Samuel Parris - Blog 6

     As we have been reading and discussing more about what happened in Salem, I have become increasingly interested in Samuel Parris. Especially after Dr. Williams suggested that Parris might be the man most responsible for the Salem Witch Trials. So for this blog, I wanted to dive more into who Samuel Parris was, and the history of his existence. 

    Samuel Parris was born in 1653, and he pursued a career as a merchant and planter in both London and Barbados. He attended Harvard in the early 1670s, but did not finish his degree due to his father's death. Instead, he left to go back to Barbados and resume his career. He returned to Boston in 1680, and eventually decided to start a career in ministry. At the time, it was deemed unusual to enter into ministry without having received a college degree. Because of this, it's assumed that Parris finished his degree but there is no record that proves this. In 1689, Parris accepted the post in Salem Village where there was a vacant spot in the church. 

    While at first his transition to Salem Village was smooth, within two years of Parris' arrival there began to be some dissatisfaction among the people. There were some disagreements over his contract, which seems to never have been formalized. At the time, Parris and his family were living in the ministry house of Salem Village, and there appeared to be confusion over whether he was to remain in the house as long as he was minister, or if it would become his own property. Eventually, he was granted ownership of both the ministry house and the land it was on. 

    Parris was a minister that was perhaps a little more intrusive and expensive than some of the people of Salem had wished. He had plans to refurbish the meeting house, funded by the church of course. Parris was also evangelically enthusiastic and conservative in his theological beliefs. He continued to uphold traditional strict standards for church membership, which contrasted Salem Town's church and most Puritan churches at the time. While the Salem Town church had become more inclusive in their membership, making it easier for townspeople to become members, the Salem Village church ran by Parris was going in quite the opposite direction. The way Parris ran the church contributed to further gaps in status, with church members having increasingly elevated status, while non-church members had increasingly lower status. This seems to stage the perfect scene for the Salem Witch Trials. 

    In the fall of 1691, two years after Parris' ordination and just a few months before the hysteria would take place, there remained problems between Parris and the church. Church attendance had decreased and  village officials refused to provide firewood for the church or Parris' house. There was a new committee that was chosen by the village to oversee matters relating to the church. This new committee refused to relinquish the ministry house and land to Parris, and they also refused to collect taxes for his salary to be funded. This left villagers to pay by voluntary contributions, and for Parris to persuade church members to make a formal complaint about the issues. 

    All of these factors make the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials increasingly interesting, especially when remembering that the "outbreak" started in Samuel Parris' home. It seems conveniently timed as a distraction, giving the villagers and committee something else to think about and deal with instead of dwelling on what they didn't like about Parris' ministry. Or on the other hand, perhaps Samuel Parris was targeted (even though I don't personally believe that). Either way, for a man that played such a big role in the Salem Witch Trials, he also played a big role in the years leading up to them.