Timeline: Before 1692 | January 1692 | February 1692 | March 1692 | April 1692 | May 1692 | June 1692 | July 1692 | August 1692 | September 1692 | October 1692 | November/December 1692 | 1693 | The Aftermath
Note that in Old Style dates, January through March of 1692 (New Style) were listed as part of 1691.
January 1692
January 8: Representatives of Salem Village petitioned Salem Town to recognize the village's independence, or at least to tax Salem Village residents only for Salem Village expenses.
January 15-19: In Salem Village, Elizabeth (Betty) Parris and Abigail Williams, ages 9 and 12, both living in the home of Rev. Samuel Parris, Betty's father, began exhibiting strange behavior, making strange noises, and complaining of headaches. Tituba, one of the family's Caribbean slaves, experienced images of the devil and swarms of witches, according to her later testimony.
Betty and Abigail began exhibiting strange fits and jerky movements, much like the children in the Goodwin household in Boston in 1688 (an incident they likely had heard about; a copy of Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions by Rev. Cotton Mather was in Rev. Parris' library).
January 20: St. Agnes Eve was a traditional English fortune-telling time.
January 25, 1692: In York, Maine, then part of the Province of Massachusetts, Abenaki sponsored by the French invaded and killed about 50-100 English colonists (sources disagree on the number), took 70-100 hostage, killed livestock and burned the settlement.
January 26: word of the appointment of Sir William Phips as royal governor of Massachusetts reached Boston.
