Escaping Salem Character Analysis

Richard Godbeer

Historian Richard Godbeer is the author of Escaping Salem. Throughout the book, Godbeer offers commentary about 17th-century culture, connections between various players in the history of the Stamford witch trials, and the larger context… read analysis of Richard Godbeer

Katherine (Kate) Branch

Kate Branch was a 17-year-old servant of Daniel and Abigail Wescot, a prominent and wealthy Stamford couple. When Kate began to experience terrifying, painful fits (alternating episodes of convulsions and paralysis) in the spring… read analysis of Katherine (Kate) Branch

Elizabeth Clawson

Elizabeth Clawson was accused of witchcraft by Katherine Branch, the 17-year-old servant girl of the prominent Wescot family. At this time, Goody Clawson was in her sixties. She was known in Stamford for her… read analysis of Elizabeth Clawson

Mercy Disborough

Mercy Disborough accused of witchcraft by Katherine Branch, the 17-year-old servant girl of the prominent Wescot family. At this time, Goody Disborough was in her early fifties. Though Kate had never met the woman… read analysis of Mercy Disborough

Daniel Wescot

Daniel Wescot the patriarch of the well-to-do Wescot family of Stamford, Connecticut; he was Abigail Wescot’s husband and Joanna Wescot’s father. When the Wescots’ 17-year-old servant girl, Katherine Branch, began experiencing nightly… read analysis of Daniel Wescot

Abigail Wescot

Abigail Wescot was Daniel Wescot’s wife and Joana Wescot’s mother. Abigail enjoyed the privilege of being referred to by the honorific “Mistress” rather than the humbler title “Goodwife” or “Goody,” as most Puritan… read analysis of Abigail Wescot

Jonathan Selleck

Jonathan Selleck was the wealthiest and most prominent of the four magistrates comprising Stamford’s local court, which oversaw the law and community disputes. Daniel Wescot repeatedly brought his servant Katherine Branch to Selleck’s home so… read analysis of Jonathan Selleck

William Jones

William Jones was Connecticut’s deputy governor and a member of the special court assembled to try the accused witches of Stamford and Compo in 1692. Jones, like Jonathan Selleck, was aware of how carefully… read analysis of William Jones

Mary Newman

Mary Newman was a Stamford resident who testified against Elizabeth Clawson after Goody Clawson was accused of witchcraft by Katherine Branch. Goody Newman claimed that Goody Clawson bewitched and killed three of her family’s… read analysis of Mary Newman

Sarah Bates

Sarah Bates was a local Stamford midwife who examined Katherine Branch in order to determine whether she was truly being tormented by witches as she slept. Sarah could not determine what the cause of Kate’s… read analysis of Sarah Bates

David Selleck, Ebenezer Bishop, and Abraham Finch

David Selleck, Ebenezer Bishop, and Abraham Finch were three Stamford men who took turns keeping watch over Katherine Branch for several nights in order to investigate her claims of being tormented by witches in her… read analysis of David Selleck, Ebenezer Bishop, and Abraham Finch

Goody Miller

Goody Miller was a Stamford woman whom Katherine Branch accused of witchcraft after allegedly seeing nightly visions of Goody Miller nursing a black dog from an extra breast below her arm. Witches were, at the… read analysis of Goody Miller

Mary Staples

Mary Staples was an older woman and whom Katherine Branch named as one of the many supposed witches who tormented Kate nightly. This wasn’t the first time she’d been accused of witchcraft. Mary Staples, as… read analysis of Mary Staples

Goodman Grey

Goodman Grey was a Compo resident who accused Mercy Disborough of being a witch. As evidence, he provided testimony about several suspicious incidents concerning Goody Disborough. Once, Goody Disborough sold Goodman Grey a kettle which… read analysis of Goodman Grey

Minor Characters

Joanna Wescot

Joanna Wescot was the young daughter of Daniel and Abigail Wescot, a prominent Stamford couple. Years before the Wescots’ servant Katherine Branch began experiencing mysterious fits in 1692, Joanna herself was plagued by inexplicable fits.

Reverend John Bishop

Reverend John Bishop was an Oxford-educated Stamford resident who, at the behest of Daniel Wescot, helped to examine Katherine Branch and evaluate whether or not she was truly being tormented by witches.

Thomas Hanford

Thomas Hanford was a Stamford-area pastor who helped Reverend John Bishop to examine Katherine Branch.

Mary Harvey

Mary Harvey was Mary Staples’s daughter and Hannah Harvey’s mother. Katherine Branch accused all three women of being witches who appeared to her each night to torment her and tempt her into the service of Satan.

Hannah Harvey

Hannah Harvey was Mary Harvey’s daughter and Mary Staples’s granddaughter. Hannah was one of the suspected witches whom Katherine Branch accused of tormenting her each night.

Edward Jesop

Edward Jesop was a Compo resident who accused Mercy Disborough of being a witch. As evidence, he told an anecdote about how, during a debate over scripture at a dinner party, the pages of the host’s Bible blurred when Goody Disborough got near them.

Escaping Salem Characters