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| Memorial to Martha Carrier at Salem, MA. She was convicted and hanged as a witch in 1692 Photo source: Dex / Flickr |
“It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits.” ~ Martha Carrier ~
When I was researching some simple genealogy for the family of Elizabeth M (Young) Otis, the name of Elizabeth's maternal grandmother, Ruth Carrier (whose father was Andrew Carrier, Jr.), really stood out to me. It was specifically the surname "Carrier," that pricked me with familiarity. Where have I heard that surname before? Why does it sound so familiar to me? Carrier? Carrier? Ruth Carrier? Andrew Carrier? Hmm…
All week, I mulled the names over, it not being far from the forefront of my mind. Then by chance, a few days later, I stumbled across the Carrier family connected with the Salem Witch Trials! Though I am familiar with the European “witch craze,” I have never really delved into the Salem Witch Trials because I was turned off by the disrespectful, modern-day commercialization of it. I still am, but I probably shouldn't have let that stop me from looking into it.
I wondered if the Carrier family of Salem Witch fame could be directly connected to Daniel Otis' Carrier-family line. Then I read the 1910 book by William Richard Cutter, “Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts,” and it made me realize that there were actually two Andrew Carriers: father and son, senior and junior. So, if there was a Salem connection, it would be through Andrew Sr., yet the book made no mention of him connected with a witch trial, but instead spoke about his many land holdings.
So, on a gut-hunch (and sort of a whim), I typed in the search: “Andrew Carrier Salem Witch trials,” and boom! I was able to connect Andrew Sr. to his mother, convicted "witch" Martha Carrier, who in turn connected to Ruth Carrier—who is the great-grandmother of Daniel H. Otis!
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| My primitive genealogical chart showing the family connection. |
Note: after I made the Salem connection, I came across, in the same 1910 book on the families of Massachusetts, a tiny mention of Martha Allen Carrier as being “a victim of witchcraft infatuation at Salem Villiage,” and that she was “executed August 19, 1692 on Salem Hill.” This mention was under her husband Thomas Carrier’s entry, and under her father Andrew Allen’s entry it says, “A daughter Martha married Thomas Carrier, and was hanged for witchcraft.” Wow, that’s it? Nothing on how she was wronged? No apologies?
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This page is not meant to be an exhaustive exploration of the Salem Witch Trials, there are dozens of books and sites already out there which do just that. However, I can’t help but weigh-in with my “two-cents” in the "Closing Remarks." Mostly, this page is meant to show the genealogical connection of the Martha Carrier family to Daniel H. Otis and the Young family—who is Daniel's maternal family. See my "quick-find genealogical charts" for the Otis, Young, and Carrier families, HERE.
Genealogy
Martha (Allen) Carrier (3x great-grandmother of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, 4x great-grandmother of Daniel H. Otis)
Martha Carrier was born Martha Ingalls Allen (or Allin) in approximately 1649 at Andover, Massachusetts Colony. She was the daughter of Faith Ingalls and Andrew Allen (1623-1690), who was one of the original twenty-three settlers of Andover.
Martha married Welsh indentured servant, Thomas Morgan Carrier on May 7, 1674. (Thomas: son of Richard Carrier and Thankful Morgan. Born: 1630 in Wales / Died: May 16, 1735, age 104/105 at Colchester, CT). I'm not going to go into all the family tales and stories about Thomas Carrier on this page, but the reader can start HERE, and HERE, if interested in the many tales of Thomas Carrier.
Martha was actually 7-months pregnant with her first child, Richard, before she even married Thomas Carrier. They had the following children together (see below for more information on each child): Richard Carrier, Andrew Carrier, Thomas Carrier Jr., Sarah Carrier, and Hannah Carrier.
On May 28, 1692, Martha Carrier was arrested for "witchcraft." On August 2, 1692 she was then brought to trial for the “bewitching of certain persons." On August 5, 1692, Martha was found guilty and sentenced to death. As crazy as it sounds, four of her five children—18 year-old Richard Carrier, 15 year-old Andrew Carrier, 10 year-old Thomas Carrier Jr., and 8 year-old Sarah Carrier—were arrested, imprisoned, and confessed to witchcraft. It was Richard and Andrew who were tortured into confessing! Interestingly, their father was never accused.
Then on August 19, 1692, Martha Carrier was brought by cart to Proctor’s Ledge in Salem and hanged as a witch. Afterward, her children were released. A memorial monument stands in her name at Salem, MA.
A dispirited and disgusted Martha Carrier cried out to the judges, “It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits.” She then faced the afflicted girls and said, “You lie! I am wronged! The devil is a liar!” Martha protested her innocence to the very end, which surprised Cotton Mather [Puritan minister], who felt nothing but contempt for her. In his quickly drafted history of the Salem proceedings published in late 1692, he wrote, “The rampant hag was the person of whom the confessions of the witches, and her own children among the rest, agreed that the Devil had promised her that she should be queen of Hell.” (The Salem Witch Trials by Earle Rice Jr.)
Following his wife's execution for witchcraft, Thomas Carrier, Sr. left Andover with his children, and moved to Colchester, Connecticut, where he and his sons became some of the first settlers of this town.
>Richard Carrier II (Born: July 19, 1674 at Andover, Mass. / Died: November 16, 1749, age 75, at Colchester, CT). Richard is buried at Colchester Burial Ground in Colchester, CT.
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This page is not meant to be an exhaustive exploration of the Salem Witch Trials, there are dozens of books and sites already out there which do just that. However, I can’t help but weigh-in with my “two-cents” in the "Closing Remarks." Mostly, this page is meant to show the genealogical connection of the Martha Carrier family to Daniel H. Otis and the Young family—who is Daniel's maternal family. See my "quick-find genealogical charts" for the Otis, Young, and Carrier families, HERE.
