Background
Samuel Parris was born in 1653 in London, England. He was the son of a merchant, Thomas Parris, but probably lived for a time in Barbados, where his father and his uncle owned extensive plantations.
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book
A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720 (Contributions in American History)
( A Quest for Security is the first book-length biography...)
A Quest for Security is the first book-length biography of Samuel Parris, the man who led the 1692 struggle against the scourge of witchcraft. While an examination of Samuel Parris's actions reveals his crucial part in the witchcraft crisis, this biography also serves as a reminder of the concern of early Americans to sustain economic independence for their families. Fully documented with endnotes and featuring a complete bibliography of primary and secondary works, this volume fills a noticeable gap in the literature on Salem witchcraft. The first chapter looks at Samuel Parris's early years. Born in London in 1653, Parris moved with his family to Barbados in the 1660s where both his uncle and father had prospered as sugar planters. Next, the book examines his stay in Boston where he met with modest success as a merchant and started a family. The book then recounts the eight years Parris spent in Salem Village as that divided community's pastor. Beginning with his call to the clergy, the book examines his life as a Puritan pastor, and then covers the conflict in his congregation. In the first year of his ministry, a faction had developed that sought to oust Parris by refusing to pay him. Next the book covers Parris's actions in the spring of 1692 which changed a seemingly ordinary case of a handful of accusations into a full-scale witchhunt. Convinced that an organized witch cult threatened his congregation, Parris sought to root out all conspirators. His leadership in the effort led to an ever increasing escalation of accusations. When the episode finally ended, family members of some of the twenty executed witches conducted a campaign that ultimately resulted in Parris's removal from the pulpit. The final chapter looks at Parris's last years, in which he moved from one small Massachusetts community to another. Parris died in obscurity in 1720. But he achieved his most important goal--that of providing material security for his children.
https://www.amazon.com/Quest-Security-1653-1720-Contributions-American/dp/0313272824?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0313272824
Samuel Parris
Edit ProfileEducation
Samuel Parris attended Harvard College, he was certainly not a graduate.
Career
As early as 1674, Samuel Parris was engaged in mercantile business in Boston. In April 1686 he attended a council of Boston clergymen and on November 1688 a committee from Salem Village (now Danvers) interviewed him "about taking ministerial office" with them. Since 1672, when after nearly a decade of wrangling, Salem Village had been separated from Salem, three ministers had left because of parish dissensions. Consequently, Parris insisted on an unusually explicit contract before accepting. On November 19, 1689, he took charge, and trouble soon arose over the execution of the contract. Less than three years later further trouble came to him. In February 1692 his daughter and his niece became subject to curious attacks which physicians and ministers both attributed to "an evil hand. "
Parris believed that Satan was attacking his flock and that as a faithful pastor he must fight back. Like Cotton Mather, he was convinced that his best weapons were fasting and prayer, but the situation got out of his hands when Mary Sibley, a member of his church, gave his West Indian slaves instructions as to how to discover the "witches" and soon the jails were filled with the accused. In the witch trials Parris, like Judge William Stoughton, accepted "spectral evidence" contrary to the advice of the Boston ministers. He often acted as court clerk and sometimes as a witness. His testimony against several condemned members of his parish caused disaffection among their relatives, who refused to attend church and drew up a list of grievances against the minister. Parris replied to the charges in his "Meditations for Peace, " read to the congregation on November 1694, in which he acknowledged his error in countenancing "spectral evidence" and begged forgiveness.
A church council presided over by Increase Mather vindicated him, but advised him to leave the village, advice which he did not follow. In the meantime, another dispute had arisen. The village had set aside some parsonage land in 1691 which parris soon claimed as his own in lieu of salary arrears. The resulting dispute was taken to the Ipswich court. Parris found his position unbearable and resigned, on June 30, 1696, but held the land until the court effected a settlement, September 1697, requiring him to relinquish it and ordering the parish to pay all arrears in salary. His tactless handling of the chaotic affairs of Salem Village had made him odious to many persons, but the Mathers, Judge Sewall, and others did not renounce his friendship when he left the village. Evidently he returned to business in Boston in 1697. He was in Concord in 1704/1705, in Dunstable in 1711, and spent his last years in Sudbury, where he died.
Achievements
Works
book
-
A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720 (Contributions in American History)
( A Quest for Security is the first book-length biography...)
-
A Quest for Security: The Life of Samuel Parris, 1653-1720 (Contributions in American History)
Connections
Samuel Parris was married twice. The first wife was Elizabeth Eldridge. She died in 1696 at Danvers. In 1699, he remarried, to Dorothy Noyes, in Sudbury. They bore him five children.
