Bridget Bishop was the first woman to be put on trial in the historical Salem witch hunts in the year of 1692. She was subsequently found to be guilty of being a witch and was hanged on June 10, 1692. Bridget was born in England in 1640. When she was twenty years old, she married a man by the name of George Wasselbe. They moved to Salem, Massachusetts. But, six years later, Bridget became a widow. Soon afterwards, she married a nother man by the name of Thomas Oliver. They had a daughter who they named, ironically, Christian. Their marriage was stormy at times, and they sometimes quarreled in public. Being that the community was a Puritan one, this act was looked upon with scorn. Bridget and her husband were taken to the county courts after two such incidents. Once, after they had had a violent argument, they had to stand together in the town square, bound together back-to-back, and gagged as punishment for their sinfulness. When Oliver died in 1679, his death was thought to be suspicious, and Bridget was accused of practicing witchcraft. The case was eventually dismissed. She went on to marry a third man by the name of Edward Bishop. Bishop was a well-respected man in Salem. He not only owned a sawmill, but he also helped to found the Beverly Church. Their marriage was no different from her first two marriages, as she and Bishop quarreled and bickered often. Bridget Bishop was certainly not a typically submissive Puritan wife. On top of the fact that she had three husbands in her lifetime, Bridget was looked upon as being flamboyant and exotic because she wore a black cap, black hat, and a red bodice which was bordered and looped with different colors. Her "showy" dress was also used against her at her trial. Nathaniel Saltonstall, who resigned from the court stated: "little more than wearing scarlet, countenancing shovel board, and getting herself talked about, all offenses, but hardly capital offenses." (Starkey, p. 156)Bridget ope...
