Corwin, Jonathan, 1640-1718

Jonathan Corwin was a judge in various Massachusetts courts and most remembered as one of the judges at the Salem Witchcraft trials.

Jonathan Corwin (1640-1718), son of George and Elizabeth Herbert Whiteby Corwin, was born in Salem, Mass. He married Elizabeth Sheaf Gibbs ( -1718) of Boston in 1676. He held high judicial and political positions and was deputy to the Massachusetts General Court in 1682 and 1689. He was a member of the Provincial Council of Massachusetts from 1692 to 1714 and was appointed one of the Commissioners of Excise and Impost in 1692. He was a Judge of the Superior Court of Common Pleas of Essex, Mass., from 1692 to 1708, and Judge of Probate from 1698 to 1702. In 1707 he was appointed Justice in the Superior Court of Judicature. During the Salem Witchcraft trials, Corwin was associated with John Hawthorne as Magistrates of Salem to issue warrants of arrest against the accused, and to make the preliminary examinations. He was one of the Commissioners at the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer, over which William Stoughton, the Deputy-Governor, presided as chief justice.