The Putnams were farmers who followed the simple and austere lifestyle of traditional Puritans. Although the Porters derived much of their wealth from agricultural operations as well, they were also entrepreneurs who developed commercial interests in Salem Town, throughout New England, and in the Caribbean.
The Porters' diversified business interests allowed them to increase their family's wealth while the Putnam family wealth stagnated. An interfamily rivalry began in when a dam and sawmill run by the Porters flooded the Putnam farms, resulting in a lawsuit brought by John Putnam Sr.
A few years later the Putnams petitioned the town in an effort to obtain political independence for the village, and the Porters opposed them. Twenty-six villagers, 11 of whom were Putnams, voted to give Parris a parsonage, a barn, and two acres of land. Some villagers thought that these gifts were too generous. In October a faction of Parris-Putnam supporters was ousted from the village committee and replaced by individuals who were openly hostile to the reverend, including Daniel Andrew, the son-in-law of John Porter Sr.
The new committee quickly voted down a tax levy that would have raised revenue to pay the salary of Reverend Parris.
It is no coincidence, then, that the witchcraft afflictions and accusations originated in the Parris household. In February the reverend returned home from his congregation one evening to discover his nine-year-old daughter, Elizabeth Parris, her year-old cousin, Abigail Williams, and their year-old friend, Ann Putnam the daughter of Thomas Putnam Jr. Realizing that they had been caught attempting to conjure up evil spirits, the girls soon became afflicted by strange fits that temporarily deprived them of their ability to hear, speak, and see.
During these episodes of sensory deprivation, the girls suffered from violent convulsions that twisted their bodies into what observers called impossible positions. When the girls regained control of their senses, they complained of being bitten, pinched, kicked, and tormented by apparitions that would visit them in the night. These ghostly visions, the afflicted girls said, pricked their necks and backs and contorted their arms and legs like pretzels.
Witnesses reported seeing the girls extend their tongues to extraordinary lengths. After examining the afflicted girls, Dr. William Griggs, the village physician, pronounced them under an evil hand. Nearly people were accused of practicing witchcraft in Salem during the summer of Twenty accused witches were executed, 15 women and 5 men. Nineteen were hanged following conviction, and one was pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea.
Four prisoners, three women and a man, died in jail. The trials began in June and continued for four months, the final executions taking place on September In October the governor of Massachusetts, William Phipps, dissolved the tribunal that had been established to preside over the witchcraft prosecutions. The following spring the governor ordered the release of all the accused witches who remained incarcerated upon payment of their fines. The persons accused of witchcraft ranged from a four-year-old girl, Dorcas Good, to an octogenarian farmer, Giles Cory.
The accused also included an angry, muttering beggar, Sarah Good, who rarely attended church, and an ailing village matriarch, Rebecca Nurse, who was respected for her goodness and piety. Yet the witchcraft accusations were far from random.
Historians have identified a pattern of accusations that strongly suggests that the afflicted girls singled out social deviants, outcasts, outsiders, merchants, tradesman, and others who threatened traditional Puritan values. For example, Sarah Osborne, one of the first persons accused of witchcraft in Salem, had earlier scandalized the village by having premarital sexual relations with an indentured servant from Ireland.
He was a successful farmer and active in the community, chosen to the grand jury in , 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 Captain. 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 broke out in , Sarah Osborne was one of the first to be accused. He immigrated with his parents to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in about He married Elizabeth Hutchinson in and the two would have seven children. For years, Nathaniel joined his neighbors in trying to make Salem Village independent from Salem Towne. In addition to wanting the village to have its own church, he also protested that Salem Towne was too far away for its men to be expected to share in mandatory guard duty there.
When Salem Village built its own church in he served on the building committee. Before , he and his brother John invested in an ironworks on lands they owned in nearby Rowley. In , Nathaniel was second in wealth only to his brother Thomas and lived on a acre spread he had acquired from his father-in-law Richard Hutchinson.
In , after his brother, Thomas, died, he became head of the prominent Putnam family. During the witchcraft hysteria of , 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, , in Salem Village. Thomas Putnam, Jr. Upon returning home, he married Ann Carr, who came from a wealthy family, on November 25, The couple would eventually have 12 children. Beginning in the s, Salem Village began the process of trying to separate itself from the larger nearby community of Salem Towne.
The Putnam family supported this effort wholeheartedly. The village finally was allowed to build its own church and hire a minister in 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 division of the community became more and more heated. The Putnams were farmers who followed the simple and austere lifestyle of traditional Puritans.
They, along with other farmers in Salem Village, believed that the thriving economy 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 hand, though the Porters derived much of their wealth from agricultural operations, they were also entrepreneurs who developed commercial interests in Salem Towne as well as other areas and were active in the governmental affairs of the larger community.
Thomas, Jr. But, when his mother died in childbirth in , Thomas Sr. Salem is in Essex County, Massachusetts and was a significant seaport in early America. John Endicott obtained a patent from England and arrived there in Salem originally included much of the North Shore, including Marblehead. He was married to Hannah Lewis who was Mercy Lewis' aunt. His brother, Benjamin Darling , married Mary Richards. Deacon Edward Putnam was about 38 at the time of the trials.
His parents were Thomas Putnam and Ann Holyoke. He married Mary Hale. His brother was Thomas Putnam. Ann Putnam was 12 years old at the time of the trials. She was the daughter of Thomas and Ann Putnam. Ann died in and was the only girl to apologize.
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