- Wrongfully Accused and Executed for Witchcraft at Salem witch trials.
Biography
Sarah Solart Poole Goode was born 14 July 1653 in Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts to John Soolart (1624-1672) and Elizabeth Soolart (1625-1678) and died 19 July 1692 Salem witch trials of execution by hanging. She married Daniel Poole (1650-1682) 1675 in Essex County, Massachusetts. She married William Goode (1656-1711) 1685 in Essex County, Massachusetts.
Sarah Good was one of the first three women to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials, which occurred in 1692 in colonial Massachusetts.
Salem witch trials
1876 illustration of the courtroom; the central figure is usually identified as being Mary Walcott
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused, nineteen of whom were found guilty and executed by hanging (fourteen women and five men). One other man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing to plead, and at least five people died in jail. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of the United States.
Good was accused of witchcraft on March 6, 1692 [O.S. February 25, 1691],[Note 1] when Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris, related to the Reverend Samuel Parris, claimed to be bewitched under her hand. The young girls asserted they had been bitten, pinched, and otherwise abused. They would have fits in which their bodies would appear to involuntarily convulse, their eyes rolling into the back of their heads and their mouths hanging open. When the Rev. Samuel Parris asked "Who torments you?" the girls eventually shouted out the names of three townspeople: Tituba, Sarah Osborne, and Sarah Good.[1]
When Good was allowed the chance to defend herself in front of the twelve jurors in the Salem Village meeting house, she argued her innocence, proclaiming Tituba and Osborne as the real witches. In the end, however, Good was convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death. On July 29 [O.S. July 19], 1692,[Note 1] Sarah Good was hanged along with four other women convicted of witchcraft.[7] While the other four quietly awaited execution, Good firmly proclaimed her innocence. The Rev. Nicholas Noyes was persistent, but unsuccessful, in his attempts to force Good to confess. When she was found guilty by the judges, including Noyes, according to legend she yelled to him: "I'm no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink", although this sentence does not appear in any of contemporary reports of the execution[8]. There is also a legend that, twenty-five years later, Noyes died from choking on his own blood[9].
Good was pregnant at the time of her arrest and gave birth to an infant in her cell in the jail in Ipswich. The infant died before her mother was hanged.
In 1710, William Good successfully sued the Great and General Court for health and mental damages done to Sarah and Dorcas, ultimately receiving thirty pounds sterling, one of the largest sums granted to the families of the witchcraft victims.
Marriage and Family
- Dorothy Goode (1688-1703) (aka: Dorcas Goode)
- Mercy Goode (1692-1692)
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Dorothy Goode (1688-1703) | 1688 Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts | 16 October 1703 Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States | |
| Mercy Goode (1692-1692) | 1692 Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts | 1692 Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States | |
Siblings
See Also
- wikipedia:en:Sarah Good - Wikipedia
- Sarah Solart
- Solart in Essex County, Massachusetts
References