The Proctor Family of Salem Massachusetts

“The Witch No. 1” lithograph by Joseph E. Baker, Library of Congress

While researching my ancestors from Gloucester, Massachusetts in the 1600s, I discovered that several of their families were directly involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. This includes the following:

Clement Coldham, my 11th great-grandfather, who testified in a witch trial in support of accuser Elizabeth Hubbard, one of the primary instigators of the witchcraft hysteria.

James Stevens, my 10th great-grandfather, who accused three Gloucester women of witchcraft when his sister Mary fell ill in 1692.

Joseph Eveleth, brother of my 10th great-grandmother Susannah Eveleth Stevens, who served on the jury that convicted John Proctor in Salem.

I have found these stories, and the connection to such a turbulent time in American history, absolutely fascinating. Another element that I find remarkable is that my husband's ancestors were also involved. The Coldham, Stevens, and Eveleth families are down my Smith line, and those ancestors seem to be constantly intertwined with those in my husband's Field line in early New England. This is particularly true in the community of Northfield, Massachusetts and surrounding towns, where both my Smith ancestors and my husband's Field ancestors were early settlers.

Our connection in Salem is John Proctor. John Proctor is my husband's 9th great-granduncle. My husband descends from John's sister, Mary Proctor Hadley. My 10th great-granduncle, Joseph Eveleth, was on the jury that convicted John Proctor of witchcraft in 1692 and sentenced him to death. While Eveleth soon came to realize the injustice of the witch trials, and signed a letter expressing regret for his involvement in the trials, it was too late to save John Proctor's life.

This moment in time places my ancestor in direct opposition to my husband's ancestor. In Northfield, 80 years later, the conflict between these families centered around British control of the colonies, something the Smith family, as conservative church leaders, supported heartily. The Fields, who tended to be lawyers and active in town government, opposed British control and encouraged their neighbors to fight for a free America. It is interesting that in most places where I've found the Smiths and Fields living nearby, their perspectives were not aligned. So, too, in Salem, did these ancestors find themselves on opposite sides of an important historical moment.

348 Lowell Street in present-day Peabody, Massachusetts. The house is called the John Proctor House because generations of the Proctor family lived here, although likely not John Proctor himself. It may have served as the tavern run by John Proctor, but that is not certain. In 2018, the property was sold, and interior photos are viewable here.

John Proctor

John Proctor was born in Suffolk, England, the son of John Proctor and Martha Harper. The family emigrated to Massachusetts when John Jr. was a young child and settled in Chebacco, a small community on the outskirts of Ipswich. John Proctor's father became a wealthy landowner and was involved in local government. The family prospered.

John was married three times. His first marriage, to Martha in 1653, ended with Martha's death in 1659 and produced one surviving child, Benjamin. In 1662, John married Elizabeth Thorndike, who was the daughter of Ipswich founder John Thorndike. They had seven children together. In 1666, John Proctor left Chebacco and moved to nearby Salem with his wife and children. There, Elizabeth Proctor ran a local tavern with some of the Proctor sons, while John tended to his extensive farmlands. Elizabeth died in childbirth in 1672. In 1674, John married a third time, to Elizabeth Bassett. They would also have seven children together.

When the witchcraft hysteria began in 1692, John Proctor was 60 years old and a thriving local farmer and businessman with over a dozen adult children living in and around Salem. Typically, witchcraft accusations were leveled at older women and marginalized residents in New England communities. However, as I wrote in my post about the Stevens family of Gloucester, the targets were sometimes also notable community figures. This was the case with John Proctor. In the course of running a farm and tavern, he had been involved in some disagreements with neighbors and customers. In particular, he had a difficult relationship with his neighbor Giles Corey, and they had variously sued each other over the years. John had once accused Giles of setting his house on fire. This was exactly the kind of environment where personal disputes erupted into witchcraft claims. 

In March 1692, Elizabeth Proctor was accused of witchcraft. Elizabeth was the granddaughter of Ann Holland, a Quaker who acted as a nurse in their community. Because the Puritans disliked Quakers and were suspicious of anyone who acted a healer, Ann had been accused of witchcraft in 1669. The stigma of this accusation likely attached itself to Ann's family, and made her granddaughter Elizabeth an easy target. The allegations against Elizabeth came from Proctor family servant Martha Warren, aged about 11, and her friends Mercy Lewis and Abigail Williams. These girls were the source of many witchcraft accusations, and were likely just pointing a finger at people they didn't like. Martha, a young orphan with a sad past, did not feel she had been treated well in the Proctor home. John Proctor angrily and loudly defended his wife, having no patience for what he perceived as being clearly nonsensical claims. Then, the accusers shifted their focus to John. Both John and Elizabeth were imprisoned and required to stand trial. The accusations against the Proctors were immediately denounced by their community.

