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HEX: Old World Witchery in Salem
sells voodoo dolls* |
From the 1692 Salem witch-hunt records, we know Tituba was “the
Indian servant of Mr. Samuel Parris,” the minister of Salem Village. But we
know very little about her life and her background. When was she born and where
did she come from before being accused, interrogated, and jailed as a witch?
Although called a “servant,” Tituba probably lived in
perpetual servitude. While slaves did exist in New England, most were of
African descent, not Native American. Tituba could have been a Wampanoag, a
Carib, or an Arawak Indian, which scholars have debated for years. Her foreignness within
her small community went beyond her ethnic background though. In court, Tituba
refers to “her mistress in her own country,” implying that she was born outside
of the 13 Colonies as well.
The most in-depth study, Tituba,
Reluctant Witch of Salem by Elaine
Breslaw, claims Tituba was an Arawak Indian kidnapped from a Dutch settlement in
South America and brought to Barbados. Based on the etymology of
her name it could be plausible—but that scenario and the name also could apply
to multiple people. Instead of suggesting Tituba absorbed an amalgam of
cultural influences in Barbados, Breslaw creates a captive story that not only
orphans Tituba but has the young Indian girl living with an African family. To tie the pieces
together, Breslaw finds a 1676 plantation list of “negroes” that places a “Tattuba”
with the “boys & girls,” suggesting an age range—and providing white owners
with possible connections to Samuel Parris. As genealogists, we learn that even
if the name is the same, we still need to connect the 1692 Tituba with earlier
documents—and that cannot be done conclusively.
Like many slaves, we may never know her parents, her
birthplace, or her age, though we can surmise some details based on the life of
Tituba’s owner, Samuel Parris (1653-1720).
The Life of Parris
Samuel was the son of Thomas Parris (d. 1673), a cloth
merchant of London. Thomas’ older brother John (d. 1660) owned a sugar
plantation in Barbados in the 1640s, where he was a merchant and sometime slave
trader. When he died there in 1660, part of John’s property went to his brother
Thomas and his children. Thomas’ eldest son John inherited land from his uncle in England and
Ireland. Younger son Samuel inherited a plantation and other property in
Barbados.
At some point, Thomas and son Samuel moved to Barbados,
where the climate, the foods, and the racial demographics were much different
from England and even New England. With such valuable and income-producing properties, they would
have become accustomed to having slaves and servants as an everyday part of
island life.
Samuel left Barbados to attend Harvard College in
Massachusetts Bay Colony, where his classmates would be future
ministers, government officials, and businessmen. To an aspiring young man,
Parris may have made the association that true gentlemen had servants and
slaves to take care of farming and household chores so they themselves could be
occupied with worldly matters. Before completing his degree, however, Thomas
died, causing Samuel to return to Barbados to settle his father’s estate. Instead
of living on the plantation, Samuel moved to Bridgetown, where he acted as a
merchant agent. In December 1679, he was listed with one slave and one servant
on the Barbados census.
By 1680, Samuel Parris returned to Boston, most likely bringing
with him Tituba and John Indian. In short order, the 27-year-old bachelor
married Elizabeth Eldridge/Eldred (1648?-1696) and set up house. Without the
business acumen of his uncle and because of his own fractious nature, Samuel was
not a successful merchant. He defaulted on a commercial loan and spent time in
the courts. Perhaps thinking the ministry was a more suitable, pastoral
occupation, in 1685, Samuel took a position as a paid preacher in Stowe,
Massachusetts. Several years and much negotiating later, he became the minister
at Salem Village, taking Tituba and John Indian with him.
The Qualities of a
Servant
In the court trials, Tituba mentions her “previous
mistress” in whose home she would have learned how to be in charge of a household—from tending the garden, preserving foods, cooking meals to
housecleaning, laundry, spinning, and making candles and soaps. To be capable
of running the household, we can estimate that Tituba would have been between the ages of 15
and 25 when she came to Boston. Without having much supervision in a bachelor’s
home, it’s doubtful she would have been younger. If she were much older, that would
have meant a shorter working life, and we know from his biography that Samuel was
stingy and too demanding for that.
