Martha Ingalls Carrier, Accused Witch

Martha Carrier - A Spiritual Giant, and Pioneer Puritan Feminist.

Martha Carrier, one of the alleged "witches" killed during the Salem Witch Trials. She boldly proclaimed her innocence as those around her confessed. Martha did something women in Puritan America rarely dared; stand up to male authority figures wielding not only physical power, but spiritual authority.

August 5, 1692 was a day of death in Puritan Salem, Massachusetts. Five accused witches, four men and one woman, were led to the gallows and, in front of a large crowd of witnesses, hanged for the practice of witchcraft on spurious, seemingly irrational evidence. They were not the first executed, nor would they be the last, but this particular group of condemned included John Proctor (immortalized and dramatized in Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible") and an ordained minister named George Burroughs. The lone woman was an Andover housewife named Martha Carrier, whose story is a testament to the strength of human will in the face of insurmountable mental and physical pressure.

Background, Personality and Pre-Trial Behavior

Martha Carrier was born Martha Allen, a daughter of one of the original 23 settlers of Andover, Massachusetts. In 1674, only a teenager, she became pregnant with the child of an older Welsh servant, a man named Thomas Carrier, who she then married. The newlyweds relocated to neighboring Billerica and had five children leading up to the witch trials of 1692, three boys, Richard, Andrew and Thomas, and two girls, Sarah and an unknown youngest child.

The Carriers returned to Andover in 1688, in poverty and dependent on the family farm to supply them with a living, and two years later were accused of spreading an outbreak of smallpox through the town, a disease most likely introduced by new immigrants from England. Thirteen people perished during the epidemic and the Carriers were barred from entering public places, however, Martha was not accused of witchcraft and the family continued to live on the fringes of Puritan society.

The few accounts of Martha Carrier's personality give historians insight into a unique woman who was certainly better suited for life in the modern world than highly regimented Puritan Massachusetts. Her husband, although a fellow of good humor and cheerful disposition, was prone to laziness and indolence, so on top of the usual chores of a Puritan housewife, it seems Martha took on many of the husband's duties as well. Most notably, she insisted on arguing and bargaining with male neighbors, something unusual in the strictly stratified society of early colonial America.

Witchcraft Comes to Andover

Martha was accused of witchcraft in May of 1692 by the group of young women known as the Salem Girls, who traveled Essex County, Massachusetts rooting out suspected witches by engaging in an impressive theatrical display. Whether the clergymen, judges and magistrates actually believed this act is still open to debate, although Martha, when confronted by the girls, acted as any rational person would when faced with the girls' wild behavior. Accused of leading a 300 strong witch army, of using her occult powers to murder and afflict people with terrible diseases, and of being promised the dubious position of "Queen of Hell," Martha vehemently denied the charges and in turn charged her accusers with insanity.

Most accused persons during the trials learned it was better to confess and wait for an eventual end to the crisis than try to fight the system by maintaining innocence. Martha, however, refused to submit, even as her two oldest sons were tortured and accused of complicity in her plotting. Other Andover citizens used her as a scapegoat for their supposed wtichcraft, and she soon became the principal name mentioned whenever a new person was accused.

Trial and Conviction

A trial was held, and neighbors were summoned to air their grievances, all of which seemed petty and unimpressive (yet almost believable) compared to the original tales of rebellions and murder (one local witness complained that Martha’s craft caused him to lose a fistfight to her son Richard) and more about personal revenge with no consideration of the human life at stake. Finally, Martha's two young children, Sarah and Thomas, were forced to implicate their mother in witchcraft.

Refusal to Confess

Throughout all this, Martha remained defiant and, some would say, stubborn. Why did she not confess, like so many others around her, so she might save her life? There is a possibility she simply did not expect the outcome of the trials would lead to her execution, as she was one of the first Andover citizens accused and clearly believed the proceedings were a ridiculous invention of a group of adolescents. Others, seeing the punishment meted out to Martha, quickly confessed to outrageously trumped up charges, often naming Martha as a principal ringleader in return for clemency, and so it is possible Martha, above all, possessed a special kind of courage in refusing to falsely implicate other members of the community.

In refusing to submit to the wishes of the unanimously male judges, reverends and politicians who gave the hysteria legitimacy, Martha did something women in Puritan America rarely dared; stand up to male authority figures wielding not only physical power, but spiritual authority. The harsh sentence of death handed down to witches refusing to confess reflected the threat to the status quo evident in Martha’s act of protest. It could be argued, then, that Martha Carrier was not only an early feminist , but a martyr defending her rights and honor against false accusation and tyranny.