In April 1692, 31 men from Ipswich, Massachusetts, filed a petition attesting to the upstanding character of John and Elizabeth and denying that they had ever seen anything that would indicate either of the couple were witches.

In May 1692, a similar petition was filed on behalf of John and Elizabeth, containing signatures of 20 men and women, including several of the wealthiest landowners of Topsfield, Massachusetts and Salem Village. The petition questioned the validity of spectral evidence, testified to the Christian lives that John and Elizabeth had led, said that they "were ever ready to help such as stood in need of their help," and that the petitioners had no reason to believe the couple were witches. [Wikipedia]

In May 1692, three of John's children were also arrested amidst a flurry of witchcraft accusations, as were Elizabeth's sister and sister-in-law. Understanding that his family was specifically being targeted, and doubting the possibility of a fair trial in Salem, John sent a letter to state government officials in Boston asking to have his and Elizabeth's trial moved elsewhere, or to have different judges appointed. State leaders were becoming increasingly alarmed by events in and around Salem, and on August 1, 1692, the use of spectral evidence in witchcraft trials was disallowed. This should have made a difference for John and Elizabeth, since the primary evidence against them was the claims from three young girls that they had seen the Proctors' apparitions while in various states of duress, implying that the devil was working via the Proctors to inflict suffering on them. However, it was too little too late. The jury had already heard the claims and on August 5, they found John and Elizabeth guilty and sentenced them to death. John was hanged on August 19.

Elizabeth was given a reprieve because she was pregnant at the time of her conviction. She gave birth to a son, John Proctor III, in prison on January 27, 1693. At this point, the witch trials had lost some of their steam. On October 29, 1692, Massachusetts Governor William Phips had intervened, legislating an end to the Court of Oyer and Terminer and replacing it with a court that was not permitted to consider spectral evidence. This may have been because Phips' own wife was accused around this time. While accusations and trials continued until May 1693, fewer accused were actually convicted, and all those sentenced to be hanged were pardoned by Phips, along with those lingering in jail and facing execution.

Elizabeth Proctor was released from jail in May 1693, nine months after her conviction and the execution of her husband. John's lands and possessions had been stripped after he was found guilty, so Elizabeth was now impoverished. She fought for years for restitution. 

Mary Proctor Hadley and Her Descendants

John's sister Mary is my husband's 9th great-grandmother. John was the first child born to John Proctor and Martha Harper, and Mary was the second, born in England in 1633.  The family emigrated in 1635, when John and Mary were very young, and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. 

Sometime between 1651 and 1655, Mary married George Hadley, who may have been the son of George Hadley and Elizabeth Spooner, although this parentage is disputed. George was born in England and brought to the colonies as a child. After George and Mary were married, they moved from their hometown of Ipswich to a farm in Rowley, which is on the Merrimack River near Haverhill, Massachusetts. They came back to Ipswich in 1666 after exchanging farms with Thomas Kimball. George and Mary had somewhere between seven and ten children together. My husband descends from Samuel Hadley, their eldest son, who was born in 1655. 

Mary Proctor Hadley died in 1667 at the age of 34, so she did not live to see her brother John accused in the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. George remarried Deborah Prince Skilling in 1668, at the age of 40. Deborah would have a small role in the witch trials, testifying in support of her neighbor Elizabeth Howe in July 1692. This testimony was in vain, for Elizabeth was found guilty and hanged on July 19.

Samuel Hadley, my husband's 8th great-grandfather, was also affected by the Salem Witch Trials. He was alive when his uncle, John Proctor, was executed in 1692. There was another connection to the trials, as well. In 1676, Samuel married Jane Martin, the daughter of George Martin and Susannah North Martin. Samuel's mother-in-law Susannah Martin was accused of witchcraft in 1692, found guilty, and hanged on July 19, the same day that Elizabeth Howe was executed. Jane Martin Hadley's father, George Martin, had died in 1686, leaving Susannah a widow with few resources. Older women were a frequent target of witchcraft accusations. Susannah Martin and Elizabeth Howe were two of fourteen women to be executed in Salem after witchcraft convictions. There were five women hanged on July 19, 1692 alone, Rebecca Nurse, Susannah Martin, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes. 

Samuel and Jane Hadley's daughter, Esther Hadley, b. 1676, married Richard Goodwin in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in 1702. She is my husband's seventh great-grandmother.

The Salem Witch Trials consumed Salem and surrounding communities in 1692 and 1693. Seemingly everyone was connected to the trials in some way, and all felt the impact of the accusations and convictions. It's incredible that my family and my husband's family converged in this moment of great historical importance, with my 10th great-granduncle convicting my husband's 9th great-granduncle in a trial that continues to capture the imagination 331 years later.