Sections On This Page: (scroll down to see each particular section)
> Genealogy (with copies of original 1692 documents)
> Closing Remarks (with pictures of the Carrier home in Colchester, CT)
> Ghosts of Salem (excerpt by author, Colin Dickey. His heartfelt words are the reason I continue to avoid the “kitschy witchy” Village of Salem, Mass. I think it's important to share what he wrote)
>Salem Books Worth Reading
>Some Salem Sites
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Genealogy
Martha (Allen) Carrier (3x great-grandmother of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, 4x great-grandmother of Daniel H. Otis)
Martha Carrier was born Martha Ingalls Allen (or Allin) in approximately 1649 at Andover, Massachusetts Colony. She was the daughter of Faith Ingalls and Andrew Allen (1623-1690), who was one of the original twenty-three settlers of Andover.
Martha married Welsh indentured servant, Thomas Morgan Carrier on May 7, 1674. (Thomas: son of Richard Carrier and Thankful Morgan. Born: 1630 in Wales / Died: May 16, 1735, age 104/105 at Colchester, CT). I'm not going to go into all the family tales and stories about Thomas Carrier on this page, but the reader can start HERE, and HERE, if interested in the many tales of Thomas Carrier.
Martha was actually 7-months pregnant with her first child, Richard, before she even married Thomas Carrier. They had the following children together (see below for more information on each child): Richard Carrier, Andrew Carrier, Thomas Carrier Jr., Sarah Carrier, and Hannah Carrier.
On May 28, 1692, Martha Carrier was arrested for "witchcraft." On August 2, 1692 she was then brought to trial for the “bewitching of certain persons." On August 5, 1692, Martha was found guilty and sentenced to death. As crazy as it sounds, four of her five children—18 year-old Richard Carrier, 15 year-old Andrew Carrier, 10 year-old Thomas Carrier Jr., and 8 year-old Sarah Carrier—were arrested, imprisoned, and confessed to witchcraft. It was Richard and Andrew who were tortured into confessing! Interestingly, their father was never accused.
Then on August 19, 1692, Martha Carrier was brought by cart to Proctor’s Ledge in Salem and hanged as a witch. Afterward, her children were released. A memorial monument stands in her name at Salem, MA.
A dispirited and disgusted Martha Carrier cried out to the judges, “It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits.” She then faced the afflicted girls and said, “You lie! I am wronged! The devil is a liar!” Martha protested her innocence to the very end, which surprised Cotton Mather [Puritan minister], who felt nothing but contempt for her. In his quickly drafted history of the Salem proceedings published in late 1692, he wrote, “The rampant hag was the person of whom the confessions of the witches, and her own children among the rest, agreed that the Devil had promised her that she should be queen of Hell.” (The Salem Witch Trials by Earle Rice Jr.)
Following his wife's execution for witchcraft, Thomas Carrier, Sr. left Andover with his children, and moved to Colchester, Connecticut, where he and his sons became some of the first settlers of this town.
>Richard Carrier II (Born: July 19, 1674 at Andover, Mass. / Died: November 16, 1749, age 75, at Colchester, CT). Richard is buried at Colchester Burial Ground in Colchester, CT.
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| Grave of Richard Carrier at Colchester Burial Ground Photo by KC |
Richard Carrier (age 20), married Elizabeth Sessions on July 18, 1694 in Andover, Mass. They had six children together: Elizabeth Carrier (1697-1704), John Carrier (1695-1739), Timothy Carrier (1705-1781), Sarah Carrier (1701-1717), Mehitable Carrier (1698-1750), Martha Carrier (1702-1769).
Like Richard, Elizabeth Sessions, had her own trial! No one escapes the ferocious religious hammer of the fanatical Puritans! In 1691, Elizabeth was tried for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The following is from “At the Magistrate's Discretion: Sexual Crime and New England Law, 1636-1718,” by Abby Chandler:
"Several Andover, Massachusetts residents gathered at the Christopher Osgood household on October 9, 1690. The best room of the house was ready with a flat table, paper and ink for taking depositions. At stake was the condition of the young woman standing before the table. Elizabeth Sessions was twenty four years old, half orphaned since the death of her father the previous winter. Now she was five or six months pregnant. With her story told to the assistant clerk, the seventeenth-century ritual of filing a fornication and bastardy trial was begun. Difficult as Elizabeth Sessions may have found the experience, hers was a familiar tale for the justices of Essex County. Elizabeth Sessions accused Thomas Chandler's youngest son, Joseph, of raping her and fathering a bastard child. This time, the Chandler family advocated for a full trial. Benjamin Abbot had acknowledged fathering Naomi Lovejoy's child. In contrast, Joseph flatly denied paternity. Regardless of whether they believed his denials, his family fully supported his legal fight to defend his innocence. Like Naomi Lovejoy, Elizabeth Sessions was a poor woman on the outskirts of Andover society. After the death of her father in 1689 and the dissolution of the family estate, she was reduced to working as a servant in any household that would take her."
Richard then married his second wife, Thankful Brown on July 29, 1707 in Colchester, CT. They had four children together: Hannah Carrier (1709-1741), Thankful Carrier (1708-1704), Remembrance Carrier (1703- ), Amos Carrier (1704-1730).
How sweet that Richard Carrier named several of his children after his siblings, and mother (Timothy, Sarah, Hannah, and Martha).
>Andrew Carrier (Sr.) (Born: April 27, 1677 at Billerica, Mass / Died: July 23, 1749, age 72, at Colchester, CT) See below for more information.
