Watch Salem Witch Trials Daily
Show Notes
In today’s Salem Witch Trials Daily, we discuss the founding of Salem, Massachusetts in 1626 and how the town was reshaped over the years leading up to the witch trials in 1692, as the population of New England surged.
Happy birthday, Salem!
Links
Select Salem Witch Trials Books:
- Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt
- Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience
- Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege
- Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
Transcript
January 4, 2026 - Salem's Founding
Josh Hutchinson: The city of Salem, Massachusetts has its 400th birthday this year. Founded in 1626, Salem was the first English town in Massachusetts Bay. Its existence as Salem predates the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony itself.
Sarah Jack: Of course, native settlements in the area date back much, much longer. The original inhabitants of what is now Salemcalled the area Naumkeag, which means fishing place.
Josh Hutchinson: Naumkeag was a thriving settlement until European disease ravaged the eastern coast of New England from 1616 to 1619.
Sarah Jack: In 1624, the Dorchester Company sent a mannamed Roger Conant to lead the colony they were trying to establish on Cape Ann, to the north of where Salem sits today.
Josh Hutchinson: Conant and 20 families later relocated and settled in the fishing place in [00:01:00] 1626, so Conant is considered Salem's founder and a statue of him stands in the city, right in front of the Salem Witch Museum.
Sarah Jack: In 1628, the Massachusetts Bay Company bought out the Dorchester Company's holdings on Cape Ann, and John Endicott was appointed governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He sailed to New England with a hundred colonists and established his government in Salem.
Sarah Jack: Roger Conant was granted 200 acres of land in exchange for surrendering leadership to Endicott. After this peace was forged, the story goes that the community was renamed Salem, a hellenized form of shalom, the Hebrew word for peace.The First Church in Salem was formed in August 1629. It's important to note that in colonial Massachusetts, a church was a body of people and not a building. The building didn't come until 1635. Until then, members met in private [00:02:00] homes.
Josh Hutchinson: Samuel Skelton was elected to be the first pastor, and Francis Higginson was elected to be the teacher. Francis Higginson, by the way, was the father of John Higginson, who served as Salem's senior minister during the witch trials. Unfortunately, neither Francis Higginson nor Samuel Skelton lived to see the construction of the church's first building.
Sarah Jack: In 1634, Roger Williams came to Salem to be the new minister.
Sarah Jack: He served less than two years and was banished for his theology from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, going on to found Rhode Island.
Josh Hutchinson: Then Williams' successor in Salem was Hugh Peter. He lasted five years and then returned to England where he became personal chaplain to Oliver Cromwell and was later beheaded and mutilated for his role in the killing of King Charles I. So they had a lot of luck with [00:03:00] these early ministers.
Sarah Jack: In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Company elected John Winthrop to succeed John Endicott as governor. A year later, in 1630, governor Winthrop and 700 colonists reached Salem in a fleet of 11 ships. However, Winthrop did not stay in Salem long. He and most of the new arrivals relocated and founded Boston, making it the capital of the new colony of Massachusetts Bay.
Josh Hutchinson: About 20,000 immigrants poured into New England in the 1630s. As this Great Migration drew more and more people, new towns were created around Salem, which was soon ringed by Lynn, Reading, Andover, Rowley, Ipswich, and Gloucester
Sarah Jack: Salem itself included. All are part of the modern towns of Beverly, Marblehead, Manchester, Wenham, Topsfield, Danvers, Middleton, Peabody, and Swampscott.[00:04:00]
Josh Hutchinson: Within Salem's early boundaries, the town of Wenham split off in 1643, the same year that the Jefferies Creek community was incorporated as Manchester. Marblehead split from Salem in 1648 and Beverly spun off in 1668.
Sarah Jack: Most of the population of Salem lived near the bustling port, while others resided to the West, and in an area known as Salem Farms,which included a small settlement called Salem Village. We'll discuss Salem Village's history and disagreements with the town of Salem in further detail tomorrow. This is important for understanding the local dynamics at the time of the Salem Witch-Hunt.
Josh Hutchinson: Thank you for watching Salem Witch Trials Daily. As always, I'm Josh Hutchinson.
Sarah Jack: And I'm Sarah Jack. Join us again tomorrow for that look at Salem Village's early history.
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