Parris.” Samuel Parris. 10 Nov. 2011
<http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/
ASA_PAR.HTM>.