apr 1, 1660 - Mary Sibly, age 32

Description:

Mary was a key but minor figure in the trials. She was the neighbor of the Parris family who advised John Indian to make a witch’s cake. The denouncing of that act has been seen as one of the triggers of the witch craze that followed.

Born:
April 21, 1660,
Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts

Died: 1761

Parents:
Benjamin Woodrow
Born: 1635
Died: 1697

Rebecca Canterbury
Born: 1630
Died: 1663

Education: Unknown

Spouse:
Samuel Sibley (or Siblehahy or Sibly)
Born:
February 12, 1656
Died: 1708

Married: 1686

Children: At least 7

Nothing is known of her education, but in 1686, when Mary was about 26 years old, she married Samuel Sibley. Their first two children were born before 1692, one was born in 1692 (a son, William), and four more were born after the events at Salem, after 1693.

Samuel Sibley's connection to Salem accusers is through his sister Mary, who was married to Captain Jonathan Walcott, and their daughter was Mary Wolcott. Mary Wolcott became one of the accusers of witches in the Salem community in May 1692 when she was about 17 years old. Those she accused included Ann Foster.

Mary Wolcott’s father John had remarried after Samuel's sister Mary died, and Mary Wolcott's new stepmother was Deliverance Putnam Wolcott, a sister of Thomas Putnam, Jr. Thomas Putnam Jr. was one of the accusers at Salem as were his wife and daughter, Ann Putnam, Sr. and Ann Putnam, Jr.

The primary evidence in the trial against the group was the witch's cake, a common folk magic tool made using the urine of the afflicted girls. Supposedly, sympathetic magic meant that the "evil" afflicting them would be in the cake, and, when a dog consumed the cake, it would point to the witches who had afflicted them. While this was apparently a known practice in English folk culture to identify likely witches, the Rev. Parris in his Sunday sermon denounced even such well-intentioned uses of magic, as they could also be “diabolical” (works of the devil).

The witch's cake didn't stop the afflictions of the two girls. Instead, two additional girls began to show some afflictions: Ann Putnam Jr., connected to Mary Sibley through her husband's brother-in-law, and Elizabeth Hubbard.

Mary Sibley confessed in church that she had erred, and the congregation acknowledged their satisfaction with her confession by a show of hands. She probably thereby avoided being accused as a witch.

The next month, the town records note her suspension from communion and restoration to full congregational inclusion when she made her confession.

"March 11, 1692,

"Mary, the wife of Samuel Sibley, having been suspended from communion with the church there, for the advices she gave John [husband of Tituba] to make the above experiment, is restored on confession that her purpose was innocent."

Neither Mary nor Samuel Sibley appears on the 1689 register of covenanted church members of the Salem Village church, so they must have joined after that date.

According to genealogical records, she lived well into her nineties, dying about 1761

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