>Thomas Carrier, Jr. (Born: July 18, 1682 at Andover, Mass / Died: March 7, 1740, age 57, at Colchester, CT). His burial place is unknown. At age 23, Thomas Carrier, Jr. married Susanna Johnson on June 19, 1705. They had twelve children together. I doubt all of them lived to adult-hood, as a number of them don’t have dates of death. Susanna Carrier-Brockway (1705 – 1773), NN Carrier (1706 - ), Hannah Carrier (1708 – 1741), Sarah Carrier-Waters (1710 – 1777), Martha Carrier-Peck (1711 – 1766), Lydia Carrier (1712 - ), Thomas Carrier III (1714 – 1758), Caleb Carrier (1715 - ), Hulda Carrier (1716 - ), Isaac Carrier (1718 – 1742), Rachel Carrier (1720 - ), Jeremiah Carrier (1722 – 1814). Wow!
Best transcription of the above document:
The Examination of Tho.Carrier Taken before Dudly Broad-stret Esq’r on of their Majesties Justices of the Peace — Tho.Carr’r being acused of witchcraft Conffeseth that he was guilty of witchcraft & that he had been a witch a week & that his Mother taught him witchcraft — That a Yellow bird apeared to him & Spoke to him w’ch She being affrighted his Mother apeared to him & brought him a book & bid him Sett his hand to it telling him it would doe him good if he did Soe & that She would tear him in peices if he would not — That his Mother baptized him in ShawShin River pulled of his Cloths & put him into the River & that his Mother then told him he was hers for Ever. That his Moth’r bid him afflict Mary Walkutt Ann Puttman & Sarah Phelps — And that he went the 9’th Instant at night to Jno Chandlers, that their were 10 in Company w’th him who rid upon 2 Poles that there were 3 men in the Company & 2 of the woeman belonged to Ispwich whose names ware Mary & Sarah & that he Saw Betty Johnson in the Company & Conffesed that he did the 9’th Instant at night afflict Sarah Phelps & Ann Puttnam by pinching them.
During his examination, Thomas confessed to being a witch for "a week." Poor Thomas!
>Sarah (Carrier) Chapman (Born: November 17, 1684 at Billerica, Mass / Died: December 7, 1772, age 88, at Colchester, CT). Her burial place is unknown. Sarah, age 23, married John Chapman II on September 7, 1707 in Colchester, CT. They had ten children together. Jane Chapman (1708 – 1709), Sarah Chapman (1710 – 1795), Lucy Chapman (1712 - ), John Chapman III (1714 – 1760), Jason Chapman (1716 – 1774), James Chapman (1719 - ), Abner Chapman (1722 – 1780), Ziporah Chapman (1724 – 1772), Gideon Chapman (1726 – 1800), Delight Chapman (1728 – 1816).
After her mother, Martha, was arrested for witchcraft on May 28, 1692, Sarah and her siblings were brought in to be examined. Unwittingly, 8 year-old Sarah helped to send her mother to the gallows by relating that her mother had "baptized" her, as well as her siblings into the Devil's service. Sarah also testified against her Uncle Roger Toothaker and Aunt Mary Allen Toothaker, as well as their 10 year-old daughter, Margaret. Roger Toothaker died in prison on June 16, 1692, most-likely from maltreatment or being tortured.
Best transcription of above document:
The Examination of Sarah Carrier Taken before Dudly Broad- steat Sarah Carrier being accused of witchcraft Confeseth as followeth that she hath been a witch Ever Since She was Six years Old that her Moth’r brought a red book to her and She touched it that her Moth’r Baptiz’d her in Andrew fostters pauster the day before She went to prison & that her Moth’r promised her she should not be hanged that her Mother taught her how to afflicte persons by pinching them or Setting on them that She began to afflict Sarah Phelps last Satterdy & that Betty Johnson was w’th her that her Moth’r gave her a Spear last Night & that She pricked Sarah Phelps & Ann Puttnam w’th it.
>Hannah (Carrier) Wood (Born: July 12, 1689 at Andover, Mass / Died: February 7, 1766, age 76, at Windham, CT). Her burial place is unknown. Hannah married Joseph H. Wood. They had two children together: Hannah Carrier-Tubbs (1725 – 1801), Irene Carrier-Pember (1729 – 1794).
Andrew Carrier, Sr. (son of Martha Carrier, 2x great-grandfather of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, 3x great-grandfather of Daniel H. Otis)
Andrew Carrier, Sr. died July 23, 1749 in Colchester, CT (at age 72), and is buried at Colchester Burying Ground in Colchester, CT.
Best transcription of the above document:
Closing Remarks
Like Richard, Elizabeth Sessions, had her own trial! No one escapes the ferocious religious hammer of the fanatical Puritans! In 1691, Elizabeth was tried for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The following is from “At the Magistrate's Discretion: Sexual Crime and New England Law, 1636-1718,” by Abby Chandler:
"Several Andover, Massachusetts residents gathered at the Christopher Osgood household on October 9, 1690. The best room of the house was ready with a flat table, paper and ink for taking depositions. At stake was the condition of the young woman standing before the table. Elizabeth Sessions was twenty four years old, half orphaned since the death of her father the previous winter. Now she was five or six months pregnant. With her story told to the assistant clerk, the seventeenth-century ritual of filing a fornication and bastardy trial was begun. Difficult as Elizabeth Sessions may have found the experience, hers was a familiar tale for the justices of Essex County. Elizabeth Sessions accused Thomas Chandler's youngest son, Joseph, of raping her and fathering a bastard child. This time, the Chandler family advocated for a full trial. Benjamin Abbot had acknowledged fathering Naomi Lovejoy's child. In contrast, Joseph flatly denied paternity. Regardless of whether they believed his denials, his family fully supported his legal fight to defend his innocence. Like Naomi Lovejoy, Elizabeth Sessions was a poor woman on the outskirts of Andover society. After the death of her father in 1689 and the dissolution of the family estate, she was reduced to working as a servant in any household that would take her."
