Hanged as a witch, she died on 22 Sep 1692 at Proctor's Ledge, Gallows Hill, Salem, Massachusetts Bay. [6].[7]
Accused as a Witch
Margaret (Stephenson) Scott was executed for witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials
"We have little records concerning Margaret Scott of Rowley. No doubt there were numerous papers in her case but they have been lost or destroyed."[8]
“Margaret Scott became an unpopular and disliked member of the Rowley community in large part because of her habit of begging neighbors and passersby for assistance. Those that denied providing Margaret with money or goods came to expect verbal abuse or, worse, a curse. Not surprisingly, several of her alienated Rowley neighbors appeared at the Salem Court to provide evidence and depositions against her.”[9]
On 4 Aug 1692, 19-year old, Mary Daniel of Rowley testified that Margaret Scott, “beat; pinch'd and afflicted me...”[10] On 15 Sep 1692, Philip Nelson and his wife, Sarah, testified that they often heard Robert Shiletto complaining that Margaret Scott hurt him before he died”[10] On the same day, Daniel Wycomb complained that “five ore sixs years a go Margret Scot of Rowlah” came to his home asking for corn, and after she left, his “oxsen would not draw the cart”[10]
"Shortly after the first court was held in Salem, Frances Wycomb of Rowley became afflicted and remained so into the summer. The seventeen-year-old daughter of one of the town’s leading citizens, already adjusting to a new stepmother, now found her throat choked and lungs pressed by the form of her widowed neighbor Margaret Scott, but whether in person or in specter, the girl was none too sure." [11] She said that Margaret Scott “or hir Apperance came to me and did most greviously torment me by choaking and almost presing me to death...”[10]Mary Warren, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Ann Putnam affirmed they had witnessed the afflictions.[10]Finally, Sarah Coleman, added her complaints of “pricking, pinching, and choaking of me…”.[10]
Indicted and Executed
This was sufficient evidence for the Court of Oyer and Terminer to indict her: "Margaret Scott, of Rowley, In the County of Essex, Widdow...Wickedly Mallitiously and feloniously hath used practiced and Exercised At and in the towne of Salem...in upon and against one Frances Wijcomb, of Rowley...by which sd Wicked Acts the said Frances Wijcomb...was and is Tortured Afflicted Consumed Pined Wasted and Tormented…”.[10][12] On 22 Sep 1692, she was sentenced to death along with seven others and hanged at Proctor's Ledge, Gallows Hill, Salem, Massachusetts Bay.[13][14]
“Firebrands of Hell“
According to Charles Upham, “Nothing has reached us particularly relating to the manner of death of Alice or Mary Parker, Ann Pudeator, Margaret Scott, or Wilmot Reed. They all asserted their innocence; and their deportment gave no ground for any unfavorable comment by their persecutors, who were on the watch to turn every act, word, or look of the sufferers to their disparagement.”[15] To the contrary, Cotton Mather would write of September 22nd, 1692, the deadliest day of the Salem witch trials, that Deacon Nicholas Noyes had said out loud what a sad thing it was to see eight firebrands of Hell hanging there.[16]
Massachusetts Remediation
17 October 1710, Convictions Reversed, The General Court of Massachusetts Bay, An act, the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby are, reversed, and declared to be null and void.[17]
17 Dec 1711, Compensation to Survivors, Governor Dudley, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, approved compensation to such persons as are living, and to those that legally represent them that are dead [For Margaret Scott, no compensation because survivors did not petition][17]
28 Aug 1957, No Disgrace to Descendants, General Court of Massachusetts, ...such proceedings, were and are shocking, and the result of a wave of popular hysterical fear of the Devil in the community, and further declares that, as all the laws under which said proceedings...have been long since abandoned and superseded by our more civilized laws, no disgrace or cause for distress attaches to the said descendants or any of them by reason of said proceedings.[18]
31 Oct 2001, Additional Victims Included, Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives in General Court, AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE WITCHCRAFT TRIAL OF 1692, chapter 145 is hereby further amended by adding Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and Wilmot Redd.[19]"Massachusetts Clears 5 From Salem Witch Trials." [20]
↑ “Salem Witchcraft : with an Account of Salem Village, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects : Upham, Charles Wentworth, 1802-1875, Author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, January 1, 1970. https://archive.org/details/salemwitchcraftw02upha_0/page/324.
↑ "Salem Witch Trials." Salem Massachusetts - Salem Witch Trials The Stones: September 22, 1692. Accessed June 01, 2020. https://www.salemweb.com/memorial/?i=4.
↑ "Witchcraft in Salem Village in 1692 : Together with Some Account of Other Witchcraft Prosecutions in New England and Elsewhere : Nevins, Winfield S : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming." Internet Archive. January 01, 1892. Accessed June 01, 2020. https://archive.org/details/witchcraftinsale00nevi/page/203/mode/1up.
↑ Goss, K. David. The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008. 102.
↑ The Salem Witch Hunt: A Captivating Guide to the Hunt and Trials of People Accused of Witchcraft in Colonial Massachusetts, http://a.co/egS9SMD
↑ 17.017.1 “Salem Witchcraft : with an Account of Salem Village, and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects : Upham, Charles Wentworth, 1802-1875, Author : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, January 1, 1970. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17845/17845-h/salem2-htm.html#Page_ii.480.
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Stevenson-894 and Stephenson-2440 appear to represent the same person because: Margaret was a prominent person at the Salem witch trials. Her husband is noted as Benjamin Scott in both profiles. The Stevenson-894 should be preferred.
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