The house at 348 Lowell Street, often referred to as the “John Proctor House,” carries a name steeped in Salem history. However, contrary to popular belief, this structure likely isn’t the original home of John and Elizabeth Proctor during the tumultuous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Current understanding suggests that John Proctor’s son, Thorndike, constructed the existing house in the 1720s, possibly on the same foundation as his father’s original dwelling. Dendrochronology confirms that some timbers date back to the 18th century. Despite this, the property remained within the Proctor family for nearly two centuries after John Proctor’s execution, solidifying its association with his name. As Kelly Daniell, curator at the Peabody Historical Society, noted in a Salem News article, the area known as Proctors Crossing was home to several Proctor residences, making it justifiable to refer to this location as the “Proctor house” due to the family’s long-standing presence.
In 1692, John Proctor, his wife Elizabeth, their children, and their young servant, Mary Warren, resided on this land strategically located along Ipswich Road. Its advantageous position led John Proctor to obtain a license to operate a tavern there in 1668. While John and his sons managed the farm, the women of the household oversaw the domestic duties and the tavern’s operations.
Initially, John Proctor approached the burgeoning witchcraft accusations with skepticism. Historical records portray him as a pragmatic and progressive man, successful in business and industrious in his endeavors. At 60 years old, with seventeen children from his three marriages, John Proctor openly voiced his disapproval of the escalating witchcraft hysteria.
Alt text: Historic John Proctor House in Salem, Massachusetts, believed to be built by his son Thorndike Proctor, showcasing its colonial architecture.
Shortly after the initial accusations in early March 1692, Ann Putnam Jr. implicated John Proctor’s wife, Elizabeth, as a witch. This accusation might have been influenced by the adults in the Putnam household, possibly fueled by neighborhood jealousy towards the Proctors’ prosperity. Furthermore, Elizabeth’s grandmother, a Quaker midwife from Lynn, had faced witchcraft allegations three decades prior, adding to the suspicion. Intriguingly, their servant, Mary Warren, who would later become an accuser herself, might have played a role, possibly through gossip about her employers. While the precise reasons for Elizabeth Proctor becoming a target remain unclear, her accusation marked the beginning of the Proctor family’s entanglement in the witch trials.
Mary Warren’s past also connects her to witchcraft accusations. Before working for the Proctors, her family lived in Salem near Alice Parker, a neighbor Mary would later accuse of witchcraft. Years prior, Alice Parker had requested Mary’s father’s help with hay harvesting. Upon his refusal, Parker reportedly confronted him angrily, and shortly after, Mary’s mother and sister fell ill. Goody Warren passed away, and Mary’s sister suffered hearing loss and muteness. Mary Warren attributed her family’s misfortunes to Alice Parker. Subsequently, the Warren family vanished from records, and by 1692, Mary Warren was in service to the Proctors, carrying this unresolved resentment.
By late March, Mary Warren started attending witchcraft examinations in Salem Village, despite John Proctor’s attempts to keep her focused on her duties. Speculation suggests he may have resorted to physical discipline to deter her involvement. John Proctor publicly stated his belief that physical punishment would bring the accusers to their senses – words that would later be used against him.
Elizabeth Proctor was arrested on April 10th and examined on April 11th in Salem Town, accompanied by John Proctor. A host of afflicted individuals, including Abigail Williams, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and John Indian, accused her of witchcraft. Despite her pleas of innocence, the accusers exhibited dramatic fits in her presence. By the examination’s end, witnessed by Boston dignitaries like Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth, John Proctor himself was also accused of witchcraft. Both John and Elizabeth Proctor were subsequently imprisoned in Boston to await trial.
Legal proceedings at the time dictated the confiscation of a convicted person’s property, ostensibly to cover jail expenses and family support. Robert Calef, in his contemporary account More Wonders of the Invisible World, described the Sheriff’s actions at the Proctors’ home: goods, provisions, and livestock were seized, cattle sold at reduced prices or slaughtered for trade, beer was spilled, and household items were taken, leaving the children destitute.