Richard then married his second wife, Thankful Brown on July 29, 1707 in Colchester, CT. They had four children together: Hannah Carrier (1709-1741), Thankful Carrier (1708-1704), Remembrance Carrier (1703- ), Amos Carrier (1704-1730).
How sweet that Richard Carrier named several of his children after his siblings, and mother (Timothy, Sarah, Hannah, and Martha).
>Andrew Carrier (Sr.) (Born: April 27, 1677 at Billerica, Mass / Died: July 23, 1749, age 72, at Colchester, CT) See below for more information.
>Thomas Carrier, Jr. (Born: July 18, 1682 at Andover, Mass / Died: March 7, 1740, age 57, at Colchester, CT). His burial place is unknown. At age 23, Thomas Carrier, Jr. married Susanna Johnson on June 19, 1705. They had twelve children together. I doubt all of them lived to adult-hood, as a number of them don’t have dates of death. Susanna Carrier-Brockway (1705 – 1773), NN Carrier (1706 - ), Hannah Carrier (1708 – 1741), Sarah Carrier-Waters (1710 – 1777), Martha Carrier-Peck (1711 – 1766), Lydia Carrier (1712 - ), Thomas Carrier III (1714 – 1758), Caleb Carrier (1715 - ), Hulda Carrier (1716 - ), Isaac Carrier (1718 – 1742), Rachel Carrier (1720 - ), Jeremiah Carrier (1722 – 1814). Wow!
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| August 10, 1692 Document of examination, Thomas Carrier, Jr. |
Best transcription of the above document:
The Examination of Tho.Carrier Taken before Dudly Broad-stret Esq’r on of their Majesties Justices of the Peace — Tho.Carr’r being acused of witchcraft Conffeseth that he was guilty of witchcraft & that he had been a witch a week & that his Mother taught him witchcraft — That a Yellow bird apeared to him & Spoke to him w’ch She being affrighted his Mother apeared to him & brought him a book & bid him Sett his hand to it telling him it would doe him good if he did Soe & that She would tear him in peices if he would not — That his Mother baptized him in ShawShin River pulled of his Cloths & put him into the River & that his Mother then told him he was hers for Ever. That his Moth’r bid him afflict Mary Walkutt Ann Puttman & Sarah Phelps — And that he went the 9’th Instant at night to Jno Chandlers, that their were 10 in Company w’th him who rid upon 2 Poles that there were 3 men in the Company & 2 of the woeman belonged to Ispwich whose names ware Mary & Sarah & that he Saw Betty Johnson in the Company & Conffesed that he did the 9’th Instant at night afflict Sarah Phelps & Ann Puttnam by pinching them.
During his examination, Thomas confessed to being a witch for "a week." Poor Thomas!
>Sarah (Carrier) Chapman (Born: November 17, 1684 at Billerica, Mass / Died: December 7, 1772, age 88, at Colchester, CT). Her burial place is unknown. Sarah, age 23, married John Chapman II on September 7, 1707 in Colchester, CT. They had ten children together. Jane Chapman (1708 – 1709), Sarah Chapman (1710 – 1795), Lucy Chapman (1712 - ), John Chapman III (1714 – 1760), Jason Chapman (1716 – 1774), James Chapman (1719 - ), Abner Chapman (1722 – 1780), Ziporah Chapman (1724 – 1772), Gideon Chapman (1726 – 1800), Delight Chapman (1728 – 1816).
After her mother, Martha, was arrested for witchcraft on May 28, 1692, Sarah and her siblings were brought in to be examined. Unwittingly, 8 year-old Sarah helped to send her mother to the gallows by relating that her mother had "baptized" her, as well as her siblings into the Devil's service. Sarah also testified against her Uncle Roger Toothaker and Aunt Mary Allen Toothaker, as well as their 10 year-old daughter, Margaret. Roger Toothaker died in prison on June 16, 1692, most-likely from maltreatment or being tortured.
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| August 11, 1692 Confession document of Sarah Carrier |
Best transcription of above document:
The Examination of Sarah Carrier Taken before Dudly Broad- steat Sarah Carrier being accused of witchcraft Confeseth as followeth that she hath been a witch Ever Since She was Six years Old that her Moth’r brought a red book to her and She touched it that her Moth’r Baptiz’d her in Andrew fostters pauster the day before She went to prison & that her Moth’r promised her she should not be hanged that her Mother taught her how to afflicte persons by pinching them or Setting on them that She began to afflict Sarah Phelps last Satterdy & that Betty Johnson was w’th her that her Moth’r gave her a Spear last Night & that She pricked Sarah Phelps & Ann Puttnam w’th it.
>Hannah (Carrier) Wood (Born: July 12, 1689 at Andover, Mass / Died: February 7, 1766, age 76, at Windham, CT). Her burial place is unknown. Hannah married Joseph H. Wood. They had two children together: Hannah Carrier-Tubbs (1725 – 1801), Irene Carrier-Pember (1729 – 1794).
Andrew Carrier, Sr. (son of Martha Carrier, 2x great-grandfather of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, 3x great-grandfather of Daniel H. Otis)
Andrew Carrier was the son of Martha Allen Carrier and Thomas Morgan Carrier. He was born April 27, 1677 in Billerica, Mass. On January 11, 1704, Andrew Carrier (age 27) married Mary Adams of Colchester, CT. They had five children together: Andrew Carrier, Jr. (1705/06 - Dec. 6, 1776), John Carrier (1707 - Dec. 6, 1776), Mary Carrier Day (1708-Dec. 2, 1776), Thomas Carrier (1711 - 1748), Benjamin Carrier (1713 - 1780). Did the December 1776 death dates of all three siblings (Andrew Carrier Jr., John Carrier, and Mary Carrier Day) have something to do with Revolutionary War that was in full swing?
