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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 1h

#OTD Oct 8 1692 Thomas Brattle writes his letter to "Reverend Sir" severely criticizing the #Salem #witch trials. tinyurl.com/4kwryhkp

"Letter of Thomas Brattle, F. R. S., 1692" :: :: University of Virginia Library

tinyurl.com

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 1d

I'll be giving a rare talk on my book, The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England, Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 7:00 PM (eastern) in New Castle, New Hampshire (the setting of the book). Also available online at: tinyurl.com/mtd7jh3v

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 1d

#OCT October 7, 1691 a new charter was issued for Massachusetts Bay. The charter gave unprecedented privileges for a royal colony, confirmed ownership of Maine, and incorporated Plymouth Colony into an expanded Massachusetts Bay Colony. The new charter would finally arrive in Boston in May 1692.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 2d

#OTD October 6, 1690 adverse weather continued, but Sir William Phips's invasion fleet finally reached Quebec. But they had lost the element of surprise, and Governor Frontenac and his forces held a strong position inside the walls of Quebec.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 2d

#OTD October 6, 1688, Sir William Phips's patron, Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, died in Jamaica, after a serious illness precipitated by over-enthusiastic celebration of the birth of the Prince of Wales. Anonymous portrait of Albemarle courtesy of Trinity College, Cambridge University.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 4d

#OTD Oct. 4, 1692, Iin Lynn the Wellmans cannot milk their cow who is "taken with such fits." She will return to her gentle nature when Sarah Cole is taken to jail.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 8d

#OTD September 30, 1692 John Cole won't spend the night in his haunted Lynn home. He fears his children are "afflicted with witchcraft."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 11d

#OTD September 27, 1692 the Ipswich court fines John Shepard £5 for helping his sister-in-law, accused witch Mary Green escape from prison.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 12d

#OTD September 26, 1692 with Samuel Wardwell executed & his wife in jail, Andover selectmen ask the court what to do with their 4 children.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 13d

#OTD September 25, 1690, in Boston, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, the first newspaper in British North America published its first & last edition as the Massachusetts government immediately shuts it down. It would be 14 years before the next newspaper appeared in the colonies.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 16d

I think the problem was that by September 1692 , a majority of people in Salem realized something was seriously wrong with the trials, and that innocent lives were being lost. But in an atmosphere where anyone could be accused with potentially lethal consequences, it was very hard to speak up.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 16d

#otd September 22 1692, eight people hang at Proctor's Ledge on Gallows Hill in what will be the last of the Salem witch trial executions. In memory of:
Martha Corey
Mary Easty
Mary Parker
Alice Parker
Ann Pudeator
Wilmot Redd
Margaret Scott
Samuel Wardwell

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 17d

I will be in a discussion on "Resistance: Stopping Witch Hunts" for the Partnership for Historic Bostons tomorrow, Monday, Sept. 22, at 7pm Eastern time. Sign up here for this free Zoom program: tinyurl.com/4vxwn6ht (photo of the Proctor's Ledge Memorial in Salem).

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 17d

#OTD September 21, 1692, in Salem Dorcas Hoar receives a month's stay of execution for witchcraft "to prepare for death & eternity."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 18d

#OTD September 20, 1692, Cotton Mather writes to Salem witch trials court clerk Stephen Sewall for transcripts so he can write his account of the witch trials, Wonders of the Invisible World.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 19d

#OTD September 19, 1692, in Salem, Giles Cory is pressed to death. Corey had pled not guilty, but had then refused to answer when asked if he was willing to accept a trial by jury. The court makes an example of him for challenging its authority by trying to press and answer out of him.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

Welcome home! And looks like you brought the Red Sox good luck.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

Quite true. Forget Pearl Harbor, that was the real "day that will live in infamy."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

#OTD September 18, 1692, though not convicted of #witchcraft or of any crime, the Salem Church excommunicates Giles Cory. The church will rescind his excommunication in 1712. Who was Giles Corey? See my OUP blog post: tinyurl.com/329pjfak

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 20d

#OTD September 18, 1675 amid King Philip's War, the Bloody Brook ambush in Deerfield, Massachusetts, kills Captain Thomas Lathrop & about sixty others, the "Flower of Essex" on "the saddest day that ever befell New England."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 21d

Happy Constitution Day to all! I celebrated it by giving a public talk on "How the Salem Witch Trials Shaped the Bill of Rights."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 21d

#OTD September 17, 1692 the Court of Oyer & Terminer held its last witchcraft trials in Salem & adjourned. With over a hundred people still in jails awaiting trial, the judges must have assumed another session would take place in October, but the Court of Oyer and Terminer would never meet again.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 22d

#OTD September 16, 1692, in Salem prison Giles Cory still remains mute, refusing to say he is willing to"be tried by the country" (that is a trial by jury) for #witchcraft despite urging of friends. This has brought a temporary halt to the proceedings.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 23d

#OTD September 15, 1692, Stephen Johnson confirmed his pact with Satan, as well as his love for French fashion: "he was to have of the Devil for his Service...a pair of French fall Shoes"

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 24d

#OTD September 14, 1692, grand jury in Connecticut files witchcraft charges against 2 women. The charges were likely influenced by the Salem witch hunt.

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