 1621 - 1692 (~ 70 years) Submit Photo / Document
Has 33 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.
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| Name |
Susannah North |
| Christening |
30 Sep 1621 |
Olney, Buckinghamshire, England  |
| Gender |
Female |
| Burial |
Jul 1692 |
Essex, Massachusetts, United States |
| Death |
19 Jul 1692 |
Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
7 Sep 1904 |
| FamilySearch ID |
LZLN-7JJ |
| Person ID |
I44915 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
Richard North, b. 1594, Rattlesden, Suffolk, England d. 1 Mar 1667, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 73 years) |
| Mother |
Joan Bartram, b. 1592, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, England d. 1 Mar 1671, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 79 years) |
| Marriage |
29 Nov 1610 |
Olney, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Family ID |
F795 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
George Martin, b. 1618, Romsey, Hampshire, England d. 23 Nov 1686, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 68 years) |
| Marriage |
11 Aug 1646 |
Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States |
| Children |
| | 1. Hannah Martin, b. 1 Feb 1644, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States d. 29 Jun 1730, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 86 years) |
| | 2. Anna Martin, b. 16 Jan 1646, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States d. 16 Jan 1646, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 0 years) |
| | 3. Richard Martin, b. 29 Apr 1647, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States d. 11 Mar 1728, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 80 years) |
| | 4. George Martin, Jr, b. 21 Aug 1648, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States |
| | 5. John Martin, b. 26 Jan 1650, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States d. 6 Oct 1693, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 43 years) |
| | 6. Esther Martin, b. 7 Apr 1653, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States d. 1696, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 42 years) |
| + | 7. Jane Martin, b. 2 Nov 1656, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States bur. 28 Nov 1744, Haddam, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States (Age ~ 88 years) |
| + | 8. Abigail Martin, b. 10 Sep 1659, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States d. 2 Jul 1716, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 56 years) |
| | 9. William Martin, b. 11 Dec 1663, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States bur. 1726, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age ~ 62 years) |
| | 10. Samuel Martin, b. 29 Sep 1667, Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States d. 1683, Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States (Age 15 years) |
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| Family ID |
F17462 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
21 Nov 2024 |
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| Event Map |
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 | Christening - 30 Sep 1621 - Olney, Buckinghamshire, England |
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 | Marriage - 11 Aug 1646 - Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts, United States |
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 | Burial - Jul 1692 - Essex, Massachusetts, United States |
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 | Death - 19 Jul 1692 - Salem, Essex, Massachusetts, United States |
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| Notes |
- Hanged as a Witch 19 July 1692.
After arrival in the Colonies Susanna went to work in Dover, in the hous e hold of Capt. Wiggins at Squamscot, and lived with the wife of Rev. Ste ph e Bachellor. This was referred to in the 1669 allegations of child abu s e brought against her by William Sargent.
"When Susanna Martin, an Amesbury, Massachusett widow was arrested o n M ay 2, 1692 for alleged witchcraft, the authorities took into custod y a wo man who had been suspected of that crime for some thirty years an d one wh o may have used her reputation in order to get her own way wit h some of h er credulous neighbors. Modern commentators have found her on e of the mor e noteworthy victims of the Salem witchcraft hysteria, proba bly because a t her preliminary hearing she defended herself with vigor a nd without res pect for authority."
"Testimony against Susanna Martin in 1692 indicates that she was accus e d of witchcraft as early as 1660 or 1661. On May 11, 1692, William Brow n e of Salisbury, aged 70 or thereabouts, deposed that thirty-one or thir ty -two years ago his wife Elicabeth had seen the apparition of Susanna M art in and thereafter was frequently tormented physically until the churc h ap pointed a day of "humilling" on her behalf. After Elicabeth complain ed t o a Grand Jury that Good Martin was the one who had bewitched her, S usann a made vague threatening comments to her. About two months later, E lizabe th became insane, a condition in which she continued in 1692. No r ecord o f proceedings on Elizabeth's charges against Susanna has been fou nd."
