Putnam, Ann, Jr.
Born: 1680
Salem, Massachusetts
Died: 1717
Salem, Massachusetts
A main accuser in the Salem witch trials
Modern historians have portrayed Ann Putnam, Jr. as a victim of the Salem witch trials. Although she was one of the primary accusers who sent twenty innocent people to their deaths as convicted witches, she had been trapped in a vicious cycle of events caused in part by her parents. Her father, Thomas Putnam, was seeking revenge on his enemies in a longstanding land feud. Her mother, Ann Putnam, Sr., had become immersed in the occult (attempts to influence events through supernatural forces) as a way to avenge the death, years earlier, of her own beloved sister. Thirteen years after the end of the Salem trials, Ann, Jr. came forward as the only accuser to issue an apology to the families of the executed witches.
Influenced by Parents' Obsessions
Ann Putnam, Jr. was born in Salem Village, Massachusetts, and grew up in a tense and troubled household. For over fifty years her father's family had carried on a boundary dispute with their neighbors, creating deep divisions within the community. As owners of large tracts of land, the Putnams wieldedconsiderable political power and they were leading a campaign to keep rural Salem Village separate from the more urban Salem Town.
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