Salem witch trials in 1692. Faulkner admitted she was “angry at what folk said,” and the Devil may have temporarily overtaken her, causing harm to her neighbors. Women who did not conform to the norms of Puritan society were more likely to be the target of an accusation, especially those who were unmarried or did not have children. General: Salem witch trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused, nineteen of whom were found guilty and executed by hanging
Thomas Oliver (Salem witch trials) Thomas Oliver (Salem witch trials) Thomas Oliver (c. 1601 England—June 1679 Salem, Essex Co, MA) was the second husband of Bridget Bishop, who on 10 June 1692 became the first victim of the Salem witch trials. He is a major link in the old and well-known theory that his widow, Bridget Bishop, was executed on trumped up charges because her in-laws were jealous of what she had inherited from him. Upham's "History of the Salem Witchcraft Trials" makes clear that her marriage to Thomas Oliver is a determining factor in the witchcraft prosecution of Bridget Oliver Bishop. Oliver married Mary