Person:Samuel Abbe (1)

Samuel Abbe was living in Salem during the days of witchcraft and was one of those opposed to its fanaticisms. One Rebecca Nourse, (could also be spelled Nurse) on trial as a witch, produced a paper signed by several "respectable inhabitants" of Salem, among whom was Samuel Abbe. This document as to her good character caused her to be set at liberty but the sentence was later changed and she was put to death as a witch. In 1913, a monument to her memory was erected by her descendants.

Research shows that Samuel Abbe was present, as a witness, for the following trials, one of which he brought the charges:

REBECCA NOURSE OR NURSE - The mother of eight children was 71 years old when she was hanged on Gallows Hill with four other women, July 19, 1692. She had been one of Salem Village's most respected and religious citizens, so much so that the magistrates hesitated in delivering the warrant for her arrest. A petition was drawn up and signed on May 14, 1692, by most of the richest and most influential people,such as Israel Porter (his name appears first), Daniel Andrews, SAMUEL ABBE, and 34 others. This petition speaking of her good character was sent to Governor Sir William Phipps who responded with a temporary reprieve. When the reprieve ran out, she was tried and found not guilty, but at the verdict, the accusing girls fell into such violent fits that the jury was instructed to reconsider. The jury foreman, allowed to question Rebecca, got no response from the old women who apparently could not hear his questions over the noise of the girls. Her silence, apparently, was taken as a sign of guilt for the jury returned with a verdict of guilty. After she was hanged, Rebecca was buried in such a shallow grave on Gallows rocky hill that some body parts remained exposed. Her family came in the dark of night, collected her remains, and reburied her on the family's homestead.

MARY EASTY - Samuel Abbe testified and said that on the 20th of May 1692, he went to the house of Constable John Putnam about 9 o' clock in the morning. When he arrived, Mercy Lewis lay on the bed in a sad condition and continuing speachless for about an hour. A group of hysterical girls said that a disembodied image of Mary Easty was pinching them. Shortly there after, Abigail Williams and Mrs. Ann Putnam arrived. They said that as they were coming along the way they saw the apparition of Mary Easty. Both of them said that the apparition of Mary Easty told them that she was afflecting of Mercy Lewis, and when they arrived at John Putnam's house, both of them said they saw the apparition of Mary Easty afflecting the body of Mary Lewis. Mary Easty was arrested, tried for witchcraft, and sentenced to prison. She was eventually released from prison. Yet, due to the outcries and protests of her accusers, SAMUEL ABBE being one of them, she was arrested a second time. Mary Easty was brought to trial again in a court where there existed almost no possibility of proving innocence. Under the Puritan court, the pressure to confess and atone for one's sins was immense. Innocent individuals with nothing to confess were subsequently often lead to admit to crimes which they did not commit. Moreover, other accused witches confirmed that Mary Easty had been working with them. Mary Easty was tried and condemned to death. She was hung by the neck until dead on September 22, 1692. Five years later, the people of Massachusetts recognized that Mary Easty had been innocent and that they had unjustly executed her. The Colony held a day of fasting on January 14, 1697, and especially the judges who had tried Mary Easty looked into their guilty consciences. None of this made much difference to Mary Easty, already long since dead and buried.

SARAH GOOD - Samuel Abbe and his wife Mary Knowlton, were witnesses in a witch trial in Salem in 1692 against Sarah Good, a women of vicious temper who had lived with Samuel Abbe and his wife in their home for a time but was dismissed on account of her disagreeable ways. She vowed vengeance upon them and when several of their cows and hogs were taken sick, the blame was laid to her as a witch.'

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Abbe, Cleveland, and Josephine Genung Nichols. Abbe-Abbey genealogy : in memory of John Abbe and his descendants. (New Haven, Connecticut: Tuttle Morehouse & Taylor Co, 1916)
   pages 8-11.

   p. 8: 'SAMUEL ABBE, son of John Abbe, born probably at Wenham, Mass., about 1646, or soon after his father's settlement there; died in Windham, Conn., March 1697-8.'
   p. 9: He gives his age as 'about 45 years' in a 1692 deposition.

2. ↑ The cited source does not include the day of his death, and the published Windham VRs do not seem to include his death. A contributor provided the precise date of death as 8 Mar 1697, without providing a citation. Probably the death date comes from a probate record, which should be checked and cited.