Was Salem Village Unique?
Puritan Communities: Was Salem Village Unique? Salem village in 1692 is something every student learns about in their basic American history course. They learn about the witchcraft trials, and the hangings that followed. They learn about Increase and Cotton Mather, father and son on opposite sides of the issue of witchcraft. If they are lucky, they learn about Rev. Samuel Parris and what led some to like him and his judgments, and others to despise him. But they do not typically learn about the Porters and the Putnams, the two big families of Salem Village. They do not learn about the Anti- and Pro-Parris groups led by these families. They do not learn about the group wanting to be separate from Salem Town or about how they clashed with the group wanting to stay. They do not learn what happened in Salem after the trials were over. Without learning about these things, students assume that Salem Village is unique and full of insanity. But with these things, this political turmoil, in mind, one comes to realize that Salem village, though its witchcraft trials were unique, in and of itself was a normal village with normal village problems, though better documented than many others. Generalizing the towns of early New England can be dangerous. Each town has its own story, with people from different areas and backgrounds residing in each. With this is mind, one has to ask if there can even be something considered the ‘typical’ town. Town and villages, even ones within a few miles of each other, could vary in many different ways. The way land was distributed was a common variation, as was what crops the townspeople were prone to plant and when. Marketing arrangements between towns differed in areas as well, as did the type of labor that prevailed.1 People coming overseas from England typically came in groups, sometimes whole villages would move to New England together. But when they did not or when outsiders mixed in, it often resulted in conflict. Most villages