Mary (Ayers) Parker (abt. 1634 - 1692)

Born about 1634 in England [uncertain]

Wife of Nathan Parker — married about 1653 in Andover, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Descendants

Died 22 Sep 1692 at about age 58 in Salem, Essex, Province of Massachusetts Bay

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Biography

Mary (Ayers) Parker is Notable.

Mary (Ayers) Parker was executed for witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials

Parentage; Date and Place of Birth

Mary Ayers was born about 1634, possibly in England, the daughter of John and Hannah Ayers].^[1][2][3]

Marriage

She married Nathan Parker, as his 2nd wife, by 1653 in Andover, Massachusetts Bay.^{[4] [5]} Together they had the following children: John, James, Mary, Hanna, Elizabeth, Robert, Sara and Peter.^[6]

Children

1. John Parker b 20 Dec 1653
2. James Parker b 14 Aug 1655
3. Mary Parker b 14 Apr 1657 (NOT the Mary Parker born c. 1649 in Andover, MA daughter of Joseph Parker and Mary Stevens); Mary daughter of Nathan seems to have died without issue before he wrote his will in 1685 as she was not listed in it
4. Hanna Parker b 14 May 1659
5. Elizabeth Parker b 20 Jan 1663
6. Robert Parker b 26 Feb 1665
7. Sara Parker b 3 Apr 1670
8. Peter Parker b 3 Apr 1676

Death

Mary Ayers was hanged as a witch and died on September 22, 1692 at Proctor's Ledge, Gallows Hill, Salem, Massachusetts Bay. ^[7][8][9]

Salem Witch Trials

On 1 Sep 1692, William Barker Jr. named her in his confession – "goode Parker went w'th him last Night to Afflict Martha Sprague." “Goody Parker "rod upon a pole & was baptized at 5 Mile pond,"^[9]

“A warrant for her arrest was issued on September 1,” and she was examined on 2 Sep 1692 “before (John) Hathorne, (Jonathan) Corwin, (Bartholomew) Gedney and Higginson, ‘justices of the peace’” and “charged with practicing witchcraft on Martha Sprague of Boxford.”^[10]

“During her examination she was asked, "How long have ye been in the snare of the devil?" She responded, "I know nothing of it…There is another woman of the same name in Andover," ^[11]

However, “girls from both Salem and Andover fell into fits when her name was spoken” and “the girls were cured of their fits by her touch.” (Mary Warren, Sarah Churchill, Hannah Post, Sarah Bridges, and (Mary) Mercy Wardwell), Samuel Shattuck, Jonathan Bullock, and Mary Wardwell further testified against her, and, on 16 Sep 1692, she was indicted for “Afflicting” Sarah Phelps, Hannah Bigsby, and Martha Sprague.

Mistaken Identity?

Scorned and disbelieved by her inquisitors, Mary Ayer Parker told the truth: there was another Mary Parker living in Andover. In fact there were not one, but three other Mary Parkers in Andover. One was Mary Ayer's sister-in-law, Mary Stevens Parker, wife of Nathan's brother Joseph. The second was Joseph and Mary's daughter Mary. The third was the wife of Mary and Joseph's son, Stephen.”^[11]

"A notorious figure in Salem Towne, also named Mary Parker muddled the case further. This Mary Parker appeared multiple times in the Essex courts and made a reputation for herself beginning in 1670's. In 1669, she was sentenced for fornication. In 1672, the court extended her indenture to Moses Gillman for bearing a child out of wedlock. A year later, she went back to court for child support from Teague Disco of Exiter. The court sentenced her ten stripes for fornication. She came to trial two more times for fornication in 1676. A scandalous figure indeed, Mary from Salem further sullied the name 'Mary Parker.'"^[11][12]

Death Sentence

“September 17. Nine more received Sentance of Death, viz....Mary Parker of Andover...”^[13]

Execution

Only 21 days after her arrest,“…(Margaret) Scott, (Wilmot) Reed, (Samuel) Wardwell, and (Mary) Parker were executed on” 22 Sep 1692.^[14] by hanging on Proctor’s Ledge in Salem, Massachusetts Bay.^[15]

“Firebrands of Hell“

“And Mary Parker was a nobody, a middle-aged widow whose only crime was sharing the same name with another widow (Mary Stevens Parker) from Andover whose late husband (Joseph Parker) and son (Thomas Parker) had both been mentally unstable.^[16] Cotton Mather would later write of September 22nd, 1692, the deadliest day of the Salem witch trials, that Deacon Nicholas Noyes had said out loud "what a sad thing it was to see eight firebrands of Hell hanging there." ^[17]

Restitution and "Restoring Good Names"

"Following the trials and executions, many involved, like judge Samuel Sewall^[18], publicly confessed error and guilt. On January 14, 1697, the General Court ordered a day of fasting and soul-searching for the tragedy of Salem. In 1702, the court declared the trials unlawful. And in 1711, the colony passed a bill restoring the rights and good names of those accused and granted £600 restitution to their heirs. However, it was not until 1957—more than 250 years later—that Massachusetts formally apologized for the events of 1692."^[19]

Mary's heirs were granted 8 Pounds Sterling as compensation.^[7]