The Eveleth Family in Colonial America and Joseph Eveleth, Salem Witch Trials Juror

 I've written previously about my husband's 8th great-grandmother, Rebecca Addington Chamberlain, who was imprisoned and died during the witchcraft trials of the late 1600s in Massachusetts.

Recently, while researching a branch of my Smith line, I came across a whole group of family members who settled near Salem, Massachusetts in the 1600s, after immigrating from Exeter, Devonshire, England. My 11th great-grandparents were Sylvester Eveleth and Susan Nubery of Exeter. The surname Eveleth is also known as Everleigh in Devon, and Sylvester and Susan's surname is sometimes spelled Evely on historical documents. Sylvester was born in 1603. He married Susan on 21 September 1630 at Exeter St. David. It is believed that they emigrated to Boston in 1642, when they are mentioned in the records of the First Church in Boston. Sylvester's occupation was recorded as baker.

St. David's Church in Exeter. This building dates to 1900, but there has been a church on this site since the Middle Ages.

Perhaps the best source of information about the Eveleth family is the research published by Jonathan B. Butcher in the New England Historical Genealogical Register, 134 in 1980-1981. The section entitled Eveleth Family of Colonial New England indicates that Sylvester and Susan lived in Boston only briefly before moving north to Gloucester, on Cape Ann. Sylvester quickly established himself in Gloucester. He was made a selectman in 1647 and granted a parcel of land. He was made a freeman and a chosen constable on 29 June 1652, then served again as constable in 1656 and 1669, and on grand juries in 1652, 1662, 1663, and 1666. Eveleth Family of Colonial New England contains the following details.

In 1666, Sylvester was licensed to establish an inn, or ordinary, in Gloucester. The license was renewed through 1670, and the inventory of his estate shows ample evidence of this activity. He also must have ben involved in brewing, for he gave oath that "he would abide by the order of the Generall Court of Oct., 1667, concerning four bushels of barley malt to be put in one hogshead of beer." This fairly sedentary occupation was perhaps occasioned by attacks of gout or arthritis, for he was excused from common military training in 1666, "being detrebed in his limes."

Sylvester and Susan had six children together, four daughters and two sons.

1. Margaret Eveleth (b. abt. 1631 in Exeter, England; m. in 1652 Nathaniel Gallop)
2. Susannah Eveleth (b. abt. 1632 in Exeter, England; m. in 1656 James Stevens; d. 1688)
3. Mary Eveleth (b. abt. 1633 in Exeter, England; m. Thomas Millett; d. 1687)
4. Joseph Eveleth (b. abt. 1641 in Exeter, England; m. in 1668 Mary Bragg; d. 1745)
5. Hannah Eveleth (b. 1643 in Boston; m. in 1669 Nathaniel Kettell; d. 1670)
6. Isaac Eveleth (b. 1645 in Massachusetts; m. in 1677 Abigail Coit; d. 1685)

We descend from Susannah, whose daughter, Mary Stevens, married Francis Norwood, Jr. in Gloucester in 1692. This line continues through the Thompson, Martin, Partridge and Hall families until Mary Hall (b. 1803) marries Samuel Belding Smith in 1827, connecting Eveleth descendants with our Smith line.

In 1668, Sylvester's eldest son, Joseph Eveleth, married Mary Bragg, the daughter of Edward Bragg of Ipswich. They settled in the Chebacco community just outside Ipswich, northwest of Gloucester. There, they had 11 children, 9 of whom survived to adulthood. Joseph retained the farm in Gloucester that he had owned prior to his marriage, and he also inherited his father's lands, meaning he had substantial landholdings. Later, he was granted additional property by his father-in-law. According to Eveleth Family of Colonial New England, "by the summer of 1695, Joseph possessed over 200 acres of land." Over the next decade, Joseph would leverage that land to boost the fortunes of his sons, and distributed all his property and assets to them by the time of his death in 1745, at the age of 104. Joseph and his sons were men of wealth and influence in their community.

Eveleth Family of Colonial New England describes Joseph's early days in Ipswich and how he ended up involved in the notorious Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Despite settling in Ipswich, Joseph did not become involved in town government. This is partially attributable to his status as a newcomer in the town: indeed, his interests probably continued to focus on Gloucester and his lands there, particularly after his father's death. Another factor was the peculiar position of Chebacco which, geographically removed from Ipswich proper, early identified itself as a community with separatist feeling. Joseph was a prime mover in the establishment of Chebacco's own church in 1683 and, "his is the first name on the list of those who joined the... church after its organization...". Such a position could have placed Joseph in opposition to the established hierarchy of Ipswich proper, although we know nothing of his actual political views. In the town histories he is noted chiefly for his piety and longevity, and seems not to have sought any political offices to which his social standing might have entitled him. 