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| Grave of Andrew Carrier, Sr. at Colchester Burial Ground Photo by KC |
Mary Lacey Jr. (another convicted witch) not only accused Martha Carrier of using black magic to kill a number of people, but she also accused Carrier’s two teenage sons, Andrew (age 15) and Richard (age 18). When brought before the court for questioning, the young men refused to confess, denying their guilt over-and-over, with Andrew so frightened that he stuttered. That is until, according to fellow prisoner John Procter, “they tied them neck and heels till the blood was ready to come out of their noses.” [see note below] This resulted in the Carrier brothers not only confessing, but further widening the circle of witch victims as well. (Quotes and paraphrase from the book: "The Salem Witch Trials: a day-by-day chronicle of a community under siege,” by Marilynne K. Roach)
It’s interesting to note what the same book by Roach says, “The Old Body of Liberties allowed a certain amount of force in capital cases when a criminal concealed his accomplices’ names, but this was legal only AFTER a trail found the defendant guilty, and the Carriers hadn’t even been indicted.” No surprise here!
When it later became clear that their own lives were no longer in danger, both Andrew and Richard retracted their confessions. By then, their mother’s body lay dead and rotting in a shallow, rocky grave.
When it later became clear that their own lives were no longer in danger, both Andrew and Richard retracted their confessions. By then, their mother’s body lay dead and rotting in a shallow, rocky grave.
NOTE: This form of torture of tying neck and heels was accomplished by forcing the body into hoops, neck roped to feet. Note the way author, Kathleen Kent, graphically describes this form of torture in her book, "The Heretics Daughter:"
"Richard was told to lie face-down on the floor, where his wrists were tied behind his back and his feet were bound together. After the rope had been wound around his ankles, it was then yanked up short and looped around his neck, arching his head back to meet his feet. This was called "the bow," and even with the strongest of men it took only a little while for the back to weaken, the legs and head to lower, and the rope to tighten around the throat. The strangling was slow and agonizing and, unlike with a drop from a tree branch, the neck was not broken quickly to end the victim's suffering. The tender flesh at the neck would crimp and bruise and burn, the eyes would bulge from the head and soon the blood would first trickle and then course through the nose in a torrent as the vessels burst from the pressure. The path for air would be inexorably shut off, and if the prisoner fainted, all would be lost for the laxity of the limbs would cause the rope to completely crush the airway."
"Richard was told to lie face-down on the floor, where his wrists were tied behind his back and his feet were bound together. After the rope had been wound around his ankles, it was then yanked up short and looped around his neck, arching his head back to meet his feet. This was called "the bow," and even with the strongest of men it took only a little while for the back to weaken, the legs and head to lower, and the rope to tighten around the throat. The strangling was slow and agonizing and, unlike with a drop from a tree branch, the neck was not broken quickly to end the victim's suffering. The tender flesh at the neck would crimp and bruise and burn, the eyes would bulge from the head and soon the blood would first trickle and then course through the nose in a torrent as the vessels burst from the pressure. The path for air would be inexorably shut off, and if the prisoner fainted, all would be lost for the laxity of the limbs would cause the rope to completely crush the airway."
As mentioned previously, the entry for Andrew Carrier Sr., in the book “Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts,” made no mention of his involvement with the Salem Witch Trials. Instead it says he was “among the original proprietors of Colchester, chosen surveyor and way warden. Land records of Colchester say that Andrew Carrier had a laying out of land March 3, 1703, and a laying out of land November 6, 1703 in Colchester, Connecticut.”
Note that a "way warden" was someone elected to take care of highways in a parish.
Best transcription of the above document:
To the Sherriffe of the County of Essex or Deputy or Constable of Andover You are in their Majesties names hereby required to Apprehend and forthwith bring before us Richard Carrier and Andrew Carrier Son of Thomas Carier of Andivor Husband-man who Stands charged on behalfe of their Majesties with have-ing Comitted Sundry acts of wichcraft on the body of Mary Warren of Salem ? that in order to his Examination relating to the abovesaid premisses and hereof Faile not & you are like-wise to inquire after & make Serch for any paper or popetts that may relate to witchcraft.
Note that a "way warden" was someone elected to take care of highways in a parish.
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| July 21, 1692 Arrest warrant for Richard and Andrew Carrier |
Best transcription of the above document:
To the Sherriffe of the County of Essex or Deputy or Constable of Andover You are in their Majesties names hereby required to Apprehend and forthwith bring before us Richard Carrier and Andrew Carrier Son of Thomas Carier of Andivor Husband-man who Stands charged on behalfe of their Majesties with have-ing Comitted Sundry acts of wichcraft on the body of Mary Warren of Salem ? that in order to his Examination relating to the abovesaid premisses and hereof Faile not & you are like-wise to inquire after & make Serch for any paper or popetts that may relate to witchcraft.
Andrew Carrier, Jr. (son of Andrew Carrier Sr., great-grandfather of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, 2x great-grandfather of Daniel H. Otis)
Andrew Carrier Jr. was the son of Andrew Carrier Sr. and Mary Adams. He was born February 12, 1705/06 in Colchester, CT. First, Andrew Jr. married Ruth Adams on December 27, 1733 in Colchester, but she died the next year on November 16, 1734. Second, he married Rebecca Rockwell on October 27, 1735 in Colchester. They had several children together, one of them being Ruth Carrier (see below).
Andrew Carrier, Jr. died on December 6, 1776, age 71 /72, in Colchester, CT and is buried at Marlboro Cemetery in Marlborough,CT.
Ruth (Carrier) Young (daughter of Andrew Carrier Jr., grandmother of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, great-grandmother of Daniel H. Otis)
Ruth (Carrier) Young (daughter of Andrew Carrier Jr., grandmother of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, great-grandmother of Daniel H. Otis)
Ruth Carrier was the daughter of Andrew Carrier Jr. and Rebecca Rockwell. She was the great-granddaughter of Martha Allen Carrier. Ruth was born August 14, 1736 in Colchester, CT and married Silvanus Young on April 6, 1761 in Middletown, CT. They had nine children together; one of them being William S. Young.
