1 янв 1667 г. - Sarah Churchill, age 25

Описание:

Sarah was parents were Arthur and Eleanor Churchill, a wealthy couple of English gentry. she spent her early childhood in Saco, Maine.

In 1680, the Wabanaki Indians attacked Saco. The attack scared the Churchill family into moving to Marblehead, Massachusetts. While the fate of Sarah’s mother, Eleanor, is unknown, her father, Arthur, lived until 1710.

By 1692 Sarah had moved to Salem Village and was working for George Jacobs Sr., a crippled old man living on his prosperous farm near Salem Village. By hiring herself as a servant, Sarah went from being the granddaughter of one of the wealthiest and most socially prominent men in Maine (Major Phillips) to a low-status maidservant for a country farmer.

When the witchcraft crisis broke out in Salem Village, Sarah was 25 years old. She was related to the 18-year-old Mary Walcott, the cousin of Ann Putnam Jr., and thereby in a position to become acquainted with the other young accusers in the village. When Sarah’s symptoms of “affliction” declined, the other afflicted girls accused her of signing the Devil’s book to avoid torture.

In May of 1692, Sarah confessed that her master George Jacobs Sr. and his granddaughter, Margaret Jacobs, forced her to sign the Devil’s book.

To save herself, Churchill also implicated Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, Sarah Bibber, Mary Warren, Joseph Flint, Thomas Putnam, John Putnam, Jr., and John DeRich. Sarah’s confession saved her from the gallows.

Shortly after her testimony that day, Sarah Churchill admitted to Nathaniel Ingersoll’s niece Sarah that she had lied about signing the Devil’s book because someone had threatened her and said if she didn’t say it, she would be accused herself and thrown in jail with the others.

In June, Sarah Ingersoll testified that Churchill has admitted lying to her, but her testimony was ignored. Later, she married a weaver, Edward Andrews, in 1709 in Maine, after being fined for premarital fornication. The last record of Sarah Churchill is dated 1731.

In addition, Sarah served as a witness against the following people: Ann Pudeator, Bridget Bishop, George Jacobs Sr.

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