Who is Ezekiel cheever in The Crucible?

Answer 1

Ezekiel Cheever is the town's tailor and an official clerk of the court.

He is based upon the real Ezekiel Cheever who took part in the Salem Witch Trials:

Ezekiel Cheever (1655-1731)

Ezekiel Cheever was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts on July 1, 1655, the son of noted schoolmaster Ezekiel Cheever, Sr. (1614-1708) and his wife Ellen (. Ezekiel's father, Cheever, Sr., was perhaps New England's most prominent schoolmaster of the colonial period and served as headmaster of the Boston Latin School. At some point in his early life, the young Ezekiel, Jr. emigrated to Salem Town, where he established himself as a respectable tailor on what is now Washington Street. During this period, Ezekiel rose to be a young man of great prominence himself in the town, serving as one of the primary signers for the petition of the Salem troop of commisioned officers in 1678. Eventually, he would later take the oath of fidelity and the freeman's oath himself.

In 1680, Ezekiel married the young Abigail Lippingwell, and soon the young couple would begin to produce a sizable family. Eventually, the Cheever family soon outgrew their modest home in Salem Town, and in 1684, sold it to the Reverend Nicholas Noyes (another central figure of the Salem Witch Trials tragedy). Ezekiel now took possession of the old Lothrop Farm in Salem Village and settled with his wife and now three children.

Cheever continued his tailor business out in the more removed rural community of the village, and established himself as a proud man of the community. In 1689, he was promoted as one of the charter members of the Salem Village Church by Reverend Parris, and would serve as a deacon official for the church for a good many years to come.

In the winter of 1690, Cheever was involved in one of the village's largest upsets. In his rush to fetch a midwife for the birth of his child, Cheever borrowed his neighbor Joseph Putnam's horse without permission, and was accused of being a horse thief. It would take three church meetings before Cheever would eventually apologize - and only then after Parris had lectured him and the congregation on the evils of festering grudges. Despite this offense, Cheever was still regarded as a prominent church official by the Rev. Parris. In October of that same year, Cheever and Parris would journey together as representations of the Salem Village Church to Cambridge University, to discuss upon God's judgement for New England with other ministers and deacons.

Cheever was soon promoted as an official of the court during the Witch Trials hysteria. He was often called upon to present depositions and complaints before the court, and as church deacon, for making calls to the homes of the accused for questioning.

His most prominent position however was as court clerk, due to his knowledge of short hand. Among the many court documents, Cheever's name is seen as the notetaker for a number of infamous witch trials, including the trials of Bridget Bishop and Sarah Good. In much of his notations, a hint of Cheever's own opinions of the proceedings can be sometimes seen. In the trial of Sarah Good, he described her behavior as being "in a very wicked, spiteful manner...with base and abusive words and many lies."

Cheever would play a role as an accuser himself in the trials, filling accusations and complaints of witchcraft against Bridget Bishop, Giles Corey, Abigail Hobbs, and Mary Warren, after witnessing a number of the afflicted girls who had been supposedly tormented by their spectres. He also accused Martha Corey at her questioning of afflicting Ann Putnam, Jr. and Mercy Lewis, based upon testimony he had heard from others and his own observations, protesting that Corey was lying before the court.

After the Witch Trials, Cheever still remained heavily involved in Salem Church affairs. In March of 1695, Reverend Parris and Cheever agreed with the other church brethern to include representatives of the Boston Congregational churches into the village church. After that, much of Cheever's later life is relatively unknown, with the exception that him and his wife Abigail would give birth to three more children, and he would serve as a committee proprietor of land in Dracut, Massachusetts. He died in December of 1731.

Sources:

"The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Seige" by Marilynne K. Roach

"Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of..." edited by William Richard Cutter, William Frederick Adams

Answer 2

Ezekiel Cheever is the town's tailor as well as an official clerk of the court. The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller and published in 1953.