Salem Village

Salem Village

John Putnam, Jr. (1657-1722) – John Putnam was referred to as "John, Jr." in the witch trial documents to differentiate him from his uncle, past the same name. He was built-in to Nathaniel Putnam and Elizabeth Hutchinson Putnam on March 26, 1657, in Salem Village. He would marry Hannah Cutler on December 2, 1678, and the couple would have 15 children. John and his big family lived on a farm in Salem Village that was located west of Hathorne's Hill almost the Ipswich River. His cousins, Thomas and Edward Putnam lived nearby. For unknown reasons he had the nickname of "Carolina John." John was appointed to several small-scale political positions and also worked every bit a road surveyor. During the witchcraft excitement, he was serving every bit a lawman in Salem Hamlet.

He and his showtime cousin, Edward Putnam, signed the complaint that put Rebecca Towne Nurse backside bars, also as the complaint confronting four-year-old Dorcas Proficient. Along with other members of his family, he would as well swear out complaints and show against numerous other people including, Giles Corey, Bridget Bishop, Mary Easty, Sarah Cloyce, and many others. During the trial of Rebecca Nurse, Mary Easty, and Sarah Cloyce, he would give a deposition blaming the death of their eight-week-old child, who appeared to exist having fits, on witchcraft. In the same degradation, he would as well say that he, too, had been afflicted and was taken by a strange type of fit. Later, when the whole witch matter was over, several of the wronged members of the church building met at his home in 1698, where the bulk agreed to live and "dearest together." This was just one week after the ordination of the Reverend Joseph Green. Putnam died in September 1722 in Salem Village.

John Putnam, Sr. (1627-1710) – Referred to as "John, Sr." in the witch trial documents to differentiate his testimonies from those of his nephew'southward, this John Putnam was the son of the original patriarch, John Putnam and his wife, Priscilla Gould Putnam. He had a son named John, but he had already died by the time of the witch trials. He also had a son named Johnathan, who does announced in the trial documents. John Putnam was christened on May 27, 1627, in Aston Abbotts, Bucks, England and immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his parents in about 1634. He married Rebecca Prince on September 3, 1652. The two settled in Salem Village and would take x children. Before 1673, he and his brother Nathaniel invested in an ironworks on lands they endemic in nearby Rowley. When the financially-troubled enterprise burned in 1674, they sued the managers for negligence.

The Putnams were active in the village church and in 1683 when the Reverend George Burroughs' salary was halted for his services, he but stopped meeting his congregation and left for Maine. The Salem Hamlet committee, which included John Putnam, Sr., threatened to sue him for leaving his post. Being a man of honour, Burroughs returned to Salem Village to settle accounts, which included money owed to him too as debts he owed to others of the customs. Upon his render, he was threatened with arrest on a complaint made past John Putnam. Though information technology was found that Burroughs did not owe Putnam any money, he spent i night in jail. The adjacent day, the money owed to Burroughs was paid and he, in turn, paid his debts. Obviously, there was some bad blood between the pair, that would later ascent again near a decade subsequently.

When the witch accusations began in 1692, i of the first to exist accused was Sarah Warren Prince Osborne, with whom the Putnams were in a legal battle with. Sarah, who had previously been married to Robert Prince, thought to take been John's wife'south brother, had remarried after her offset hubby died and was allegedly attempting to take over her sons' inheritance. The powerful Putnams had stepped in to salve their nephews, James and Joseph Prince, from existence cheated. Osborne would die in prison just a few months later. He and his wife, Rebecca, would too testify against the Reverend George Burroughs, who would be hanged on August 19, 1692. He would also give depositions against Rebecca Towne Nurse,  and John Williard, all of whom would exist executed. The only person that he gave testimony against, that didn't see the stop of a noose, was Sarah Smith Buckley. John Putnam died on April seven, 1710.

