In 1680, after a hurricane hit Barbados, damaging much of his property, Parris sold a little of his land and returned to Boston, where he brought his slave Tituba and married Elizabeth Eldridge.

Although the plantation supported his merchant ventures, Parris was dissatisfied with his lack of financial security and began to look to the ministry.

[6] Its dispersed settlement pattern may have resulted in a lack of a sense of common purpose that may have united more orderly and arranged communities.

James Bayley (1673–79) and George Burroughs (1680–83) each stayed only a few years, departing after the congregation failed to pay their full rates.

Further tension was caused by Parris' delay in accepting the position and his inability to resolve his parishioners' disputes.

During the 16-month duration of the Salem witch trials phenomenon, 19 persons were hanged, and one, Giles Corey, was pressed to death.

[12] Parris was then involved in a dispute with his congregation over parsonage land he had seized to compensate himself for the salary he was owed.

[4][12] Parris features in Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible, set against the backdrop of the witch trials.

Author John Neal made Parris a character in Rachel Dyer (1828), which is the first bound novel about the witch trials.

[13] In this version of the story his name is Matthew Paris,[14] a socially isolated man who is threatened by Tituba's relationship with John Indian and accuses her out of sexual frustration.

Although I have delved into many old records and used all reasonable care to dig up whatever historical facts are available, the research has been hampered by unusual difficulties."