Sarah Pease, the wife of Robert Pease,
was accused of witchcraft in Salem on
May 23, 1692.

Elaine Pease's article in the Essex Genealogist is a definitive study of not only Sarah's family, but her role in the Salem witch trials.

Her article is reproduced and provided here.

Sarah's husband, Robert (register report link), emigrated from England in 1634 at the age of about 4 years old with his father Robert and his uncle John Pease. Her family name and origin is unknown until the time of her marriage to Robert in 1658. Of Robert there is more information, as outlined in the register report about him on these pages. Elaine's article goes into the details of the family, their living conditions and even the location of their home in what is now Peabody, Massachusetts.

Sarah and Robert had at least eight children born between 1660 and 1677: Bethia who died young, Elizabeth, Deliverance, Mary, Robert, Isaac, Bethia (a second), and Nathaniel. All the births are sourced in images of the Essex County Vital Records at Sarah’s FamilySearch.org page (Sources): https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L87Y-Z17 . Given that Robert was born, or at least christened in 1630, we can conjecture that Sarah was born about that time, although some say she was born in 1638. In any case both were in their fifties or sixties when the accusations were made in 1692.


Sarah was accused on Monday, May 23, 1692 of "sundry acts of Witchcraft committed on the bodys of Mary Warren, Abigaile Williams and Eliz Hubbard." along with Benjamin Procter and Mary Derich. (Footnote: Pease, Elaine, page 130, citing Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, ed. The Salem Witchcraft Papers (New York: DeCapo, 1977), p. 639, 655-6. ) A warrant for her arrest was issued and she was arrested that day.

That Warrant transcribed from the Essex County Court Archives at https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n99.html reads:

To the Marshall of Essex or his dept or Constables of Salem

You are in theire Majest's names hereby required to apprehend and forthwith bring before us ( Sarah pease the wife of Robert pease of Salem Weaver -- who stands charged with sundry acts of Witchcraft by her Committed Lately on the Body of Mary Warren of Salem Village whereby great Injury was don her. &c) in order to her Examination Relateing to the same faile not Dated Salem May 23'd 1692
*John Hathorne
*Jonathan. Corwi
Per ord'r of the Govern'r & Councill

I heave aprehended the parson mensioned within this warrant and heave broghte hir Per me. *Peter Osgood Constable in Salem
May. the 23: 1692

The following day was set aside for examinations and the proceedings were recorded by Nathaniel Cary of Charlestown. He and Mrs. Cary had come to observe and to face Mrs. Cary's accuser, Abigail Williams. He writes of the prisoners, one of whom surely was Sarah Pease:
The Prisoners were called in one by one, and as they came in were cried out of, etc. The prisoner was placed about 7 or 8 foot from the Justices, and the Accusers between the Justices and them; the Prisoner was ordered to stand right before the Justices, with an Officer appointed to hold each hand, least they should therewith afflict them, and the Prisoners Eyes must be constantly on the Justices; for if they look'd on the afflicted, they would either fall into their Fits, or cry out of being hurt by them; after Examination of the Prisoners, who it was afflicted these Girls, etc., they were put upon saying the Lords Prayer, as a tryal of their guilt; after the afflicted seem'd to be out of their Fits, they would look steadfastly on some one person, and frequently not speak; and then the Justices said they were struck dumb, and after a little time would speak again; then the Justices said to the Accusers, "which of you will go and touch the Prisoner at the Bar?" then the most couragious would adventure, but before they made three steps would ordinarily fall down as in a Fit; the Justices ordered that they should be taken up and carried to the Prisoner, that she might touch them; and as soon as they were touched by the accused, the Justices would say, they are well, before I could discern any alteration... ⁠ (Footnote: George L. Burr., ed., Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706 (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1914; reprind ed., New York: Barnes and Noble, 1946), p. 350. (Ed: No direct reference to Sarah Pease, but the narrative is that of May 24, 1692 - dated on the preceeding page 349. Online at Archive.org.) )

Sufficient evidence must have been found against Sarah because she was sent to Salem jail on May 25th, 1692.

She was put in leg irons weighing eight pounds and was confined to a "loathsome dungeon"

Although testimony was brought against her again on August 5th, Sarah Pease escaped the condemnation of the judges, who sentenced 15 people to the gallows in September. By the late fall of that year the tide of hysteria had abated, and sympathy was turning from the "victims" to the accused. Sarah survived the winter and was released in May of 1693, after suffering a year in jail. ⁠ (Footnote: Sarah's confinement and release: Pease, Elaine, page 130 citing Boyer and Nissenbaum, ed., Salem-Village Witchcraft (Belmont,CA, Wadsworth, 1972) page 107 and Burr, page 352.; release: page 132, citing Starkey, Marion L., The Devil in Massachusetts (New York: Knopf, 1946; reprint ed., Garden City: Doubleday, 1969), page 230. )

Although testimony was brought against her again on August 5th, Sarah Pease escaped the condemnation of the judges, who sentenced 15 people to the gallows in September. By the late fall of that year the tide of hysteria had abated, and sympathy was turning from the "victims" to the accused. Sarah survived the winter and was released in May of 1693, after suffering a year in jail.


Elaine K. Pease, emeritus, was an Associate Professor in the Library Department at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She has a B.A. in History from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a Masters degree in Library Science from Rutgers University, and a Masters degree in American Studies from Pennsylvania State University. Her husband Bill is a contributor to these pages and the now defunct Pease GenForum. I'd like to thank Bill for bringing his wife's article to my attention.

Elaine's article, also listed in the Sources Page:
Pease, Elaine K., "Goody Pease of Salem Town,"  (The Essex Genealogist, August, 1984 (vol. 4, no. 3), pp. 126-135.)

At the risk of some sort of copyright violation, I include Elaine Pease's full article. from the Essex Genealogist.


Documents of the Salem Witch Trials - with special reference to Sarah Pease.

Links open in a new window or tab.

Perhaps the best source of original documents of the Salem witches is at the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project of the University of Virginia. It has a good database and search: five case files referencing Sarah Pease turn up on a search which results in https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/tag/pease_sarah.html

These are used in The Guide to Primary Sources of the Salem Witchcraft Trial by Margo Burns, a portal of links to online primary sources, most of which are at the above University of Virginia archive. Margo Burns’ Guide is also an extensive database. For the data results on Sarah Pease which also has links to the five documents at the Virginia Archive. http://www.17thc.us/primarysources/accused.php?id=122&pg=5


Footnotes


Back to my Pease Genealogy Introduction

Page updated April 2020; revised June 1, 2022. Originally created about 2000.

© Text copyright: Steve Spicer

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