Ruth Carrier Young died on October 20, 1817 in Middletown, CT and is buried at Maromas Cemetery in Middletown. Ruth's brother, Israel Carrier, is buried not far from her in Maromas Cemetery.
William S. Young (son of Ruth (Carrier) Young, father of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, grandfather of Daniel H. Otis)
William S. Young (son of Ruth (Carrier) Young, father of Elizabeth M. (Young) Otis, grandfather of Daniel H. Otis)
William S. Young was the son of Silvanus Young and Ruth Carrier. He was the great-great grandson of Martha Allen Carrier. William was born April 19, 1780 in Middletown, CT. He married Elizabeth Bailey of Haddam, on February 27, 1801. They had nine children together; one of them being Elizabeth Mary Young.
William S. Young died on August 12, 1838 in Middletown, Ct. William is buried in Maromas Cemetery in Middletown, CT.
Young Family genealogy can be found on this page, HERE.
Young Family genealogy can be found on this page, HERE.
Elizabeth Mary (Young) Otis (daughter of William S. Young, mother of Daniel H. Otis)
Elizabeth Mary Young was the daughter of William S. Young and Elizabeth Bailey, and the 3x great-granddaughter of Martha (Allen) Carrier. Elizabeth was born April 3, 1817 in Middletown, CT. She married Erastus Selden Otis of Wilbraham, Mass., on September 16, 1835 in Middletown, CT. They had four children together, one of them being Daniel H. Otis (1847 - 1862).
Elizabeth (Young) Otis died April 3, 1856. She was 39 years old and died on her birthday. Elizabeth is buried in Maromas Cemetery in Middletown, CT, near her husband Erastus and son Daniel.
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| 1710 Petition for restitution for Martha Carrier from her husband Thomas Carrier |
Best transcription of the above document:
To the Honorable Committee sitting at Salem this 13 day of Sept. 1710.
These are to inform your Honors that my wife Martha Carrier was condemned upon an accusation of witchcraft and suffered death at Salem in the year 1692.
I payd to the Sherriff upon his demand fifty shillings.
I payd to the prisonkeeper upon his demand for prison fees, for my wife and four children, four pounds sixteen shillings.
My humble request is that the remainder may be taken off and that I may be considered as for the loss and damage I sustained in my estate.
Totall 7 – 620
Thomas Carrier
I found my wife and children [?] during their imprisonment.
In reading about the Salem Witch trials, the real crux of the matter as to why Martha Allen Carrier was accused of witchcraft, emerged:
According to Salem Witch Museum: "In 1690 a smallpox outbreak began in the Carrier family, where there were now five children, but miraculously, none of the Carriers died. However, seven members of Martha’s family, including her father, both of her brothers, two nephews, one sister-in-law and one brother-in-law, as well as six other people from Andover, died from the disease. From that point, the Carriers were looked at with suspicion, believed to be the cause of the epidemic."
This smallpox outbreak may have been one of the issues that led to the "witchcraft" charges. It was considered suspect to the superstitious townsfolk that Martha’s immediate family survived the smallpox, especially when her two brothers died of the disease, putting her in line to inherit their father’s property. Also, Martha Carrier was known as a strong-minded, sharp-tongued woman, arguing with her neighbors when she suspected them of trying to cheat her and her husband. Personally, I think the cheaters deserved her rebuke, however, in Puritan society, this was the type of behavior that raised suspicion of an individual keeping company with the "Devil himself."
In all, nine members of the Allen family would be charged with witchcraft (including Martha’s sister, Mary Allen Toothaker, her husband Roger, and their daughter Margaret), along with many more kin of the Dane and Howe families—charges that were closely related to an ongoing property dispute between two of Andover’s ministers, Francis Dane and Thomas Bernard. Coincidentally (or not), Martha Carrier was also the niece of outspoken opponent of the Salem Witch Trials: the Reverend Francis Dane.
Martha Carrier was the first Andover resident caught up in the trials, and was accused by the four "Salem girls," as they were called, one of whom conveniently worked for a business competitor of Toothaker.
Ah, now the pieces of the puzzle come together, and the truth slowly starts to emerge. The self-righteous Puritans certainly weren’t above “bearing false witness against thy neighbor” when it served their agenda. Now who’s keeping company with the “Devil?" No doubt, all of the aforementioned reasons contributed to the victimization of Martha Carrier during the trials.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Martha Carrier maintained her innocence, even though the accusing girls continued to demonstrate their supposed afflictions caused by Carrier's "powers." Other neighbors and relatives also testified about curses.
Many in Andover confessed in order to save their lives, but Martha Carrier remained defiant and never confessed. Even though she was faced with "afflicted" accusers who claimed the Devil himself had promised her the title "Queen of Hell," and pressured by unrelenting magistrates, Martha said, “It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits.”
Martha pleaded not guilty and accused the girls of lying, but it made no difference, because on August 19, 1692, she was hanged as a witch on Salem’s Gallows Hill.
According to Salem Witch Museum: "In 1690 a smallpox outbreak began in the Carrier family, where there were now five children, but miraculously, none of the Carriers died. However, seven members of Martha’s family, including her father, both of her brothers, two nephews, one sister-in-law and one brother-in-law, as well as six other people from Andover, died from the disease. From that point, the Carriers were looked at with suspicion, believed to be the cause of the epidemic."
This smallpox outbreak may have been one of the issues that led to the "witchcraft" charges. It was considered suspect to the superstitious townsfolk that Martha’s immediate family survived the smallpox, especially when her two brothers died of the disease, putting her in line to inherit their father’s property. Also, Martha Carrier was known as a strong-minded, sharp-tongued woman, arguing with her neighbors when she suspected them of trying to cheat her and her husband. Personally, I think the cheaters deserved her rebuke, however, in Puritan society, this was the type of behavior that raised suspicion of an individual keeping company with the "Devil himself."
