John Richards (Salem witch trials) Boston on April 2, 1694. He had married Ann Winthrop, the widowed daughter-in-law of founder John Winthrop; they had no children. John Richards (Salem witch trials) John Richards (died April 2, 1694) was a colonial military officer, businessman, politician, and magistrate, best known for his participation in the Salem witch trials in 1692. John Richards was born in England, and traveled with his parents in 1630 to North America as part of the first major wave of migration to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1644 Ricards was enrolled in the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, which he would remain involved
Salem witch trials in 1692, although dated 1693, with an introductory letter of endorsement by William Stoughton, the Chief Magistrate. The book included accounts of five trials, with much of the material copied directly from the court records, which were supplied to Mather by Stephen Sewall, his friend and Clerk of the Court. Mather's father, Increase Mather, published "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits", dated October 3, 1692, after the last trials by the Court of Oyer and Terminer. (The title page mistakenly lists the publication year as "1693".) In it, Increase Mather repeated his caution about the reliance on spectral evidence, stating