Jonathan Putnam (1658-1739) – Born to John Putnam and Rebecca Prince Putnam on March 17, 1658, in Salem Hamlet, Jonathan would grow up to marry Elizabeth Whipple in about 1681. Elizabeth died either while she was giving birth to her just kid or, shortly thereafter in Baronial 1682. Her son died a few months after. Jonathan then married Lydia Potter in 1683 and the couple would somewhen have ix children. Jonathan Putnam congenital a house, non far from his father's on the Topsfield road. He was a successful farmer and active in the community, chosen to the chiliad jury in 1683, and as a highway surveyor the following year. He also served as a selectman for a number of years. Serving in the Salem Militia, he rose to the rank of Helm. Like his father and other members of his family, they saw it their duty to protect their nephews from Sarah Warren Prince Osborne, who they claimed was cheating their nephews out their inheritance. When the witch hysteria bankrupt out in 1692, Sarah Osborne was one of the beginning to be accused. Jonathan would testify against her, besides every bit Mary Easty, Rebecca Nurse, Dorcas Good, John Williard, and Sarah Buckley.

Nathaniel Putnam (1619-1700) – The son of the original patriarch, John Putnam and his married woman, Elizabeth Gould Putnam, Nathaniel was baptized on Oct 11, 1619, at Aston Abbotts, Bucks, England. He immigrated with his parents to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in nigh 1634. He married Elizabeth Hutchinson in 1650 and the two would have 7 children. For years, Nathaniel joined his neighbors in trying to make Salem Village independent from Salem Towne. In addition to wanting the village to accept its own church, he as well protested that Salem Towne was too far abroad for its men to exist expected to share in mandatory guard duty there. Because he was so outspoken, in 1669 a Salem court ordered him to apologize publicly or pay a fine of £twenty. When Salem Village built its ain church in 1672 he served on the building committee.

Before 1673, he and his brother John invested in an ironworks on lands they endemic in nearby Rowley. When the financially-troubled enterprise burned in 1674, they sued the managers for negligence. In 1681, Nathaniel was second in wealth only to his brother Thomas and lived on a 75-acre spread he had caused from his father-in-law Richard Hutchinson. In 1886, after his brother, Thomas, died, he became caput of the prominent Putnam family unit. During the witchcraft hysteria of 1692, he signed complaints against Elizabeth Fosdick and Elizabeth Paine, and would also serve as a witness against John Willard and Sarah Buckley. Nathaniel died on July 23, 1700, in Salem Village.

Evil Man

Evil Man

Thomas Putnam, Jr. (1651-1699) – A 3rd-generation member of Salem Village, Thomas was a significant accuser in the notorious 1692 Salem witch trials. He was born to immigrant Thomas Putnam and Ann Holyoke on January 12, 1651 (or '52) in Salem Village, Massachusetts. When he grew up, he served in the local militia and fought in King Phillip's State of war (1675-1678), obtaining the rank of sergeant. Upon returning home, he married Ann Carr, who came from a wealthy family, on Nov 25, 1678. The couple would somewhen have 12 children. Beginning in the 1660s, Salem Village began the process of trying to split up itself from the larger nearby community of Salem Towne. The Putnam family supported this endeavor wholeheartedly. The hamlet finally was allowed to build its ain church and hire a government minister in 1672. All the same, not all of Salem Village'south residents supported this thought, which would eventually split the settlement into two factions. Heading upwards the group who supported the independence of Salem Village was Thomas Putnam, Jr. Opposing him and his followers were the powerful Porter family. Both families were early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, both families had been successful, and both were large landowners in Salem Village. Over time, the segmentation of the community became more and more than heated.

Thomas Putnam, Jr. appears to have been an embittered man for a variety of reasons. The Putnams were farmers who followed the elementary and austere lifestyle of traditional Puritans. They, along with other farmers in Salem Village, believed that the thriving economic system of Salem Towne, and more specifically, thriving merchants, made people too individualistic, which was in opposition to the communal nature that Puritanism mandated. On the other mitt, though the Porters derived much of their wealth from agricultural operations, they were as well entrepreneurs who developed commercial interests in Salem Towne as well every bit other areas and were active in the governmental affairs of the larger customs. Due to these differing viewpoints, the Porters' diversified business interests allowed them to increase their family's wealth, becoming one of the wealthiest families in the area. In the meantime, the Putnam family's wealth was stagnated.

