Dorcas Hoar (née Galley; c.1634 – July 12, 1711) was a widow accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of 1692, found guilty and condemned to hang, but then confessed and with the support of several ministers, was given a temporary reprieve after which the trials had already ended.
Born Dorcas Galley in Beverly, Essex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, daughter of John and Florence Galley, she married William Hoar and was the mother of one son, named for his father. Her sisters were Mary Ross and Elizabeth Giles. A fortune teller and accused burglar, it appeared inevitable she would be named as a witch. She was ordered arrested on April 30, 1692 by magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, after Jonathan Walcott and Thomas Putnam of Salem Village had made complaints that Hoar, Phillip English of Salem, and Sarah Murrell, also of Beverly, had afflicted Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, Jr., Elizabeth Hubbard and Susannah Sheldon. Marshal George Herrick delivered Hoar and Murrell to Ingersoll's tavern in Salem Village on May 2, but was unable to locate English, who had fled Salem.
While imprisoned awaiting trial, Hoar confessed to acts of witchcraft to Jonathan Lovett, son of Jonathan and Bethia (née Rootes) Lovett. Jonathan was visiting his own grandmother, Susannah Rootes, who had also been accused of witchcraft and was awaiting trial. Jonathan testified to this confession at Hoar's trial; she was found guilty.[1]
Rev. Deodat Lawson wrote of her, "only one Woman Condemned, after the Death Warrant was signed, freely Confessed, which occasioned her Reprieval for sometime; and it was observable, This Woman had one Lock of Hair, of a very great length, viz. Four Foot and Seven Inches long, by measure, this Lock was of a different colour from all the rest, (which was short and grey) it grew on the hinder part of her Head, and was matted together like an Elf-Lock; the Court ordered it to be cut off, to which she was very unwilling, and said, she was told if it were cut off, she should Dye, or be Sick, yet the Court ordered it so to be."[2]
References
- ↑ Profile, books.google.com; accessed December 25, 2014.
- ↑ Lawson, Deodat. Christ's Fidelity the Only Shield Against Satan's Malignity. Asserted in a Sermon Deliver'd at Salem-Village the 24th of March, 1692. Being Lecture-day there, and a time of Publick Examination, of some Suspected for Witchcraft. Second Edition, 1704. Reprinted in London, by R. Tookey for the Author; and are to be sold by T. Parkhurst, at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside; and J. Lawrence, at the Angel in the Poultrey. p. 112
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Magistrates and court officials | |
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Town physician | |
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Clergy | |
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Politicians and public figures | |
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Accusers |
- Benjamin Abbot
- Ebenezer Babson
- William Barker, Sr.
- Thomas Barnard
- Elizabeth Booth
- John Bly, Sr. and Rebecca Bly
- Thomas Boreman
- Thomas Chandler
- Nathaniel Coit
- John DeRich
- Joseph Draper
- Joseph Fowler
- Mary Fuller
- Mary Herrick
- John Howe
- Elizabeth Hubbard
- Joseph Hutchinson
- John Indian
- Nathaniel Ingersoll
- Thomas and Mary Jacobs
- Margaret Wilkins Knight
- Mercy Lewis
- Jeremiah Neale
- Sarah Nurse
- Betty Parris
- Edward Payson
- Samuel and Ruth Perley (or Pearly)
- John and Lydia Porter
- Thomas Preston
- Ann Putnam, Jr.
- Ann Putnam, Sr.
- Edward Putnam
- Hannah Putnam
- John Putnam, Jr.
- John Putnam, Sr.
- Jonathan (or Johnathan) Putnam
- Nathaniel Putnam
- Thomas Putnam
- Nicholas Rist
- Margaret Rule
- Susannah Sheldon
- Mercy Short
- Martha Sprague
- Timothy Swan
- Peter Tufts
- Moses Tyler
- Jonathan Walcott
- Mary Walcott
- Richard Walker
- Mary Warren
- Joseph Whipple
- Bray Wilkins
- John Wilkins
- Samuel Wilkins
- Abigail Williams
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Accused but survived (unindicted, acquitted or reprieved) |
- Arthur Abbot
- Nehemiah Abbot, Jr.
- Katerina Biss
- Edward Bishop
- Edward Bishop III
- Sarah Bishop
- Mary Black
- Anne Bradstreet
- Dudley Bradstreet
- John Bradstreet
- Mary Bridges, Sr.
- Sarah Bridges
- Sarah Buckley
- John Busse (or Buss)
- Andrew Carrier
- Richard Carrier
- Sarah Carrier
- Thomas Carrier, Jr.
- Bethiah Carter Jr.
- Bethiah Carter Sr.
- Rachel Clinton
- Sarah Cloyce
- Francis Dane
- Phoebe Day
- Elizabeth Dicer
- Rebecca Dike
- Ann Dolliver
- Mehitable Downing
- Mary Dyer
- Daniel and Lydia Eames
- Rebecca Blake Eames
- Esther Elwell
- Martha Emerson
- Joseph Emons
- Thomas Farrar, Sr.
- Abigail Faulkner, Jr.
- Abigail Faulkner, Sr.
- Dorothy Faulkner
- Elizabeth Fosdick
- Eunice Frye
- Dorothy Good
- Mary Green
- Sarah Noyes Hale (wife of John Hale)
- Elizabeth Hutchinson Hart
- Margaret Hawkes
- Sarah Hawkes, Jr.
- Dorcas Hoar
- Deliverance Hobbs
- William Hobbs
- Elizabeth Johnson, Sr.
- Stephen Johnson
- Rebecca Jacobs
- Jane Lilly
- Mary Marston
- Sarah Morey
- Sarah Murrell
- Robert and Sarah Pease
- Joan Penney (or Penny)
- Sarah Phelps
- Mary Post
- Susannah Post
- Margaret Prince
- Elizabeth Bassett Proctor
- Sarah Proctor
- William Proctor
- Sarah Davis Rice
- Sarah Rist
- Sarah Root
- Susanna Rootes
- Abigail Rowe
- Mary Rowe
- Elizabeth Scargen
- Ann Sears
- Abigail Somes
- Sarah Clapp Swift
- Mary Harrington Taylor
- Margaret Thacher
- Job Tookey
- Margaret Toothaker
- Mary Toothaker
- Hannah Tyler
- Joanna Tyler
- Mary Lovett Tyler
- Hezekiah Usher II
- Rachel Vinson
- Mercy Wardwell
- Sarah Wardwell
- Mary Whittredge (or Witheridge)
- Sarah Wilson, Jr.
- Sarah Wilson, Sr.
- Edward Wooland
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Confessed and accused others (in some cases later issuing retractions or recantations) | |
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Executed by hanging | |
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Pressed to death | |
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Born in prison | |
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Died in prison | |
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Escaped from custody or otherwise fled Salem or environs until the trials ended |
- John Alden
- Daniel Andrew
- Mary Bradbury
- Elizabeth Cary
- Phillip and Mary English
- Edward Farrington
- Mary Green
- George Jacobs, Jr.
- Ephraim Stevens
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