Ann Putnam née Carr (15 Jun 1661-8 Jun 1699) is frequently referred to as "Ann Putnam Senior" to differentiate from her daughter of the same name as both featured prominently in the Salem Witch trials.
Born in Salisbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony on 15 Jun 1661 [1]to George, Sr. and Elizabeth (Dexter) Carr.[2] [3]She was their tenth and final child, the fourth daughter. Of interest to the trial, she was the sister-in-law of Reverend James Bayley through her older sister, Mary.[4] On 15 Nov 1678, she married Thomas Putnam in Salem. The couple would have twelve children of their own (Ann Jr., Thomas, Elizabeth, Ebenezer, Deliverance, Sarah, Timothy, Abigail, Susanna and twin Sarah (again), Seth, and Experience “Peedee”) before Ann died 8 Jun 1699. [5][6][7] Thomas preceded her in death by only 15 days.
Ann Sr. and Thomas’ eldest daughter, Ann “Junior” Putnam, would be a primary source of the allegations of witchcraft.
Described as a "woman of highly sensitive temperament, apparently easily overwrought upon and deceived” [4]she would play an important role as an accuser and primary witness in the Salem Witch Trials.[4] Both Ann Sr. and Thomas are generally considered to be devout and true believers in the accusations well into the 1800s, but some claims of personal retribution have been made in the three hundred years since. [4] [5]“Certain members of the Putnam family had bitter disputes with other families, mainly over land, and one way for them to take revenge on anyone they took a dislike to was to accuse them of witchcraft. Others joined in and so the ‘witchcraft hysteria’ spread.”[2]
After the conclusion of the trials in spring 1693, Ann, Thomas, and Ann Junior were generally in poor health. [4]This led to the premature death of the two eldest at aged 38 and 47, respectively. With two children predeceasing them, this left Ann junior to raise her remaining nine siblings at the age of twenty, she would die aged 36.
- ^ Godfrey Memorial Library; Middletown, Connecticut; American Genealogical Biographical Index; Volume Number: 25
- ^ a b Title: The Carr family records : embacing [sic] the record of the first families who settled in America an Source Information Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
- ^ Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Title: A History of the Putnam Family in England and America, Recording the ancestry and descendants of Jo Source Information Ancestry.com. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
- ^ a b Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors.
- ^ Putnam Family Ancestry.com. Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775[database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016. This collection was indexed by Ancestry World Archives Project contributors. Original data:Mackenzie, George Norbury, and Nelson Osgood Rhoades, editors. Colonial Families of the United States of America: in Which is Given the History, Genealogy and Armorial Bearings of Colonial Families Who Settled in the American Colonies From the Time of the Settlement of Jamestown, 13th May, 1607, to the Battle of Lexington, 19th April, 1775. 7 volumes. 1912. Reprinted, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1966, 1995.
- ^ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9071810/ann-putnam U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com, 2012, Lehi, UT, USA