Further adding to Putnam's issues of "wealth" was the decease of his father in 1686. Thomas, Jr.'s male parent and his wife Ann Holyoke had built-in ten children. But, when his mother died in childbirth in 1665, Thomas Sr. married for a second time to a adult female named Mary Veren on November 14, 1666. This union would produce i child — Joseph, who was born on September 14, 1669. Thomas, Jr. did not get forth well with his younger half-brother Joseph and when his father died in 1686, he felt cheated out of his inheritance when Thomas Sr. left almost all of his estate to his 2nd wife Mary, and their son Joseph. Thomas, Jr. and his blood brother would competition the will, just their efforts were unsuccessful. Adding insult to injury, his half-brother Joseph married Elizabeth Porter, the daughter of his enemy State of israel Porter, on Apr 21, 1690.

His married woman, Ann Carr Putnam, had also been disinherited. When her wealthy begetter died, she got nix, as his estate was given to her brothers. She also tried unsuccessfully to sue for her inheritance. She besides was embittered and likewise said to take been a adult female of a highly sensitive temperament. Before she had married Thomas Putnam, she had moved to Salem with her sister, Mary. When her sister's three children died in quick succession, followed presently by Mary herself in 1688, Ann's mental stability was severely shaken and she went into a pass up.

It was non long after the first of the "afflicted girls", Elizabeth Parris began to have fits, that Thomas' own daughter, Ann Putnam Jr., would also begin to testify symptoms of having been afflicted past witchcraft. She was followed past Putnam'south niece, Mary Walcott, and a servant girl who lived in the Putnam household named Mercy Lewis. Twelve-yr-erstwhile Ann Putnam, Jr. would become the most prolific accuser in the witchcraft trials, her name appearing over 400 times in the courtroom documents. By the time the hysteria was over, she had accused nineteen people and had seen eleven of them hanged.

Thomas Putnam, Jr. gave his girl's accusations legal weight in first seeking warrants against the accused witches in February 1692. He would likewise participate by writing downwards the depositions of many of the "afflicted" girls, personally swear out a number of complaints, and write messages of encouragement to the judges. It is obvious that Thomas Putnam, Jr. had a swell influence on the shape and progression of the trials. Though he has never been accused of deliberately setting up the hysteria, he, his family, and his friends benefited to some extent past eliminating their enemies.

Thomas Putnam, Jr. died on May 24, 1699, in Salem Hamlet. Just two weeks afterwards, on June 8th, his wife, Ann Carr Putnam, too passed away. Their girl, Ann Putnam Jr., was left to bring up their younger children.

Captain Jonathan Walcott (1639–1699) – Born to William and Alice Ingersoll Walcott in 1639, William grew upward to wednesday Mary Sibley about 1664 and the couple would have half-dozen children, one of whom was Mary Walcott, who would later on get 1 of the "afflicted girls" in the witchcraft hysteria of 1692. During the years of 1675-76, he served in King Phillip'due south War. Mary Sibley died on December 28, 1683, and Captain Walcott would marry a second time to Deliverance Putnam on Apr 23, 1685. Deliverance was the sis of Thomas Putnam, Jr. The couple would accept seven children. A wheelwright by trade, Walcott also owned land side by side to his Uncle Nathaniel Ingersoll. In 1690, Jonathan Walcott was elected helm of the war machine company at Salem Village. His Uncle Nathaniel Ingersoll would too serve in the Salem militia, kickoff as a corporal, then a sergeant, and finally every bit a lieutenant. When the witch hysteria bankrupt out in 1692, he became involved and was known to have signed many of the complaints confronting the accused. He died on Dec 16, 1699.

Mary Walcott (1675-1752) – The daughter of Helm Jonathan Walcott and the cousin of Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott was a regular witness in the witch trials of the Salem witch trials, testifying that she was afflicted by 59 people. See more than HERE

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated Oct 2021.

Also See:

The Salem Witchcraft Hysteria

Accused "Witches"

The "Afflicted" Girls

New England Puritans

Timeline of the Witchcraft Hysteria

Pages: 1 2 iii