Committees: 1689 and 1697
The committee of 1689, preceding the anti-Parris take-over in 1691, had a majority of pro-Parris members but also two from the anti-Parris faction. The committee was also mixed in terms of its social characteristics. The two anti-Parris members divided: one householder and one church member. The three pro-Parris members were also divided but predominantly church members, two to one.
The committee of 1697 succeeded three committees in which not a single anti-Parris member served. It had a pro-Parris majority, but as in the case of the 1689 committee, it had two anti-Parris members. It also was mixed in its social characteristics, containing both church members and householders. All three pro-Parris committeemen were members of the village church while two anti-Parris committeemen divided: one church member and one householder.
These two committees were more politically balanced than the committees of 1691 and 1694, but they, too, evidenced an association between pro-Parris support and church membership. Committeemen from the anti-Parris faction, in contrast, evidenced more representation of Salem Village's non-church majority than did pro-Parris committeemen.
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