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1 _UID ED084E1D44214CEAB0437FF687A51D822EB6
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Never married. Raised her siblings her parents died. Shewastheprimaryaccuser during the Salem witch trials. In August 1706sheaskedthecongregation of her church for forgiveness for her partintheaccusationsof witchcraft and the deaths of 20 people as a result.
Ann Putnam Jr. Ann Putnam Jr. was the eldest child of Thomas and AnnPutnam. Shewasbornin 1680. Ann was intelligent, well educated, and had aquick wit.Atthetime of the outbreak of witchcraft accusations, Ann was 12yearsold.Shewas a close friend of several of the other afflictedgirls.MercyLewis,17, was a servant in the Putnam house, and Mary Walcott,17,whowas alsoafflicted, was perhaps Ann's best friend. Ann, Mary,andMercywere amongthe first villagers outside of the Parris householdtobeafflicted.
Ann and six other young girls had listened asTituba,Parris'sIndianservant woman, told tales of voodoo and othersupernaturaleventsin hernative Barbados. The girls also engagedinfortunetelling--concerning,for example, matters such as whattradetheirsweethearts might have.During one fortune telling episode,Annreportedseeing a specter in thelikeness of a coffin. After thisincident,Ann,Betty Parris, and AbigailWilliams (the niece and homeresident ofParris)began to display strangesymptoms. They complained ofpain, wouldspeak ingibberish, becamecontorted into strange positions, andwouldcrawl underchairs andtables.
After Betty Parris was sent away, Ann and Abigail becamethemostactive--aswell as the youngest--of the accusers. Ann claimedtohavebeen afflicted bysixty-two people. She testified againstseveralincourt and offered manyaffidavits. Her father, Thomas Putnam,wasthechief filer of complaints inthe village, and maintainedcompletecontrolover the actions of the twoafflicted girls living in hishouse.Most ofthe afflicted and the accuserswere in some way related tothePutnamfamily. Ann Putnam Sr., Ann's mother,would also becomeafflictedattimes, and was in court almost as much as herdaughter andservant.Themother and daughter Ann were a particularlyformidable pairofactors.People from miles around trooped into thecourtroom towatchtheirperformances.
In 1706, Ann offered a public apology for her participationinthewitchtrials at Salem. She stood in church while her apologywasread:'Idesire to be humbled before God. It was a great delusionofSatanthatdeceived me in that sad time. I did not do it out ofanger,malice,orill-will.' Ann was the only one of the afflicted girls tomakesuchanapology. There is some speculation that Ann was as much avictimasthoseshe accused. She may have been manipulated by her parentsandelderstoachieve their ends.
In 1699, both of Ann's parents died within two weeks of eachother.Ann,19,was left to raise her nine orphaned brothers and sisters,ranginginagefrom 7 months to 18 years. Ann never married. She devotedherlifetoraising her siblings. She died in 1716 at the age of 37.
Twelve-year-old Ann Putnam was in many ways the leaderoftheScirclegirls,T the young girls whose accusations sparked theSalemwitchtrials.
During the winter of 1692, the circle girls gatheredsecretlyatReverendParrisus house for evenings of storytelling and magicwiththeParrisslave, Tituba. One of the fortune-telling games was to dropaneggwhiteinto a glass of water and see what shape it took. Oneevening,Annsawthe shape of a coffin. Soon afterwards Ann, BettyParris,andAbigailWilliams started behaving strangelyvbabbling,convulsing,orstaringblankly.
Once diagnosed as victims of witchcraft, the girls wereaskedtoidentifytheir tormentors. Ann pointed fingers at Sarah GoodandSarahOsburne.She was also quick to testify against Tituba,claiminganapparition ofthe West Indian woman had Stortured me mostgrievouslybypricking andpinching me most dreadfully.T
Annus next accusation surprised the village. She claimedtohavebeentormented by the spirit of Martha Corey, a solid memberofthechurch.Despite the lack of hard evidence, Martha was sent toprisonandwaseventually hanged. But Annus bold accusation had sparkedthefearthatany one of the villagers could be a witch.
Ann accused many more in the comingmonthsvincludingfour-year-oldDorcasGood. Annus parents, Thomas and Ann,also accuseddozens oftownspeopleof witchcraftvmost of whom were enemiesof theinfluentialPutnam family.Two of Annus most shockingaccusationsvagainstthe piousRebecca Nurseand the former Salem pastorGeorge Burroughsvmayhave beenprovoked byold family disputes.
