Reverend Samuel Parris and
Elizabeth (Betty) Parris
B Y C I A R R A VA N D E R V E E N
MS. DELGREGO
JUNIOR ENGLISH
10/16/12
Birth/ death of Samuel Parris
 Born in 1653 in Barbados
 Died February 27, 1720 in
Sudbury
Childhood and Education
 Samuel Parris grew up in Barbados
 He was the younger son of a London cloth
merchant- Thomas Parris
 Studied at Harvard
 At age 20, after his father died, he inherited land
in Barbados and moved back after he graduated
Career and Religious Practices
 After moving back to Barbados, worked in a Caribbean




sugar plantation
1680- moved to Boston with his two slaves, one named
Tituba
1686- he did not like being a merchant, so he began
filling in for absent ministers and speaking at church
meetings
In July of 1689, Samuel began as a Puritan minister and
family settled in the parsonage in Salem, Massachusetts
He preached about predestination and damnation of the
people
Family life
 Samuel Parris married Elizabeth Eldridge when he
arrived in Boston
 They had three children together. The first was a son
named Thomas, a daughter named Elizabeth (Betty),
and another daughter named Susahanna
 His niece Abigail Williams came to live with him as
well
Birth/ Death of Elizabeth (Betty) Parris
 She was born on November 27, 1682
 Died on March 21, 1760
Childhood and Career of Elizabeth
 Read the bible
 Take care of the house
 Sew, clean, cook
 Attend church services
 Listen to her father’s preaching- difficulty
accepting predestination and damnation
 She was only 9 when the Salem “epidemic”
began
Involvement in the Salem Witch Trials
 Elizabeth and cousin Abigail Williams began playing
games such as “Ring around the Rosie” and fortune
telling with the “Venus glass”
 The Venus glass is an egg white suspended in water where
shapes and figures could be seen about the future, i.e.
social status and husband’s trade.
 Both Elizabeth and Abigail began to develop strange
symptoms
Symptoms of “Witchcraft”
 Elizabeth forgot to run errands and was always
unable to concentrate
 Pinching, prickling, chocking sensations
 Sudden outbursts
 screamed during the “Our Father” prayer and
threw the bible across the church
 denied father’s preaching and spoke as if
damnation was “inevitable”
 Dr. William Griggs suggested that these
symptoms were a result of witchcraft
Salem Witch Trials
 Both Elizabeth and Abigail accused
Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborn of
bewitching them
 Samuel Parris organized meetings and
days of fasting to help Elizabeth get better
 He beat Tituba into confessing about the
witchcraft
 Preached about the awful effects of
witchcraft and simply tried to distract
attention away from his own family
Continued…
 Mrs. Parris protested to the government using Elizabeth as
a witch finder
 Elizabeth was sent to live with Stephen Sewall, a distant
cousin of Samuel Parris, to recover
 Isolation helped stop most symptoms
Elizabeth’s family life after Salem Witch Trials
 Married Benjamin Baron
 He was a yeoman, trader, and shoemaker in Sudbury
 They had four children- Thomas, Elizabeth Junior,
Catherine, and Susanna
Works Cited
 Latner, Richard B. "The Salem Witchcraft Site." Salem Witchcraft.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.tulane.edu/~salem/>.
 Linder, Douglas O. "Samuel Parris." Samuel Parris. N.p., n.d. Web. 15
Oct. 2012.
<http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/asa_par.htm>.
 Rogasta, Seth. "Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature." Rev.
Samuel Parris. N.p., 2002. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.
<http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxonsalem/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=salem/texts/bios.xml>.
 Walsh, Sarah-Nell. "Elizabeth Parris." Important Persons in the Salem
Court Records. N.p., 2001. Web. 15 Oct. 2012.
<http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxonsalem/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=salem/texts/bios.xml>.