# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-stoughton
# Generated: 2026-08-13T23:22:37.654Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-stoughton"
name: "William Stoughton"
slug: "william-stoughton"
description: "William Stoughton was a New England magistrate and colonial administrator in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He was in charge of what have come to be known as the Salem Witch Trials, first as the chief justice of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1692, and then as the chief justice of the Superior Court of Judicature in 1693. In these trials he controversially accepted spectral evidence. Unlike some of the other magistrates, he never admitted to the possibility that his acceptance of such evidence was in error."
tagline: "Salem witch trial magistrate, Massachusetts colonial official (1631–1701)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/WilliamStoughton-painting.png?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Politicians"
  slug: "politicians"
profileType:
  name: "Politician"
  slug: "politician"
birthDate: "1631-09-30"
deathDate: "1701-07-07"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           43.99
  momentum:             0
  historical:           6.567893333333334
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     39.99999999999999
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Stoughton"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stoughton_(Richter)"
    title: "William Stoughton (Richter)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stoughton_(judge)"
    title: "William Stoughton (judge)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stoughton"
    title: "William Stoughton"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%B3"
    title: "ウィリアム・ストートン"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%84%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%2C_%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BC_(%D0%B3%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80)"
    title: "Стафтон, Уильям (губернатор)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A8%81%E5%BB%89%C2%B7%E6%96%AF%E6%89%98%E9%A0%93"
    title: "威廉·斯托頓"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3568979"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump