William Stoughton
✓ Source-basedfallingSalem witch trial magistrate, Massachusetts colonial official (1631-1701)
William Stoughton was a New England magistrate and colonial administrator in the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
Also inDeutsch
Photos 5
Politicians born in the 1630s 6
About this person
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.
Fame.am measures public visibility signals. It does not measure human value, talent, morality, or credibility.