In 1692, the year that anti-witchcraft hysteria engulfed Salem, Ispwich, and surrounding New England communities, Joseph was about 51 years old. Had this historical moment not occurred, Joseph would have been known to us only as a prosperous and devoutly religious man who lived to be an incredible 104 years of age. However, this was not to be his only legacy.

John Proctor was born in Suffolk, England, and emigrated to Massachusetts as a young child. His family settled in Chebacco. John Proctor's father was a wealthy landowner, and it is certain that the Proctor and Bragg families would have known each other well. In 1666, two years before Joseph Eveleth married Mary Bragg and moved to Chebacco, John Proctor left Chebacco and moved to nearby Salem with his wife and children. There, Elizabeth Proctor ran a local tavern with some of the Proctor sons, while John tended to his extensive farmlands. There were some disagreements with neighbors and customers in Salem, and in 1692, Elizabeth Proctor was accused of witchcraft. John Proctor angrily and loudly defended her, and then he was also accused. Anyone who has read The Crucible knows the rest of this story. Elizabeth and John Proctor were imprisoned, tried, and found guilty of practicing witchcraft. John was hanged and his property taken, leaving his children destitute. Elizabeth was given a reprieve because she was pregnant, and she remained in jail until the hysteria had passed. 

The Trial Of A 'Witch' At Salem In 1692: American Engraving, 19th Century

Eveleth Family of Colonial New England describes how Joseph Eveleth was caught up in these events.

His only political notoriety came quite unwelcomed: in 1692, at the height of the witch scare, he was chosen as juror in the jury that tried John Proctor. Joseph, however, came to recognize the insanity and danger of these proceedings and was one of the thirty-two that subscribed to Reverend John Wise's petition to the court which testified on the Proctor family's behalf: "That we never had the least knowledge of such a Nefarious wickedness in our said neighbors since they have been within our acquaintance... but as to what we have seen or heard of them, upon our consciences we judge them innocent of the crime objected." This petition was an act of courage in hysterical times; it was also an act of self-defense, for the Proctor case represented a dangerous extension of the accusations to persons of respectable social standing. After the witch hysteria died down and recriminations set in, the jurors were left in an uncomfortable position, and Joseph was one of those who signed a petition of regret for his participation in the proceedings. 

The text of this petition is below. 

"We, whose names are underwritten, being in the year 1692, called to serve as jurors in court in Salem on trial of many who were by some suspected guilty of doing acts of witchcraft upon the bodies of sundry persons, we confess that we ourselves were not capable to understand nor able to understand the mysterious delusions of the power of darkness and Prince of the air, but were for want of knowledge in ourselves, and better information from others, prevailed with to take up with such evidence against the accused, as on further consideration and better information we justly fear was insufficient for the touching the lives of any whereby we fear we have been instrumental with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly to bring upon ourselves and this people of the Lord the guilt of innocent blood, which sin the Lord saith in scripture He would not pardon, that is, in regard to His temporal judgments. We do therefore hereby signify to all in general, and to the surviving sufferers in special our deep sense of, and sorrow for our errors in acting on such evidence to the condemning of any person, and do hereby declare that we justly fear that we were sadly deluded and mistaken, for which we are much disquieted and distressed in our minds and do therefore humbly beg forgiveness first of God, for Christ's sake, for this our error, and pray that God would not impute the gilt of it to ourselves nor others, and we also pray that we may be considered candidly and aright by the living sufferers as being then under the power of a strong and general delusion, utterly unacquainted with and not experienced in matters of that nature. We do heartily ask forgiveness of you all, whom we have justly offended, and do declare, according to our present minds, we would none of us do such things again, on such grounds for the whole world ; praying of you to accept of this in way of satisfaction for our offence, and that you would bless the inheritance of the Lord, that He may be entreated for the land."

Signed,
Thomas Fisk, foreman of the jury				Thomas Peasley Sr.,
Wiliam Fisk,				John Peabody,
John Bacheler,				Thomas Perkins,
Thomas Fisk Jr.,				Samuel Sawyer,
John Dane,				Andrew Elliott,
Joseph Evelith,				Henry Herrick Sr.

Joseph Eveleth lived for 52 years after his involvement in John Proctor's trial, so in many ways this was just one awful moment in an otherwise long and successful life. Given the historical importance of the Salem Witch Trials, however, it is not a moment that can be overlooked. 

When I was in college in Boston, I visited Salem on Halloween and saw a performance of The Crucible there. Little did I know that my 10th great-granduncle played a critical role in the proceedings. Learning about the Eveleths has been fascinating. Also, of note is the fact that John Proctor is my husband's 9th great-granduncle. He is descended from John's sister Mary Proctor (1633-1667). His Field ancestors and my Smith ancestors are consistently intertwined in early New England.