February 1 - 332 years ago and now
The start to 2025 has been tumultuous. There have been extreme highs and extreme lows as fires and snowstorms have wreaked havoc, aircraft disasters have been numerous, and there’s a drastic change of course in Washington DC and the world.
Each of us is challenged to step up and consider who we are and what the role is that we want to play in speculations about causes and effects, who is responsible and who is not.
In 1693, toward the end of the frenetic Salem Witch Hunts, Elizabeth Johnson Jr was one of the last persons to be convicted as a “detestable witch”. There was no evidence of the crime that would stand in a court today, yet she was convicted based on speculation.
While innocent, Elizabeth Johnson Jr was sentenced to hang on February 1, 1693. She was reprieved but her conviction remained until North Andover Middle School’s students took up her case.
Elizabeth was not alone. According to Cotton Mather, writing later in 1693, “the Warrant for their Execution was sent, and the Graves digged for the said three, and for about five more.”
Historian Richard Hite reminds us who the seven other women were: Sarah Wardwell, Mary Post, Mary Foster Lacey, Rebecca Eames, Dorcas Hoar, Abigail Hobbs, and Elizabeth Proctor. They would have been the last. Bridget Bishop had been the first.
