Sarah Good

Sarah Good (, 1653 – , 1692) was one of the first three women to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials, which occurred in 1692 in colonial Massachusetts. Biography Sarah Good was born in 1653, the daughter of a well-to-do tavern owner in Wenham, Massachusetts named John Solart. In 1669, when she was 16 years old, her father committed suicide. His 70-acre estate was valued around 500 pounds and he didn't leave a will. At the time of his death, the Solarts were one of many families involved in land disputes around Salem. The estate was divided mostly between his widow and two sons, with only a small allotment to be shared among seven daughters, however, even this was denied to the girls by their mother's new husband. Sarah was left with no dowry and no prospects beyond marriage to an indentured servant named Daniel Poole who left her heavily in debt when he died soon after. The small portion of land that Sarah had received from her father's estate was lost in a suit filed by Poole's creditors. She and her new husband sold the remainder leaving them impoverished and homeless, and were forced to beg from the households of Salem. It was rumored that she walked off "muttering" after Samuel Parris gave her charity, and she developed a reputation for being unpleasant whether she received charity or not. When Samuel and Mary Abbey gave her lodgings for a time they said she was "so turbulent a spirit, spiteful and so maliciously bent" that they put her out. Her husband told the examiners that she was "an enemy to all good". When accused of never attending church she said it was because she hadn't any proper attire for the services.