Sarah Osborne

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Sarah Osborne (also variously spelled Osborn, Osburne, etc.) (c. 1643–May 10, 1692) was one of the first three women to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials of 1692.

Osborne is sometimes referred to as "Goody Osborne", Goody being at the time a simple form of address for old women of lowly social status.

Contents

[edit] Early life and first marriage

Sarah Osborne, born Sarah Warren, married a prominent man by the name of Robert Prince. He was the brother of a woman who married into the prominent Putnam family. She moved with her husband to Salem Village in 1662, where the couple had two sons: Joseph and James. Robert Prince died in 1674, leaving Sarah Prince a widow.[1]

[edit] Second marriage

A few years after her first husband's death, Sarah housed an indentured servant by the name of Alexander Osborne, who was to spend the next few years working off his debt to her.[2] Sarah outraged the community by falling in love with and marrying this man. However, Sarah Osborne remained to live on the land that her first husband had been renting from the Putnam family — land which he had left in his will to her and their sons. The Putnams were adamant that the newly married Sarah should give the land to her sons; nevertheless she and her new husband (for unknown reasons) decided to keep it for themselves. This disagreement would become a long legal battle between the two families.[3]

[edit] Accusation

Sarah Osborne became one of the first persons accused of witchcraft at the beginning of the year 1692, when Betty Parris and Ann Putnam, Jr., became ill with an unknown sickness. Both girls claimed that Sarah Osborne, along with the servant Tituba and Sarah Good, had been afflicting them. All three women were considered social outcasts, albeit for different reasons. Sarah Osborne had not attended church in almost three years due to a long illness, and was also still dealing with legal issues with the Putnam family. Ann's accusation of Osborne was most likely the product of powerful suggestions from the Putnam family.[4] The warrant for Sarah Osborne's arrest was written for March 1, 1692.[5] She was to be placed in the Boston jails for the duration of her examinations and trials.

[edit] Examination

Sarah Osborne was the second to be tried of the original three, following Sarah Good and preceding Tituba. Although Osborne denied all the accusations against her, it was to no avail. The words of Sarah Good's trials were twisted to accompany the girls' accusations towards her. And later, Tituba would claim that the three of them were indeed working with the Devil.[6]

Osborne was also questioned about her dreams and whether or not she had ever dreamt of Indians (a believed sign of witchcraft and the Devil). Sarah Osborne admitted that she had had a recurring dream about an Indian who would take her by the hair and drag her out of her house.[7]

At one point during the examinations, Osborne presented a defense that could not be challenged nor argued with. It was repeated frequently by others whom were soon to be accused. She stated: "I doe not know [but] that the devil goes about in my likeness to doe any hurt."[8] She was stating that the use that the Devil made of her image was unknown to her; even if the Devil were harming the girls while assuming her appearance, she had no idea of it and could not be held accountable. The statement gave her a chance to be found innocent.

[edit] Death

Sarah Osborne never received her final verdict, because three months after the warrant for her arrest was issued she died in the Boston jails from her long-term illness. She was estimated to be around the age of 49.[9] Unfortunately, very little is known about her except for some records involving her time in prison.[10]

[edit] References and bibliography

  1. ^ Charles W. Upham. "Witchcraft at Salem Village". Salem Witch Trials, Vol. 2. Williamstown, Massachusetts, Corner House Publishers, 1971. p. 4
  2. ^ Upham, op. cit. pp. 16–20
  3. ^ Mary Beth Norton. In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. Knopf Publishing Group, 2003. pp. 22–23
  4. ^ Marilyn J. Westerkamp. Women in Early American Religion, 1600–1850: The Puritan and Evangelical Traditions. London: Routledge, 1999. p. 66
  5. ^ Frank W. Thackery. Events that Changed America Through the 17th Century. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. p. 160
  6. ^ Upham, op. cit. p. 26–28
  7. ^ McWilliams, John. New England's Crises and Cultural Memory: Literature, Politics, History, Religion, 1620–1860. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004. p. 166
  8. ^ Boyer, Paul and Stephen Nissenbaum. "Sarah Osborne", "Sarah Good", "Tituba". The Salem Witchcraft Papers, Vol. 2. 2002. http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/BoySal2.html
  9. ^ Norton, op. cit. p. 165
  10. ^ Upham, op. cit. p. 32
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