"In 1669, another accusation was brought against Susanna: at Salisbu r y Quarterly Court, April 13, 1669, "Susanna Martyn, wife of Georg Marty n , was ordered to be commited to prison unless she give bond for 100 li . f or appearance at the next Court of Assistants upon suspicion of witch craf t". At the same session of the Quarterly Court, George Martyn sued W illia m Sargent, Jr., for slander, for "sayhing that said Martyn's wife h ad a c hild at Capt. Wiggin's and was wringing its neck in Capt. Wiggin' s stable , when a man entered, and she took him by the collar and told hi m she b e the death of him if he told"; he also sued Thomas Sargent "fo r saying t hat his son George Martyn was a bastard and that (his son) Ric hard Martti n was Goodwife Marttin's imp," that is, a witch's familiar. T hese suits a gainst the gossiping Sargents did not go well for the Martin s. The suit a gainst Thomas Martin was withdrawn; that against William Sa rgent brough t a verdict for the defendant, although the court did not co ncur, an empt y gesture, since the same court session committed Susanna o n a charge o f witchcraft." Witchcraft was a capital crime, which meant t hat it fell u nder the jurisdiction of the Court of Assistants, the recor ds of which, a t least so far as they have been published, are inadequat e for this perio d and do not inlude anything about the charge against Su sanna.
"Perhaps while that charge was still pending, Susanna was again in leg a l difficulty. At Hampton Quarterly Court, Oct 12, 1669, Georg Martyn w a s sued by Christopher Bartlet because Susanna had said that Bartlett w a s "a liar and a thief and had stole leather"; the verdict was for the p la intiff."
"That suit was nothing compared with the carges brought against the Ma r tin's son Richard at the same court session. Richard had been "present e d by the grand jury at the Salisbury court, 1669, for abusing his fath e r and throwing him down, taking away his clothes and holding up an ax e ag ainst him." The court found him guilty and sentenced him to be whipp ed te n stripes at Hampton Meeting House on Oct.14, 1669."
"The Martyn's continued to supply scandal. Susanna's father, Richard N o rth, died at Salisbury March 1, 1667/68, apparently leaving a will dat e d Jan 26 1648/49. This will, the authenticity of which was later questi on ed, left L5 to daughter Mary Jones, wife of Thomas Jones; L5 to grandc hil d Ann Bates, child of daughter Sarah, "pvided shee bee aliue att my d ecea se"; to daughter Susanna Martune, wife of George Martyn, "twenty shi lling s & the tenn pound which hir husband the said George Martyn doth ow e unt o mee for cattle which hee receiued of mee"; and the residue to "de ar e & welbeeloued wyfe Vrsula Nroth," who was made executrix."
The original document did not indicate later additiions, but calls Nor t h's granddaughter Ann Bates, even though she did not marry Bates unti l so me years later; and it leaves Susanna a debt owed by her husband t o his f ather-in-law even though that debt had not been contracted when t he wil l was supposedly executed."
"On April 30, 1692, six years after her husband's death, another warra n t was issued for Susanna Martin's arrest for witchcraft, this time as p ar t of the hysteria that had begun several months earlier at Salem Villa g e through the accusations of several "afflicted girls" who claimed tha t t hey were being tormented by witches. Susanna was arrested on May 1, a n d a preliminary examination on the same day was noteworthy for the vig o r of her answers and for the lack of respect she showed for the presidi n g magistrates. She laughed when the "afflicted girls" went into a fit a n d when asked why she did so, she responded, "Well I may at such folly. " W hen she was asked what ailed the girls, Susanna said: "I do not desir e t o spend my judgm't upon it." She stated bluntly that she did not thin k th e girls were bewitched. Her answer to the request that she privide h er th oughts about them was impertinent: "Why my thoughts are my own, whe n the y are in, but when they are out, they are anothers." Other replie s show t hat she was aware of the seriousness of her situation and that s he denie d guilt fervently. But she kept her sharp tongue even at the en d of the e xamination: "Do you not see how God evidently discovers you? " "No, no t a bit for that. "All the congregation think so." "Let them th ink w't th ey will."
"The jurors thought what they would and indicted her."
