Deliverance Dance was one of many women accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials. While she was not from Salem, the trials had spread to nearby cities, which included her hometown of Hanover.
She would go on to survive her being accused and live to old age.
Deliverance Dane Trial
The Dane family was an influential family that lived in Andover, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Andover was a short distance from Salem, and the witchcraft trials had spread there. However, the folks in Andover did not go along blindly with the trials as those in Salem did, and as a result, little happened.
Deliverance had married into the Dane family and had become loved within her husband's family. Her husband, Nathaniel Dane, was the son of Reverend Francis Dane, who had been a critic of the trials.
Due to his criticism of the trials, it should not come as a shock that his daughters and daughter-in-law were among the accused of witchcraft.
Most of those accused in Salem and other parts of the colony at one point shared skepticism about the trials.
As the trials continued and more accusations were brought, the accusers became more political and pointed in their accusations. Their accusations still relied heavily on spectral evidence.
Francis Dane's daughter Abigail was convicted of witchcraft, but the sentence was never carried out due to her pregnancy.
Deliverance's trial would be after Abigail, but many of the records are lost. The record that is available seems to have Deliverance accusing Francis Dane of tormenting the afflicted. It is incredible to think that she would accuse her father-in-law by using the same sort of spectral evidence that was used against her.
Her testimony was ignored, and Francis Dane was not arrested. At the time, Francis would have been approximately 76 years old, which was well beyond the life expectancy.
Deliverance was also never executed despite the admission.
She would go on to live in Andover for the rest of her life and die in 1735 at the age of 82.
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