Thomas Putnam, Jr. was born 22 March 1652 in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, to Thomas Putnam (1615-1686) and Ann Holyoke (1621-1665) and died 3 June 1699 Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States of unspecified causes. He married Ann Carr (1661-1699) on 25 September 1678 in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts.
Family Background
His father, Lt. Thomas Putnam Sr. (1615–1686), was one of Salem's wealthiest residents. He was excluded from major inheritances by both his father and father-in-law. His half-brother, Joseph, who had benefited most from their father's estate, married into the rival Porter family, fueling ill will between the clans.
Sergeant Thomas Putnam had received a liberal education for his times, but with others whom we should call more enlightened, he took a most prominent part in the witchcraft delusion of 1692, being, in fact, second to none but Rev. Parris in the fury with which he seemed to ferret out the victims of his young daughter's insane desire for notoriety. His wife also took a prominent part in those proceedings.
She was the sister of Mary Carr (1651-1688), wife of James Bayley (1650-1706), whose ministry at the village was the cause of so much dissension and which indirectly added to the bitterness of the witchcraft persecutions.
By nature, Mrs. Putnam was a woman of a highly sensitive temperament, apparently easily wrought upon and deceived. The Carrs seem all to have been rather weak in that respect, although of good social position.
Sergeant Putnam, on the contrary, was of a decisive and obstinate nature; he had great influence in the village and did not hesitate to use it; he had been in the Narragansett fight, belonged to the company of troopers, and was parish clerk. Many of the records of the witchcraft proceedings are in his hand. He wrote in a fine, clear, and beautiful hand.
It was in the houses of Thomas and of Rev. Mr. Parris that the "bewitched" children first met to accomplish their pranks. In the "circle" were the daughter Ann and a maid-servant of Mrs. Putnam, Mary Lewis by name.
Afterward, at the trials of the accused persons, Mrs. Putnam was often seized with strange attacks and imagination, evidently produced by the over-excitement and consequent strain on her brain. At these times, she was a prominent witness, but after this was all over and Parris was attempting to retain his hold on the parish and to dicker with the inhabitants over terms of settlement, she seems to have refused him her aid or encouragement.
That Sergeant Putnam and probably his wife were firm believers in the whole matter. There seems to be little doubt. He showed a lamentable lack of common sense, but so did many others. The strain was too much for him, and he died shortly after the trials; his wife followed him to the grave a few weeks later." (Eben Putnam, Volume 1, History, pp. 38-39, 1891.)
Children Born in Salem
Both Thomas Putnam and Ann Putnam Sr. died in 1699, leaving 10 children orphans, two children having predeceased them. With the exception of Deliverance (and the infant deaths), all of the above-named children were alive in 1715. See Ann Putnam's will.
Children born in Salem Village:
- Ann, b. 18 Oct. 1679. Primary accuser during Salem witch trials
- Thomas, b. 9 Feb. 1681; bapt. 1st Ch., Salem, Aug. 1681; aged 14 and upwards, 4 Sept. 1699, when he chooses his cousin, John Putnam Jr., as guardian.
- Elizabeth, b. 29 May 1683; bapt. 1st Ch., May 1784; aged 14 and upwards, in 1702; guardianship to Jonathan Putnam.
- Ebenezer, b. 25 July 1685; bapt. Oct. 1685; 10 Oct. 1699, aged 14, appoints his uncle Edward as guardian.
- Deliverance, b. 11 Sept. 1687; bapt. 1st Ch., 1 July 1688; not mentioned in her sister Ann's will, 1715, presumably dead; Rev. Jos. Green in his diary notes the funeral of "Dell Putnam" under date of Dec. 31, 1712.
- Thomas Putnam's child, d. 17 Dec. 1689, not quite four mos.
- Timothy, bapt. in Salem Village, 26 April 1691.
- Experience, bapt. at Salem Village, 20 Nov. 1698; m. David, son of Isaac and Sarah (Emery) Bailey, b. 12 Dec. 1687, and nephew to Rev. James Bailey, who m. Mary, sister of Ann (Carr) Putnam, died before 1722. Ch. David, who probably d. previous to 1722; Elizabeth, Jonathan, Nathan. Experience (Putnam) Bailey received a legacy from her uncle, Joshua Bayley, in 1722.
- Abigail, bapt. Salem Village, 30 Oct. 1692; aged 9, 23 April 1702, guardianship to John Putnam, 3d.
