Salem Witch Trial Defendant. Born in Norfolk, England, the daughter of John and Hannah Ayer. The family emigrated, settling in the Massachusetts Bay Colony sometime prior to 1645. She married Nathan Parker about 1653, and the couple had at least eight children. The couple relocated to Andover, where Nathan served as a constable, he died there in 1685. In September 1692, she was arrested on a charge of witchcraft. Under examination she stated "I know nothing of it. There is another woman of the same name in Andover." There were at least three other women called Mary Parker in Andover, but that fact was ignored by the magistrates, and in unseemly haste they tried and convicted the Mary Parker on hand, finding her guilty on September 17, 1692, only 16 days after she was first named. On September 22, she, Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, and Samuel Wardwell were hanged on Gallows Hill, their bodies then disposed of in an unmarked, common grave, now lost. In 1957, the state of Massachusetts formally apologized for the witch trials.
Salem Witch Trial Defendant. Born in Norfolk, England, the daughter of John and Hannah Ayer. The family emigrated, settling in the Massachusetts Bay Colony sometime prior to 1645. She married Nathan Parker about 1653, and the couple had at least eight children. The couple relocated to Andover, where Nathan served as a constable, he died there in 1685. In September 1692, she was arrested on a charge of witchcraft. Under examination she stated "I know nothing of it. There is another woman of the same name in Andover." There were at least three other women called Mary Parker in Andover, but that fact was ignored by the magistrates, and in unseemly haste they tried and convicted the Mary Parker on hand, finding her guilty on September 17, 1692, only 16 days after she was first named. On September 22, she, Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, and Samuel Wardwell were hanged on Gallows Hill, their bodies then disposed of in an unmarked, common grave, now lost. In 1957, the state of Massachusetts formally apologized for the witch trials.
Bio by: Iola
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