By the time the witch hunt was over, Ann had accused 62people.Inthecoming years, she would have a difficult life. Bothherparentsdied,leaving her to raise her nine brothers and sisters onherown. Butshedid something none of the other circlegirlswoulddovpubliclyacknowledge her role in the trials. In 1706 shestoodbeforethe churchas the pastor read her apology.
Ann Putnam's Confession (1706) return
'I desire to be humbled before God for that sad andhumblingprovidencethatbefell my father's family in the year about '92;that I,then beingin mychildhood, should, by such a providence of God, bemadeaninstrument forthe accusing of several persons of agrievouscrime,whereby their liveswere taken away from them, whom now Ihavejustgrounds and good reason tobelieve they were innocent persons;andthatit was a great delusion ofSatan that deceived me in thatsadtime,whereby I justly fear I have beeninstrumental, withothers,thoughignorantly and unwittingly, to bring uponmyself and thisland theguiltof innocent blood; though what was said ordone by meagainst anypersonI can truly and uprightly say, before God andman, I didit not outofany anger, malice, or ill-will to any person, for Ihad nosuchthingagainst one of them; but what I did was ignorantly,beingdeludedbySatan. And particularly, as I was a chief instrumentofaccusingofGoodwife Nurse and her two sisters, I desire to lie inthedust, andtobe humbled for it, in that I was a cause, with others, ofsosadacalamity to them and their families; for which cause I desiretolieinthe dust, and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and fromallthoseuntowhom I have given just cause of sorrow and offence,whoserelationsweretaken away or accused.
[Signed]
The 1692 Salem Witch Trials: Documents and Participants
Selected List of Accusers and Persons Against Whom They Testified FromPaul Boyer and Steven Nissenbaum, editors,Salem-VillageWitchcraft,Boston,Northeastern UP, 1997.
ABBEY, Samuel (Easty, S. Good) ____, Joseph (COMPLAINTS: Alden,ADAMS, Martha (G. Cory) M. Carrier, Flood, Fosdick, How,ALLEN, William (S. Good, Osborn) Read, Rice, M.Toothaker,[?] BAILEY, Elizabeth (Willard) Toothaker)____, Thomas (Willard) ____, Sarah (Nurse) BAYLEY, Joseph(E. Procter) HUBBARD, Elizabeth (B. Bishop, BIBBER, Sarah(Burroughs, G. Cory, Buckley, Burroughs, G. Cory, Easty, S. Good,Hoar, Martin, Easty, S. Good, Hoar, A. Hobbs,G. Nurse, J.Procter, Pudeator, Jacobs Senior, R. Jacobs, Lacey, Tookey,Willard) Martin, Nurse, Osborne, E.Procter,BITTFORD, Stephen (E. Procter) J. Procter, Pudeater,Read,Tituba,BOOTH, Alice (M. Cory) Tookey) ____, Elizabeth (G. Cory,M. Cory, HUGHES, John (S. Good, Osborne) Derich, E. Procter, J.Procter, S. HUTCHINSON, Benjamin (Buckley, Procter, Tookey, Warren,Willard) Burroughs, Easty, Withridge; BRAYBROOK, Samuel (Easty, S.COMPLAINTS: Cary, Easty) Good, Osborne) ____,Joseph (COMPLAINTS: S. BUXTON, John (COMPLAINTS: N. Good,Osborne, Tituba) Abbot, E. Bishop, S. Bishop, Black, INGERSOLL,Nathaniel (Cory, Esty, D. Hobbs, W. Hobbs, Wilds) Martin, Nurse, J.Procter,Willard; CHEEVER, Ezekial (Burroughs, M. COMPLAINTS:Cloyse, Derich, Cory, Tituba; COMPLAINTS: B. Pease,. B. Procter,E. Procter) Bishop, G. Cory, A.Hobbs, Warren) KENNY, Henry (M. Cory)CHILDUN, Johanna (S. Good, Nurse) KETTLE, James (S. Bishop) CHURCHILL,Sarah (G. Jacobs) KNIGHT, Margaret (A. Hobbs, Willard) Senior,Pudeator) ____, Phillip (Willard) CORY, Giles (M. Cory)LEWIS, Mercy (Buckley, Burroughs, DERITCH, John (G. Cory,G. Jacobs) G. Cory, D. Good, A. Hobbs, G. Senior, M. Jacobs)Jacobs Senior, Lacey, Martin, ENDECOTT, Samuel (Bradbury)Osborne, E. Procter, Willard) ENDECOTT, Zerubabel JuniorNICHOLS, Lydia (A. Hobbs, Willard) (Bradbury)____, Thomas (Willard) FERNEAUX, David (S. Procter) PARRIS,Samuel (M. Cory, Martin, FLINT, Joseph (G. Jacobs Senior) Nurse,J. Procter,Tituba,Willard) ____, Thomas (Willard) PRESCOTT,Peter (Burroughs) GADGE, Thomas (S. Good) PRESTON, Thomas(COMPLAINTS: ____, Sarah (S. Good) S. Good, Tituba)GOOD, William (S. Good, Osborne) PUTNAM, Ann Senior (M. Cory,HERRICK, Henry (S. Good) Nurse, Willard) ____, JosephSenior and wife (S. ____, Ann Junior (Bradbury, Good)Buckley, Burroughs, G. Cory,Esty, HOLTON, James (J.Procter) Farrer, A. Faulkner, D. Good, S. Good, Hart, Hoar,A. Hobbs, Burroughs, G. Cory. P. English,S. Martin, Nurse,Osborne, E. Procter, Good, Hart, S. Procter, Tookey, J. Procter,Pudeator, Read, Tituba, Willard) Tookey)SIBLEY, Samuel (J. Procter) ____, Edward (Burroughs, M. Cory, SMALL,Hannah (G. Cory) Easty, Hoar, Nurse, E. Procter, TRASK, Sarah (Esty)Willard; COMPLAINTS: M. Cory, WALCOTT, John (COMPLAINTS: D. Good, S.Good, Ireson, Nurse, Alden, M. Carrier, Flood,Fosdick, Tituba)How, W. Procter, Read, Rice, M. ____, John Senior(Nurse, J. Procter, Toothaker, [?]Toothaker) Willard)____, Jonathan (COMPLAINTS: ____, John Junior (S.Procter; COM- Cloyse, L. Dustin,P.English,Hoar, PLAINTS: Bassett, B.Bishop, Martin, Merrill, E. Procter) Carter, G. Cory, S. Dustin,Easty, A. ____, Jonathan Junior (S.Procter) Hobbs, S. Procter, Roots,Sears, ____, Mary (Bradbury, G. Cory, Warren)Easty, Faulkner, D. Good, S.Good, ____, Jonathan (Easty; COM-Hoar, A. Hobbs, G.JacobsSenior, PLAINTS: D. Good. Nurse)Nurse, E. Procter, J. Procter, S. ____, Nathaniel (COMPLAINTS: Fos-Procter, Pudeator, Read, Tookey) dick, Paine)WARREN, Mary (Bradbury, Buckley, ____, Thomas [Junior] (Burroughs,G. Cory, Easty, Faulkner,G.Jacobs M. Cory, Farrer, Hoar, Martin,Senior, Lacey, E. Procter, J.Proc- Nurse, Parker, E. Procter, J. Proc-ter, Pudeator, Read, Tookey, J. ter, S. Procter, Tituba, Willard;Toothaker, Samuel Wardwell) COMPLAINTS: Abbot, Bassett, E. WHIPPLE,Joseph (COMPLAINTS: Bishop, S. Bishop, Black, Carter, Fosdick, Paine)Cary, L. Dustin, S. Dustin, M. WILKINS, Benjamin (Willard) English,P. English, Esty, S. Good, ____, Bray (Willard) Hoar, D. Hobbs, W.Hobbs, Martin, ____, Henry Senior (Willard) Morrill, Osborne, S.Procter, Root, ____, John (Willard) Sears, Tituba, Wilds)____, Rebecca (Willard) RAIMENT, Thomas (COMPLAINTS: ____, Samuel(Willard) Derich, Ireson, Pease, B. Procter) WILLIAMS, Abigail (Buckley,Easty, SHAW, William and wife (S. Good) S. Good, G. Jacobs Senior,Martin, SHELDON, Ephraim (Cloyse, M. Cory, Nurse, Osborne, E.Procter, J. Nurse) Procter) ____, Susannah(B. Bishop, Buckley, WOODWELL, Elizabeth (G. Cory)
Thomas
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