In all, nine members of the Allen family would be charged with witchcraft (including Martha’s sister, Mary Allen Toothaker, her husband Roger, and their daughter Margaret), along with many more kin of the Dane and Howe families—charges that were closely related to an ongoing property dispute between two of Andover’s ministers, Francis Dane and Thomas Bernard. Coincidentally (or not), Martha Carrier was also the niece of outspoken opponent of the Salem Witch Trials: the Reverend Francis Dane.
Martha Carrier was the first Andover resident caught up in the trials, and was accused by the four "Salem girls," as they were called, one of whom conveniently worked for a business competitor of Toothaker.
Ah, now the pieces of the puzzle come together, and the truth slowly starts to emerge. The self-righteous Puritans certainly weren’t above “bearing false witness against thy neighbor” when it served their agenda. Now who’s keeping company with the “Devil?" No doubt, all of the aforementioned reasons contributed to the victimization of Martha Carrier during the trials.
Throughout the entire ordeal, Martha Carrier maintained her innocence, even though the accusing girls continued to demonstrate their supposed afflictions caused by Carrier's "powers." Other neighbors and relatives also testified about curses.
Many in Andover confessed in order to save their lives, but Martha Carrier remained defiant and never confessed. Even though she was faced with "afflicted" accusers who claimed the Devil himself had promised her the title "Queen of Hell," and pressured by unrelenting magistrates, Martha said, “It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits.”
Martha pleaded not guilty and accused the girls of lying, but it made no difference, because on August 19, 1692, she was hanged as a witch on Salem’s Gallows Hill.
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| "Proctor’s Ledge," between Proctor and Pope Streets in Salem, Massachusetts. Where 19 innocent people were hanged in 1692. Photo source: (WBZ-TV) |
As the admirable, strong-willed woman she was, Martha Carrier shouted her innocence from the scaffold, refusing to confess to "a falsehood so filthy" even though it would have helped her avoid hanging. What courage! What integrity!
Eventually, the Massachusetts General Court annulled the verdicts against the accused witches and granted indemnities to their families, including the family of Martha Carrier. In 1711, Carrier's family received 7 pounds and 6 shillings as recompense for her conviction. Honestly, I’m not sure what kind of monetary value that would translate into today’s money. However, what I am sure of is that the recompense was a prime example of “too little, too late.”
Money can never bring back those innocent victims or erase the trauma that the survivors had to carry around with them for the rest of their lives. For a long time, bitterness lingered inside and outside the witch hunt communities.
I can’t even imagine the emotional and mental trauma that Andrew Carrier Sr. (and his brother Richard) suffered as a result of being tortured into testifying against their own mother, and then to know that your testimony, among many others, resulted in her hanging. How does one live with that? With the injustice of it all? I guess the human spirit finds a way to go on, as Andrew Sr. eventually moved to Colchester, Connecticut and did quite well for himself.
I wonder how this “witchy” family legacy was viewed by the Elizabeth Young family. Was it a stain on the family name, or a “skeleton in the closet” that nobody talked about? Was it something Daniel Otis and his siblings even knew about? Or was it so far in the past that nobody even gave it a thought? Did the family see it for what it really was—that the accused witches, including their own descendant Martha Carrier, were victims of mob mentality, mass hysteria, and scapegoating?
Again, so many questions, and so little answers…
According to the book “Reflections Into Marlborough’s History,” by Romano G. Ghirlanda, the last surviving Carrier house (1 of 3) is on the Old New London Turnpike, near the Colchester town line. It was built in the 1730’s by Andrew Carrier, Jr.—who was the grandson of the late Martha Carrier and Thomas Carrier, Sr.
Eventually, the Massachusetts General Court annulled the verdicts against the accused witches and granted indemnities to their families, including the family of Martha Carrier. In 1711, Carrier's family received 7 pounds and 6 shillings as recompense for her conviction. Honestly, I’m not sure what kind of monetary value that would translate into today’s money. However, what I am sure of is that the recompense was a prime example of “too little, too late.”
Money can never bring back those innocent victims or erase the trauma that the survivors had to carry around with them for the rest of their lives. For a long time, bitterness lingered inside and outside the witch hunt communities.
I can’t even imagine the emotional and mental trauma that Andrew Carrier Sr. (and his brother Richard) suffered as a result of being tortured into testifying against their own mother, and then to know that your testimony, among many others, resulted in her hanging. How does one live with that? With the injustice of it all? I guess the human spirit finds a way to go on, as Andrew Sr. eventually moved to Colchester, Connecticut and did quite well for himself.
I wonder how this “witchy” family legacy was viewed by the Elizabeth Young family. Was it a stain on the family name, or a “skeleton in the closet” that nobody talked about? Was it something Daniel Otis and his siblings even knew about? Or was it so far in the past that nobody even gave it a thought? Did the family see it for what it really was—that the accused witches, including their own descendant Martha Carrier, were victims of mob mentality, mass hysteria, and scapegoating?
Again, so many questions, and so little answers…
***************
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| Carrier House on Old New London Turnpike, near the Colchester town line. |
Would this be the house that Ruth Carrier—daughter of Andrew Carrier, Jr. and great-grandmother of Daniel H. Otis—grew up in?
I took these photographs right after the August 4th tropical storm, Isaias—hence, the down trees in the images.
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| Barn on the old Carrier property. |
The Ghosts of Salem (an excerpt by author, Colin Dickey). So worth a read!
