Reverend Ward Phillips

Reverend Ward Phillips

One of New Jerusalem’s founders, his life is discussed in varying degrees of detail in any account of the town’s early history. He was born around 1660, in Salem, to Adonai and Charity (Gamwell) Phillips, a baker. One of six children born to his parents, though only he and a sister survived until adulthood, he was educated at Harvard and became a minister, first in Cambridge, then later New Jerusalem, moving there in 1683 to become the first minister of the new church.
He served as an instructor at the Missituk College (now Missituk University) and a donation of forty-four books from his personal library formed part of the school’s early library. During the Witch Trials of 1692, Phillips served as a zealous investigator and, when the trials took a hysterical turn toward mass-panic, he was one of advocates to Governor Phipps for their suspension. He remained in New Jerusalem until his death in 1717.
Phillips is frequently mentioned in the surviving diaries and other papers from New Jerusalem’s earliest years. Despite having taken such a prominent role in the otherwise discredited Witch Trials of 1692, Phillips remained a well-regarded man in the community, unlike others whose reputations were tainted by the association, at least when it came to those living in New Jerusalem.
A number of veiled references suggest that Phillips was instrumental in the quiet campaign against Goody Fowler and her circle of allies, leading up to her murder in 1704. Despite the general rejection of witchcraft claims by after the debacle at Salem, it is clear that most residents of New Jerusalem viewed the old woman as an immediate and extreme supernatural threat to the community. His papers, several secondary sources note, are held at Missituk University and New Jerusalem’s First Baptist Church .
Phillips was the father of seven children, all but one of whom survived to adulthood. The Phillips’ (and related families) are a large and prosperous segment of New Jerusalem’s leading families. In addition to Rev. Lawrence Phillips and his efforts to preserve, another Phillips — Elihu, one of Ward Phillips’ grandchildren — is mentioned in reference to later witchcraft accusations, being one of the vigilante party which some sources claim drove the accused witches Sermon Bishop and Richard Russell from New Jerusalem in 1752.

Life

1660 CE 1717 CE 57 years old

Birthplace

Salem, Massachusetts

Place of Death

New Jerusalem, Massachusetts

Sex

Male

Gender

Man