Good, Sarah

Sarah Good was born to a prosperous innkeeper in 1653. However, her father's estate became entangled in litigation leaving

Sarah Good in poverty. After the death of her first husband, she married William Good. The Goods lived a life of begging and

poverty in Salem Village. Sarah was regarded as an unsavory person and has come to be regarded through literature as the

stereotypical witch, a disreputable old hag. Good was among the first three women accused of witchcraft in 1692 and was the first

to testify.She never confessed guilt, but, like Tituba, she did accuse Sarah Osborne, an act that was credited with validating the

witchcraft trials and accusations. Good was hanged as a witch on Tuesday July 19, 1692, but not until after the imprisonment of

her six year old child Dorcas, also accused of witchcraft, and the tragic death of her infant in prison.

See Also

Important Persons in the Salem Court Records Salem Witch Trials, Univ. of Virginia

Salem possessed; the social origins of witchcraft by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbau 1974.

"The Untold story of Dorothy Good, Salem's youngest accused witch" by Rachel Christ-Doane. "American Ancestors" magazine, Spring 2023, p. 20-24