When Samuel married, Tituba’s workload would not have been
divided in half. From his interactions with the Salem Villagers, it’s easy to get
the impression that Samuel aspired to a higher social strata than a yeoman
farmer. In Boston, Elizabeth Parris may have done more entertaining than
cleaning. And as a minister’s wife, she was expected to make her rounds,
helping people in the community, leaving Tituba to take care of hearth and
home—and children.
Samuel and Elizabeth had three children—Thomas (b. 1681),
Betty (1682-1760), and Susanna (1688-1706)—and, at some point, niece Abigail
Williams joined the family.
Tribulations and
Trials
Although the children had chores and schooling to attend to,
Betty and Abigail’s so-called witch afflictions in 1692 meant more work for
Tituba. Not only was the house filled with visitors observing the two girls,
Betty and Abigail’s ailments were a convenient excuse to get out of housework.
After weeks of hysterical outbursts, fits, and twitches from
the two girls, Samuel Parris gave up on Cotton Mather’s proscribed prayers and
fasting, pushing instead for names of those who had bewitched the children.
It’s not surprising whose names were on the list—the outcasts and outsiders—including
Tituba, the overworked Indian slave from Barbados. These women didn’t fit in
polite, Christian society, with their cursing (impoverished Sarah Good), their
lack of church attendance (bedridden Sarah Osburn), their otherness (Indian
woman Tituba).
If you visit local attractions in Salem, Massachusetts, Tituba is portrayed as a black slave telling tales to young and impressionable girls at the Salem
Village parsonage. But the role of storyteller wasn’t created for Tituba until
Charles W. Upham (1802-1875) re-imagined her as the center of the maelstrom in
his book Salem Witchcraft (1867),
which was widely read and repeated by historians and authors.
Probably after being physically coerced by Samuel Parris, Tituba
confesses to being a witch before the magistrates—but not to occult practices like fortune-telling or Caribbean
voodoo. She does, however, tell of Satan making her pinch and hurt the girls,
of riding a stick to night-time meetings with other witches, and of the
existence of more witches. With obvious references to British witchcraft folklore,
Tituba’s testimony weaves together Samuel Parris’ sermons of Satan’s conspiracy
against his church and the people’s fears that the girls were experiencing a preternatural
battle for their souls. Instead of creating unity to save the church, Tituba’s
words turned neighbor against neighbor.
Story with No Ending
Tituba’s value as a witness against Sarah Good and Sarah
Osburn unexpectedly saved her life, while forfeiting theirs. As more afflicted
accusers came forward, more innocent victims were accused, and spectral
evidence spread near and far, Tituba lay forgotten in prison.
According to contemporary chroniclers, after the General
Jail Delivery, Samuel Parris refused to pay Tituba’s jail fees. But by paying seven
pounds for her shackles and 13 months’ room and board, a new master bought an Indian
slave whose future labor was worth more than the fees. After watching others
die in jail or being led out to the gallows and being rejected by the family
she had served for a dozen years, perhaps her new owner thought Tituba would be a
docile and obedient servant. Beaten down and neglected, she was malnourished, her
body stiff from the shackles and hardly any exercise, her mind constantly
living in fear. No doubt, Tituba was grateful to be part of the living again. And,
so, quietly Tituba the Indian servant disappeared from recorded history.
In 1711, no one came forward to ask for compensation from the government on
behalf of the Indian slave.
Sources:
For more on Tituba, see also:
* It is unclear whether the voodoo dolls sold at HEX are in reference to a supposed (and incorrect) connection to Tituba since Bridget Bishop poppets also are sold in the store, or if they are just one of many magical products available. The owners are “modern-day Warlocks with Witchcraft shops in both Salem and New Orleans.”