"Susanna's lack of respect for authority was not, of course, the mai n r eason that she was indicted, though it can hardly have prejudiced th e mag istrates in her favor. The Rev. John Hale, minister of the Beverl y Church , who had supported the trials but had second thoughts after hi s wife wa s accused, states, rather clumsily, that Susanna was one of tho se who "ha d been suspected by their Neighbours several years, because af ter quarrel ling with their Neighbours, evils had befallen those Neighbou rs".
"In several instances, depositions indicate that Susanna was given t o m uttering enigmatic phrases that could be--and were, at least by hinds ight --interpreted as threats. The evidence that any accused witch uttere d suc h threats is weakened by the tendency of the superstitious to creat e some thing ominous out of nothing, but the cumulative effect of testimo ny agai nst many accused witches throughout several centuries suggests th at som e consciously fostered suspicions about themselves in order to ge t thei r way in village dealings or simply to increase their own sense o f import ance."
"Among the more interesting depositions against Susanna is that of Wil l iam Brown, who believed that his wife Elizabeth had been driven insan e b y Susanna some thirty years earlier. John Pressy testified that abou t twe nty-four years previously, he had followed a light "about the bigne s o f a half bushell" and gave it. "at Lest forty blows." Later he saw Su sann a and decided that she was the source of the light, to the modern mi nd a n obvious ignis fatuus. Joseph ring, aged 27, deposed that he had se en se veral "mery meettings" with "most dreadfull shapes noyses & scretch ing" a nd that among those present was Susanna Martin, testimony that sug gests t hat for him superstition was handmaiden to mental imbalance. In c ompariso n, the deposition of Joseph Knight is tame: he believed that aro und Oct . 20, 1686, Susanna had picked up a dog running at her side and c hanged i t into a "Kegg or halfe feirkin".
"The most famous accusation against Susanna merits quotation in full:
"Sarah attkinson aged forty Eight years or thereabouts testifieth that t t Some time in the Spring of the year about Eighteen years Since Susan n a Martin came unto our house att Newbury from Amsbury in an Extraordina r y dirty Season, w'n She came into our house I asked whether she came fr o m Amsbury a foot She sayd She did I asked how She could come in this ti m e a foott and bid my children mae way for her to come to the fire to d r y her selfe She replyed She was as dry as I was and turn'd her Coats o n S ide, and I could nott pceive thatt the Soule of her Shows were wet t I wa s startled att itt that she should come soe dry and told her that t I shou ld have been wett up to my knees if I Should have some So farr o n foott s he replyed thatt She scorn'd to have a drabled tayle."
"The hint is, of course, that Suanna flew from Amesbury to Newbury. Th i s testimony has frequently been cited as the main reason for Susanna' s tr oubles in 1692. Other testimony, especially Joesph Ring's about witc hes' s meetings, was almost certainly more significant, but it is easy t o se e why Sarah Atkinson's description of a simple incident has struck m oder n commentators. In it, we hear Sarah's volubility and Susann's sharp -tong ued response, with its implied insult that Sarah had let fester fo r eight een years."
"Susanna Martin underwent the indignity of a physical examination on J u ne 2, 1692. Such examinations were inteded to discover whether the accu se d had any physical abnormalities, especially anything that could be us e d to suckle a familiar or even the devil himself. Susanna was examine d tw ice during the same day; at neither examination was any abnormailit y disc overed, but at the first her breasts appaeared to be full and at t he seco nd slack. Doubtless the magistrates found this apparent indicatio n that s he had actually suckeled even more satisfactory than an abnorma l "with' s teat."
"At her trail held at Salem on 29 or 30 June 1692, Susann a
Susannah was hanged in Salem, Mass. accused of being a witch. She was o n e of the last group accused. The trancript of the trial is in Kathy Mar ti n s book. It is interesting that one of her accusers was William Brown , a n ancestor of Abigail Carter Martin; and Orlando Bagley, another ance stor , was the constable who arrested her. The poet Whittier was relate d to th is family and wrote a poem The Witch s Daughter, based on Susann ah a sto ry.
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Has 33 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.
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