Susannah Martin
Susannah Martin (née North, baptized September 30, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was one of fourteen women executed for the suspicion of practicing witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of colonial Massachusetts. Early life The English-born Martin was the fourth daughter, and youngest child, of Richard North and Joan North (née Bartram). Her mother died when she was a child. Her stepmother was Ursula North. Martin was baptized in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England on 30 September 1621, Her family moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts, around 1639 when she was about 18 years old. On August 11, 1646, at Salisbury, Susannah married a widower named George Martin, a blacksmith with whom she had eight children. In 1669, Susannah was first formally accused of witchcraft by William Sargent, Jr. In turn, George Martin sued Sargent for two counts of slander against Susannah, one for accusing her of being a witch, and another for claiming one of her sons was a bastard and another was her "imp". Martin withdrew the second count, but the Court upheld the accusation of witchcraft. A higher court later dismissed the witchcraft charges. By 1671, the Martin family was again involved in legal proceedings dealing with the matter of her inheritance after Ursula North's death, most of which she (Ursula) had left to her granddaughter, Mary Jones Winsley. The court sided against Susannah and George, although Susannah was able to bring five further appeals, each being decided against her. Trial and accusation George died in 1686, leaving Susannah an impoverished widow by the time of her second accusation of witchcraft in 1692. Inhabitants of nearby Salem Village, including Joseph and Jarvis Ring, had named Susannah a witch and stated she had attempted to recruit them into witchcraft. She was also accused by John Allen of Salisbury, a man who claimed that she had bewitched his oxen and drove them into the river nearby where they later drowned. She was tried for these charges, during which process she proved by all accounts to be pious and quoted the Bible freely, something a witch was said incapable of doing. Cotton Mather countered Susannah's defense by stating in effect that the Devil's servants were capable of putting on a show of perfect innocence and Godliness. Susannah Martin was found guilty, and hanged on July 19, 1692, in Salem. Some interesting excerpts from the transcript of Susannah's trial are below: (spelling, punctuation, capitalization as original) To the Marshall of the County of Essex or his lawful Deputies or to the Constable of Amesbury: You are in their Majesties names hereby required forthwith or as soon as may be to apprehend and bring Susanna Mertin of Amesbury in þ county of Esses Widdow at þ house of Lt. Nathaniel Ingersolls in Salem village in order to her examination Relating to high suspicion of sundry acts of Witchcraft donne or committed by her upon þ bodies of Mary Walcot, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, and Mercy Lewis of Salem village or farms whereby great hurt and damage