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Sarah Good Sarah Good, wife of William Good, laborer or weaver, is, according to Boyer and Nissenbaum, the daughter of John Solart, a well-to-do Wenham innkeeper who drowned himself in 1672 leaving an estate of over £500 including seventy-seven acres of land. After her father's suicide, however, Sarah's fortunes declined rapidly, as her mother remarried and, with her new husband, attempted to deprive her seven children of their rightful share of the estate. Meanwhile Sarah (Solart) had married a penniless indenture servant, Daniel Pool who soon died leaving her with his funeral expenses and other debts. She then married William Good, and unable to pay off a debt
incurred by Poole, some of her land was seized and sold. In dire need they
then sold a second tract. Shortly thereafter, "homeless and utterly
destitute, they appear in Salem Village begging for shelter and provisions from
the householders. Perley has her described as a broken-down outcast, deserted by
her husband, begging food from house to house." It should be noted that her daughter, Dorcas, approximately four to five years of age, was sentenced together with her mother and sent to prison with several dispositions having been filed against her. According to Nevins there was no further record of this child, but says that "certainly she was not executed." Boyer and Nissenbaum, however, note that she was sent to Boston prison for nine months where she remained in heavy irons and add, "Eighteen years later her father would declare: "She hath ever since been very chargeable, having little or no reason to govern herself." Sources: The Witches of Salem, Winfield S. Nevins, Longmeadow
Press, 1994
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