Sarah Holten

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Sarah Holten (or, Sarah Holton) was for being one of the first accusers in a Witchcraft trial during the Salem Witch trials., due to the inexplicable and sudden death of her husband. Goody Holten, Sarah's husband, died due to sudden fits of blindness, seizures, and stomach pains, which were not tied to other illnesses in their time. As a widow, Holten famously accused her neighbour Rebecca Nurse of witchcraft in 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. Nurse was originally tried and found not guilty, but upon retrial was found guilty and hanged on July 19th, 1692. She was one of the total of 20 people executed on account of witchcraft.

Holten was not the only person to accuse Nurse of witchcraft, although her testimony was damaging. Others had blamed Nurse for the deaths of 7 babies, who also had spasms and similar symptoms as Goody Holten, a fully grown adult man.

Accusation

Sarah Holten claimed it was Rebecca Nurse’s malice which killed her husband, Goody Holten. Goody Holten had been healthy until he and Sarah Holten’s family pigs strayed into Rebecca Nurse’s field, and ate her crops. Nurse walked over to their house in an angry fit, ready to have the pigs shot, which was legal at the time. They apparently talked things out, and nothing occurred immediately after the incident. Then, a few weeks later, Goody Holten suffered: blindness, stomach pain, and choking spells, and died soon after.

It took Sarah Holten three years to accuse Nurse of witchcraft; this may have been because witch trials weren’t happening at the time of her husband’s death, so when witchcraft became a more popularized term, she may have found a clearer potential answer to her husband’s sudden illness after Nurse’s fit of rage.

Testimony

Sarah Holten's testimony about Rebecca Nurse occurred three years after her husband's death. Her testimony went as follows:

tell one saterday morning that Rebekah Nurs who now stands charged for wicthcraft. came to our house and fell a railing at him because our piggs gott into hir field: tho our piggs were sufficiently yoaked and their fence was down in severall places: yett all we could say to hir could no ways passifie hir: but she continewed Railing and scolding agrat while together calling to hir son Benj. Nurs to goe and git a gun and kill our piggs and lett non of them goe out of the field: tho my poor Husband gave hir never amiss beholding word: and within ashort time affter this my poor Husband goeing out very early in the morning: as he was a coming. in againe he was taken with a strainge fitt in the entery being struck blind and stricken down two or three times so that when he came to himself he tould me he thought he should never have com into the house any more: and all summer affter he continewed in a languishing condition being much pained at his stomack and often struck blind: but about a fortnight before he dyed he was taken with strange and violent fitts acting much like to our poor bewicthed parsons when we thought they would have dyed and the Doctor. that was with him could not find what his distemper was: and the day before he dyed he was very chearly but about midnight he was againe most violently sezed upon with violent fitts tell the next night about midnight he departed this life by a cruel death

A copy of the testimony Sarah Holten made against Rebecca Nurse in court, citing the pig incident as well as Holten's husband's illness following Nurse's rage fit.

She frequently mentions how her husband was always kind to Nurse, and that it was not her own nor her husband's fault that the pigs were in the Nurse's garden; their fence had simply fallen down in several places (which apparently also caused controversy as to whose responsibility it is to fix a broken fence), and then Nurse had fallen into a fit. Rebecca Nurse called to her son Benjamin to get him to grab their gun and kill the pigs, not giving them a chance to leave the garden. Nurse, according to Sarah Holten, had been screaming at Goody Holten, who had not said a mean word in response. Once Nurse had left the Holten's house, there had been no immediate change to Goody's health; it was only the next morning that he had started being struck blind, had a sore stomach, and acting "bewitched". Doctors could not solve or understand his illness, and he had seizures until he had died.

Why She Testified

There are disputes as to why people, especially young women, would claim others were witches or had used witchcraft. In Holten's case, the confusion over her husband's death, combined with Nurse's rage fit could have been enough to make her assume that witchcraft had played a role in his death.

One historian writes:

Historians differ as to the motivation of the adolescent girls and young women who made accusations that led to the deaths of those who were hanged as witches, but most agree that in many cases, adults guided them to name either local adversaries or people who seemed suspicious because they had experienced success in an economic climate in which the accusers constantly felt themselves to be losing ground,; the failure of good people demanded explanation.

Because New England had been a very Christian community at the time, the fears about witchcraft were based upon fear of Satan. Also, however, witch accusations were bred out of the jealousy of "good people" who were unsuccessful.

Relevance to Today

Built in 1670 by her father, the house Sarah Holten's lived in is still up today and is a historical site, open to the public. It is now referred to as Judge Samuel Holten House, after her son who also lived in the house. The house is rich with history, and is now used as a museum for Salem Witch Trial history.

This is the house Sarah Holten lived in. Originally owned by her father, then herself and her husband, and they passed it onto her son, Judge Samuel Holten, whom the house is titled after. The house remains open to the public today.

Relevance to Their Time

Boyer and Nissenbaum's Map of Accusers and Accused of witchcraft in Salem. It points out a significant East/West divide of Accusers and Accused, but, like in Holten and Nurse's case, there are a few Accusers and Accused living next door to one another.

The Holten v Nurse trial was important for many reasons, including being one of the few times a neighbour turned against another neighbour to accuse them of Witchcraft in Salem. This was significant because New England had already had disputes over worn-down fences and rogue animals, but there was never a way to properly settle the disputes. Witchcraft is known as a way to end the disputes, as it caused people to vilify one person, and thus end the dispute.

References

This article "Sarah Holten" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Sarah Holten. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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