While reading an excellent book called “Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places,” by Colin Dickey, I deeply resonated with the heartfelt paragraphs Mr. Dickey wrote about the Salem Witch Trials (pages 33-35). I could not have said it better myself, and his words sum up the reason why I avoid the “kitschy witchy” Village of Salem, Mass. I would like to share what Mr. Dickey wrote: (bold is mine):
The ghosts of Salem linger in strange ways. Most of the nineteen men and women executed in 1692 were pardoned in the early eighteenth century, but six women—Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmot Redd, and Margaret Scott—went without exoneration for more than two centuries. Not until 1946 was a bill to clear their names introduced in the Massachusetts legislature, and it failed. It failed again when reintroduced in 1950, and in 1953, and in 1954. It took a change in the bill to get it finally passed, in 1957: the six women would be pardoned, but the legislation would also absolve the state of Massachusetts of any legal or financial obligation to the victims’ descendants. Which is to say, whatever gains had been gotten by Sherriff George Corwin and his ilk, no matter how ill gotten, they would not be righted.
The town seems caught between past and present, like a double exposed negative. By the end of the nineteenth century, various Salem businesses (including a fish company, a popcorn factory, and a bicycle company) had begun using the nickname “Witch City” to sell their wares, and by the 1930s the town itself had begun to see itself as a tourist destination. In 1971 the TV series “Bewitched” filmed a few episodes in Salem and shortly thereafter a Wiccan named Laurie Cabot arrived in Salem. She opened a “Witch Shop” selling witchcraft supplies and trinkets and quickly attracted a following. Dubbed the “official witch of Salem” by Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis in 1977, Cabot more than anyone changed the modern face of Salem, turning it into a mecca for those interested in both the pagan practice of Wicca and a Disneyfied image of witches with their black conical hats and broomsticks.
But what does any of this have to do with 1692? The people executed by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, no matter what else they were, almost certainly were not witches, neither pagan witches nor supernatural servants of Satan. They were devout Christians, wrongly accused; if anything, the condemned would have the same antipathy toward the modern Wiccans as their accusers. [Nathaniel] Hawthorne’s confusing blend of romance and novel, fact and fantasy, has come to embody how we treated the victims of Salem’s executions [in his book, “The House of Seven Gables”]. We see them as innocent victims, and yet throughout pop culture we have repeatedly returned to the idea that they were also, paradoxically, somehow supernatural, actual witches. Twentieth, and twenty-first-century pop-culture depictions of Salem—not just “Bewitched,” but the recent TV series “American Horror Story,” with its coven descended from Salem, J.K. Rowling’s “History of Magic in North America,” which asserts that a “number of the dead were indeed witches, though utterly innocent of the crimes for which they had been arrested,” and of course the show “Salem,” in which the town is the scene of an actual metaphysical battle between witches and Puritans—treat the victims of 1692 as actual witches capable of working spells and magic.
These confusions lie at the heart of Salem, and they’re what keeps the town going. It is undeniable that these days the Salem witch trials mean, for the city and its inhabitants, money. The town is overrun on Halloween with tourists, despite the fact that neither Wiccans nor Puritans celebrate the holiday. Salem, with its broom-riding-witch logo on its police cars, has turned tragedy into spectacle. The same unresolved questions that drive scholars to understand the town’s past also fuel its kitsch popularity.
In a town suffused with kitsch, nonsense, and a few tasteful memorials, the House of Seven Gables wants none of it; tour guides do not bring up haunting and are encouraged to downplay it if asked. The eponymous house of Hawthorne’s novel is presented simply as a historical museum. And yet a big feature built originally to beguile tourists.
The ghosts of Salem, and of the House of the Seven Gables, are a product of ambiguous commemoration. We know Salem—we know it to be a tragedy, we hold it up as a cautionary tale about mass hysteria and persecution—and yet we’re also confused: we conflate the dead with actual witches, we attribute actual supernatural powers to those killed, we revisit their deaths for comedy and entertainment. Above all, we fail to apply the lessons we’ve supposedly learned from 1692, for by no means was this the last time in American history when a powerless minority was scapegoated, persecuted, and killed by an ignorant mass. We recall the events of Salem, but we can’t quite remember why they matter.
And so the ghost remains—they walk the streets, haunt the buildings that have been erected over their hanging grounds. They keep alive the events of 1692 without forcing a reckoning. What remains is barely more than a whisper in the dark or a strange presence on the staircase.
Salem Witch Trial Books Worth Reading
Non-Fiction
“The Salem Witch Trials: a day-by-day chronicle of a community under siege,” by Marilynne K. Roach
“The Salem Witch Trials,” by Earle Rice Jr.
Historical Fiction
Oddly enough, historical fiction is sometimes more true to life than non-fiction works supposedly are.
“The Heretic’s Daughter,” by Kathleen Kent
“The Traitor’s Wife,” by Kathleen Kent
Kathleen Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier. I believe Martha was a great-grandmother of hers. So, this makes Ms. Kent a very distant cousin of Daniel H. Otis, as well.
An interview with Ms. Kent can be heard here on her site. From the interview, she seems like a very kind and sincere person.
Some Salem Sites
A List of People of the Salem Witch Trials
Salem Witch Museum
Non-Fiction
“The Salem Witch Trials: a day-by-day chronicle of a community under siege,” by Marilynne K. Roach
“The Salem Witch Trials,” by Earle Rice Jr.
Historical Fiction
Oddly enough, historical fiction is sometimes more true to life than non-fiction works supposedly are.
“The Heretic’s Daughter,” by Kathleen Kent
“The Traitor’s Wife,” by Kathleen Kent
Kathleen Kent is a tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier. I believe Martha was a great-grandmother of hers. So, this makes Ms. Kent a very distant cousin of Daniel H. Otis, as well.
An interview with Ms. Kent can be heard here on her site. From the interview, she seems like a very kind and sincere person.
Some Salem Sites
A List of People of the Salem Witch Trials
Salem Witch Museum
