Thomas Oliver (Salem witch trials) the second charge in 1692 as the result of which she was hanged. When he left the colony for England he had a considerable amount of real property to which he returned after his first wife Mary's death. His estate included a house and sometime tavern in Salem, Massachusetts near the meeting house where after his death his widow Bridget Oliver Bishop was known for staying up late into the night entertaining her guests with playing shovelboard. During the scholarly reexaminations of the Salem witch trials during the 19th century, Bridget Bishop's claims on this estate were posited as the
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