Mary Warren, oscillating between accuser and accused, was arrested on April 18th. By April 20th, she implicated both her employers, John and Elizabeth Proctor, in witchcraft. The accusations against the Proctor family extended to their children: son Benjamin on May 23rd, and son William and daughter Sarah on May 29th.
A peculiar accusation came from Joseph Bayley, brother of Reverend James Bailey, Salem Village’s first minister. On May 25th, Bayley claimed torment while passing the Proctor house with his wife Priscilla. He alleged seeing John and Elizabeth Proctor at the window and door, despite their imprisonment in Boston. Bayley reported chest, head, and stomach pains, speechlessness, and the sensation of being followed on his return journey, attributing these experiences to the Proctors’ witchcraft.
As the trials approached, John Proctor penned a letter on July 23rd to Boston ministers, detailing the harsh jail conditions and prisoner treatment, requesting a trial relocation to Boston. This plea, along with petitions of support from Salem and Ipswich neighbors, was ignored.
The trials proceeded on August 2nd. John and Elizabeth Proctor were convicted of witchcraft, largely based on spectral evidence. Elizabeth received a temporary reprieve due to her pregnancy.
Alt text: Proctor’s Ledge Memorial in Salem, Massachusetts, marking the execution site of John Proctor and others during the Salem Witch Trials, a place of somber remembrance.
John Proctor was hanged on August 19th at Proctor’s Ledge on Gallows Hill, along with Reverend George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs, and John Willard. While the burial locations remain unconfirmed, historians speculate that John Proctor’s body may have been recovered by family and possibly buried on his property, now part of Peabody High School.
Elizabeth Proctor remained imprisoned until May 1693. Later records indicate her intention to marry Daniel Richards in 1699 and her mention as Elizabeth Richards in her father’s will.
Mary Warren disappeared from historical records after the trials.
John and Elizabeth Proctor were among those exonerated of witchcraft charges in 1711. The Proctor family received £150 in compensation for their ordeal.
John Proctor’s American journey began at age three when he emigrated from England with his family to Ipswich, MA. Around 1652, he married his first wife, Martha, and had four children, with only Benjamin surviving to adulthood. Martha passed away in 1659 during childbirth. In 1662, John Proctor married Elizabeth Thorndike, fathering seven children, some of whom died young. In 1666, the Proctors moved to Salem Fields, leasing land from Emmanuel Downing, a prominent figure in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This property, which included a house on Ipswich Road, became the site of his tavern, licensed in 1668. Elizabeth Thorndike died in 1672. John Proctor married his third wife, Elizabeth Bassett, in 1674. Elizabeth Bassett’s lineage traced back to Goody Burt, a Quaker midwife from Lynn, previously suspected of witchcraft. By 1692, John and Elizabeth Proctor had six children, with Elizabeth pregnant with their seventh during the witch trials.
Further Context: Gallows Hill, the execution site, was unnamed in 1692. The name “Gallows Hill” and the “Probable Place of Executions” marker originate from a 1900s map of Salem based on Sidney Perley’s research. Proctor’s Ledge, the precise execution spot, was acquired by Thorndike Proctor in the early 1700s.
Separating Fact from Fiction: John Proctor is a central character in Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible, a fictionalized allegory for McCarthyism using the Salem Witch Trials as a backdrop. Miller’s play, while incorporating real names and events, invents a romantic affair between the 30-year-old (fictional) John Proctor and the 17-year-old Abigail Williams as a contributing factor to the trials. In reality, John Proctor was 60, Abigail Williams was 11, and their interaction, if any, before the hysteria is unknown. It is crucial to distinguish Miller’s dramatic portrayal from the historical John Proctor revealed in trial records.
Miller also depicts John Proctor and Giles Corey as friends, but historical records suggest a more complex relationship marked by lawsuits and accusations alongside instances of shared camaraderie.
