5 Jul 1675 Jahr - Mary Wolcott, age 17

Beschreibung:

Mary (1675-1752) is the cousin of Ann Putnam Jr., and was born to Jonathan Walcott, Captain of the Salem Village Militia, and Mary Sibley Walcott on July 5, 1675.

When Mary was young, her mother died, and her father married Deliverance Putnam, thus making him the brother-in-law of Thomas Putnam, Jr., who was not only one of the most powerful men in the village but also one of the major accusers.

Her aunt was Mary Sibley Woodrow, who decided to try some white magic to fend off the evil powers in the village. She had shown Tituba and her husband, John Indian, slaves of the Reverend Samuel Parris, how to make the “witch cake” to discover witches that resulted in Elizabeth Parris and Abigail Williams making their first accusations.

For this advice, Mary Sibley Woodrow was suspended from the church; but was later reinstated after she confessed that her purpose was innocent. In the meantime, her 17-year-old niece, Mary Walcott, had gotten caught up in the whole witch hunt affair.

While Mary Walcott was not the most notorious of the accusers, her role in the Salem witch trials was by no means minimal. She was said to have been calm in the beginning. But later, critics accused her of being a witch herself, who foiled her potential adversaries by distracting their attention away from herself onto innocent persons. However, Mary was never indicted for this accusation.

When the trials were over, she married Isaac Farrar on April 29, 1696, and they eventually moved to Townsend, Massachusetts. They had eight children.

She died in 1752 at the age of 77.

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