Massachusetts Remediation

1. 17 October 1710, Convictions Reversed, The General Court of Massachusetts Bay, An act, the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby are, reversed, and declared to be null and void.^[7]
2. 17 Dec 1711, Compensation to Survivors, Governor Dudley, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, approved compensation to such persons as are living, and to those that legally represent them that are dead [For Mary Parker, £8]^[7]
3. 28 Aug 1957, No Disgrace to Descendants, General Court of Massachusetts, ...such proceedings, were and are shocking, and the result of a wave of popular hysterical fear of the Devil in the community, and further declares that, as all the laws under which said proceedings...have been long since abandoned and superseded by our more civilized laws, no disgrace or cause for distress attaches to the said descendants or any of them by reason of said proceedings.^[20]
4. 31 Oct 2001, Additional Victims Included, Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives in General Court, AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE WITCHCRAFT TRIAL OF 1692, chapter 145 is hereby further amended by adding Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and Wilmot Redd.^[21]

Research Notes

Birth Uncertainty - England or Massachusetts Bay? Non-primary sources estimate the year of her birth, variously, including 1634 and 1637. The location of her birth is dependent upon the immigration date of her father, John Ayer Sr., which is disputed, including 1635 and 1637.

Sources

1. ↑ Hoyt, David W. The Old Families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts ; with Some Related Families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich and Hampton Providence, RI: 1897.
2. ↑ Vital Records from The NEHGS Register [online database] AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.
3. ↑ American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) [online database Ancestry.com. Mary Ayer; 1634; Massachusetts.
4. ↑ New England Marriages to 1700 [Online database] AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.
5. ↑ U.S. and International Marriage Records [online database] Ancestry.com. Mary Ayer
6. ↑ Vital Records of Andover, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 Volume I. Births., 1912.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3} Upham, Charles. Salem Witchcraft : with an Account of Salem Village, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects Boston: MA: Wiggin and Lunt, 1867. Pg. 324 & 480
8. ↑ Find A Grave, memorial page for Mary Ayer Parker (1637–22 Sep 1692), Find A Grave: Memorial #8306, citing Salem Witch Trials Memorial, Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Salem Witch Papers: SWP No. 098: Mary Parker Executed, September 22, 1692. The University of Virginia.
10. ↑ Nevins, Winfield S. Witchcraft in Salem Village in 1692 : Together with Some Account of Other Witchcraft Prosecutions in New England and Elsewhere. Salem, Mass., North shore publishing company; Boston, Lee and Shepard, January 1, 1892.
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1 11.2} Kelly, Jacqueline. The Untold Story of Mary Ayer Parker: Gossip and Confusion in 1692. Important Persons in the Salem Court Records, 2005.
12. ↑ Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts : Essex County (Mass.) Quarterly Courts. Salem, Mass. : Essex Institute, 1 Jan. 1970. Pg 102-103, 240 & 298.
13. ↑ Burr, George Lincoln. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706 New York : C. Scribner's Sons, January 1, 1970.
14. ↑ Nevins, Winfield S. Witchcraft in Salem Village in 1692 : Together with Some Account of Other Witchcraft Prosecutions in New England and Elsewhere. Salem, Mass., North shore publishing company; Boston, Lee and Shepard, January 1, 1892.
15. ↑ Baker, Emerson W. Wayback Machine, archived page from 25 May 2022 UpcomingTalks. Accessed December 20, 2019.
16. ↑ Probate File Papers, 1638-1881 [online database] AmericanAncestors.org. Essex County, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.
17. ↑ The Salem Witch Hunt: A Captivating Guide to the Hunt and Trials of People Accused of Witchcraft in Colonial Massachusetts Captivating History.
18. ↑ Jones, Heather. Samuel Sewall Relg.415_01: Samuel Sewall.
19. ↑ A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 23 Oct. 2007.
20. ↑ https://www.mass.gov/doc/resolves-of-1957-chapter-145/download
21. ↑ https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2001/Chapter122

See also:

• Wikipedia Entry for Mary Parker
• Wikipedia Entry for John Ayer
• The Witchcraft Trial of Mary Parker (History of Massachusetts)
• Examination of Mary Parker (transcript), Salem Witchcraft Papers
• indictment of Mary Parker for Afflicting Sarah Phelps (transcript), Salem Witchcraft Papers
• indictment of Mary Parker for Afflicting Hannah Bigsby (transcript), Salem Witchcraft Papers
• indictment of Mary Parker for Afflicting Martha Sprague (transcript), Salem Witchcraft Papers
• “Proctor's Ledge Memorial.” Salem Witch Museum. Accessed December 20, 2019. https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/proctors-ledge-memorial/.
• “History of American Women.” Go to History of American Women. Accessed December 20, 2019. http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2008/06/mary-ayer-parker.html.
• Ayer Genealogy, Salem Witchcraft Trials
• “The History of the Treman, Tremaine, Truman Family in America; : Treman, Ebenezer Mack, 1850- [from Old Catalog] : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive. [Ithaca, N.Y.] Press of the Ithaca democrat, January 1, 1970. https://archive.org/details/historyoftremant02trem/page/1170.