- Susanna, b. 1694; bapt. Salem Village, 20 Nov. 1698.
- (Perhaps there was another daughter; "1694, Aug. 22, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Putnam, died 6 mos.; "old record.")
- Seth, b. May 1695; bapt. in Salem Village.
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The Putnam Involvement in the Salem Witch Trials
When the Salem Witch Trials began, Thomas Putnam and his daughter Ann Putnam became the primary accusers. This is according to the book The Salem Witch Trials Guide:
“Following the removal of Betty Parris from Salem Village [she was sent to Salem town by her father Samuel Parris to avoid any further involvement in the trials], Ann and Abigail became the most active and aggressive of the so-called afflicted children. Ann Jr. ‘cried out against’ sixty-two people during the course of the trials. Ann’s father, Thomas Putnam, was one of the primary instigators of complaints against alleged witches in Salem Village. For this reason, he has been identified by several key historians (including Paul Boyer and Stephen Nisenbaum) as a chief agitator and manipulator of the testimonies of both his daughter and his wife, Ann Putnam, Sr. Evidence indicates that many of those who were afflicted or gave testimony against the accused were connected to the Putnam family either by ties of kinship or faction.”
Putnam continued his relentless pursuit of so-called justice and penned letters to Judges John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin. He thanked the two for their participation in the trials and offered to help in any way that he could. The letter reads as follows:
“Salem Village, this 21st of April, 1692
Much honored:
After most humble and hearty thanks presented to your Honors for the great care and pains, you have already taken for us, for which we are never able to make you recompense (and we believe you do not expect it of us; therefore, a full reward will be given you of the Lord God of Israel, whose cause and interest you have espoused, and we trust this shall add to your crown of glory in the day of the Lord Jesus); and we, beholding continually the tremendous works of divine providence, not only every day but every hour, thought it our duty to inform your Honors of what we conceive you have not heard, which are high and dreadful: of a wheel within a wheel, at which our ears do tingle. Humbly craving continually your prayers and help in this dis-tressed case, so praying almighty God continually to prepare you, that you may be a terror to evil-doers and a praise to them that do well, we remain yours to serve in what we are able.
Thomas Putnam”
Shortly after he pens this letter, he begins to accused Giles Corey of witchcraft in another letter. Putnam's influence in Salem and with the Judges, along with the fits of hysteria his daughter was able to perform, allowing him the leverage he needed to put a firm accusation on Corey and recommend he be pressed to death. The letter reads as follows:
“The Last Night, my Daughter Ann was grievously Tormented by Witches, Threatening that she should be Pressed to Death before Giles Cory. But thro’ the Goodness of a Gracious God, she had at last a little Respite. Whereupon there appeared unto her (she said) a man in a Winding Sheet; who told her that Giles Cory had Murdered him, by Pressing him to Death with his Feet; but that the Devil there appeared unto him, and Covenented with him, and promised him, He should not be Hanged. The Apparition said, God Hardened his Heart that he should not hearken to the Advice of the Court, and so Dy an easy Death; because as it said, ‘It must be done to him as he has done to me.’ The Apparition also said That Giles Cory was Carry’d to the Court for this, and that the Jury had found the Murder, and that her Father knew the man, and the thing was done before she was born. Now, Sir, This is not a little strange to us that nobody should Remember these things, all the while that Giles Cory was in Prison and so often before the Court. For all people now Remember very well (and the Records of the Court also mention it) That about Seventeen Years ago, Giles Cory kept a man in his House who was almost a Natural Fool, which Man Dy’d suddenly. A Jury was Impanneled upon him, among whom was Dr. Zorobbabel Endicot, who found the man bruised to Death and having clodders of Blood about his Heart. The Jury, whereof several are yet alive, brought in the man Murdered; but as if some Enchantment had hindred the Prosecution of the Matter, the Court Proceeded not against Giles Cory, tho’ it cost him a great deal of Mony to get off.”
Giles Corey was pressed to death by Sheriff Corwin. It is believed that he died while protesting the trials as he never saw trial by remaining mute when in front of a judge.
Thomas Putnam would go on to accuse 43 people during the trials, and of those 43, 12 would be executed.
For more exhaustive information on Thomas Putnam's trial, check out the article Thomas Putnam - Ringleader of the Salem Witch Hunt?