Committee Yearly Data Set

The Committee of Five

Committee Yearly Data Set (Sample)
Committee 1685	Petition	Social	Committee 1686	Petition	Social
Putnam, Lt. John [Senr]	Pro-P	Church	Putnam, Lt. John	Pro-P	Church
Walcott, Jonathan	Pro-P	Householder	Sibley, William	NoS	Householder
Buxton, John	Anti-P	Householder	Flint, Thomas	Pro-P	Church
Sibley, William	NoS	Householder	Tarbill, John	Anti-P	Church
Putnam, Thomas Junr	Pro-P	Church	Putnam, Thomas Junr	Pro-P	Church

The Committee Yearly Data Set contains information about Salem Village's committees from 1685 to 1698, a period that covers the last years Deodat Lawson's ministry and the entire tenure of Samuel Parris. The data set contains three columns of information for each committee:

"Committee" lists the names of committeemen for a particular year (in 1688, only four men were elected).

"Petition" indicates whether the committeeman signed either the pro- or anti-Parris petition in 1695. "NoS" (no signature) means that this committeeman did not sign either petition. Signing a petition strongly suggests but does not conclusively establish a petitioner's earlier position regarding Parris or the witchcraft outbreak.

"Social" indicates whether the committeeman was a church member or a householder. Three committeemen (William Sibley, James Smith, and Jacob Fuller) have been listed as householders in the absence of information linking them to a church.)

To explore the committee's factional identification, click Next.

The Salem Witchcraft Site

The Committee of Five