Joseph Herrick

Joseph Herrick (August 6, 1645 - ca. 1710) was the principal law enforcement officer in Salem, Massachusetts during the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. Joseph was the son of Henry Herrick, who was the fifth son of Sir William Herrick (or Eyrick) of Beau Manor Park, in the parish of Loughborough, in the county of Leicester, England. Henry came first to Virginia, and then to Salem. Joseph was married to Sarah, the daughter of Richard Leach, on February 7, 1667. He was referred to as Governor, which means he had probably been at in command of a military district at some point, or perhaps he had been the magistrate of a West India colony. His descendants were large in number, and have held many important positions; they have preserved a family seal.

Joseph Herrick was a soldier during King Philip's War. In 1692, at age forty-seven, he was a corporal in the village militia. He was the constable of Salem, and, as such, central to the proceedings in the witchcraft trials. At the beginning he was persuaded by the accusers; but by the end he had become a skeptic. In one of the cases, he became an advocate for an accused person, which was probably quite dangerous; and in the end he was a leader in the opposition movement. His parents are mentioned in a court record to have been fined "for aiding and comforting an excommunicated person, contrary to order."

ee also

*George Herrick

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17845/17845-8.txt Project Gutenberg: "Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II"] (by Charles Wentworth Upham)