Top Taxpayers:

1695

Name Tax Petition Sort
Porter, Joseph and sons 58 Anti-P 55
putnam, Joseph 44 Anti-P 68
putnam, Liuet Nathaniell 40 Pro-P 69
Andrew, Daniell and sons 38 Anti-P 3
pope, Joseph 36 Anti-P 53
Putnam, Capt John 30 Pro-P 61
putnam, Jonathan 26 Pro-P 67
Buxton, John and sons 24 Anti-P 9
Rea, Daniell 24 NoS 72
swinerton, Job and son 24 Anti-P 85
Ten Highest Assessments: Sorted 1695 Tax List

Using the "AutoFilter" command to sort the 1695 tax list in descending order of assessed taxes reveals the factional affiliation of the wealthiest and poorest villagers. The result provides greater support for Salem Possessed's contention of a strong association between wealth and opposition to Samuel Parris than did the 1690 assessment. Of the ten highest taxpayers (see chart above), anti-Parris members outnumbered Parris's supporters two-to-one. Even so, the association weakens when extending the analysis to those who paid at least a pound (20 shillings). Of the sixteen taxpayers in this group, anti-Parris petitioners outnumbered their opponents by just eight to seven (one taxpayer did not sign either petition).

As for the village's poorer residents, there was a distinct association either with support for Parris and the witch hunt or with non-affiliation. Of the fifteen poorest taxpayers, those assessed only three or four shillings, only one signed the anti-Parris petition while six signed the pro-Parris petition. As was true in 1690, the majority of these poorest villagers did not affiliate with either group. Extending the analysis to those who who paid less than the village median of eight shillings continues to show concentrations of pro-Parris and non-signing villagers. For example, of the twenty-eight villagers assessed six shillings or less, only five signed the anti-Parris petition while eleven signed the pro-Parris petition and eleven others remained unaffiliated. Except at the extremes,it appears that in 1695, lack of wealth was more strongly related to the ministry faction than wealth was associated with the anti-Parris faction.

Rank and percentile analysis locates more precisely the economic status of individual members of the pro- and anti-Parris faction in 1695. Click Next.