Copyright Jonathan Waisnor. http://www.suite101.com/content/martha-carrier-early-puritan-femini...

Sources for information on Martha Allen:

Google online book:

A genealogical register of the first settlers of New England: ... To which ... By John Farmer

http://books.google.com/books?id=0XoFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA53&sig=948V2Mmww...

Quote: Page 53:

CARRIER, THOMAS, Bellerica 1665, Andover 1692, died at Colchester, Conn.,16 May, 1735, [Allen, Biog. Dict.] He came from Wales, and married 7 May 1664, Martha Allen, who was one of the victims of the witchcraft infatuation at Salem-Village, 19 Aug. 1692. He had several children born in Billerica, where his name is sometimes connected by an alias to 'Morgan', in the town records.

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Salem Witch Trial Victim. Convicted of practicing witchcraft and hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Twenty benches stand in a Memorial for the victims, one for each who were actively put to death (not counting those who died in prison).

She was born between 1643 & 1650 to Andrew & Faith (Ingalls) Allen of Andover MA. She married Thomas Carrier, aka Morgan, a recently arrived bondservant, 7 May 1664, when she was 7 months pregnant with her eldest child. She unsuccessfully nursed her father & brothers in the 1690 smalpox epedemic, and thereby became a land owner in her own right.

Some believe that she was accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 because she was a niece of the Rev. Francis Dane of Andover (Over one third of the Salem accused were related to him or his wife in some way). Martha's trial was fully transcribed at the direction of Cotton Mather, who believed this case to represent the strongest case for the use of spectral evidence. The evidence he found persuasive was the testimony of Martha's 16-year old-son, Richard, and her 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, that she made them become witches to "haunt" others at her direction. However, John Proctor (who was hung the same day as Martha) wrote the governor that he witnessed these children's torture in the jail where he was also imprisoned: they were reportedly tied neck to ankles (with a rope down their backs) and left that way until said what their interrogators wanted to hear. Salem erected a memorial in a downtown park for her and each other person hung (or, in one case, pressed to death) during the hysteria. The "witches" hanged at Salem were dumped in a nearby ravine.

(bio written by: Linda Mac at http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8298)

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In a special session of the court of Oyer and Terminer, held on August 2, 1692, Martha Carrier stood in the Salem Village Meeting House, accused of being a witch. From the beginning, Martha vigorously maintained her innocence, but the Puritan magistrates had the visionary "Salem girls" on their side. These young girls were believed to have the ability to detect the presence of the devil and provide "spectral evidence" to the court. Martha's response to the girls, "It is false and a shame for you to mind what these say, that are out of their wits!" only seemed to reinforce the magistrates' opinion of her guilt. Martha, her two oldest sons, and her seven and a half year-old daughter had been arrested and kept in jail for almost three months before the trial. All of the old disputes between Martha and her neighbors were brought up and reviewed for suspicious activity. At least four of Martha's neighbors from Andover came to testify that she had used witchcraft against them, killing livestock and causing illnesses. Martha's two teenage sons had been hung by their heels "until the blood was ready to come out of their noses," before they confessed to being involved with witchcraft. The magistrates didn't use the sons' confessions, but they did bring Martha's young daughter, Sarah, to testify against her mother.

Sarah's confession came six days after Martha was already convicted and sentenced to death. "It was asked by the Magistrates or Justices, John Hathorne, Esq., and others: How long hast thou been a witch? A. Ever since I was six years old. Q. How old are you? A. Near eight years old, brother Richard says I shall be eight years old in November last. Q. Who made you a witch? A. My mother, she made me set my hand to a book. Q. How did you set your hand to it? A. I touched it with my fingers and the book was red and the paper of it was so white.... Q. What did they promise to give you? A. A black dog. Q. Did the dog ever come to you? A. No. Q. But you said you saw a cat once; what did it say to you? A. It said it would tear me to pieces, if I would not set my hand to the book. Q. How did you afflict folks? A. I pinched them.... mother carried her thither to afflict. Q. How did your mother carry you when she was in prison? A. She came like a black cat. Q. How did you know it was your mother?

A. The cat told me she was my mother. She said she afflicted Phelps child last Saturday and Elizabeth Johnson helped her do it. She had a wooden spear about as long as the finger of Elizabeth Johnson and she had it of the devil.... This is the substance. Attest: Simon Willard."

The trial prompted the well known Boston cleric, Dr. Cotton Mather, to report, "This rampant hag, Martha Carrier, was the person of whom the confession of the rest agreed that the devil had promised her, she should be the Queen of Hell."

On August 19, 1692, Martha was taken in the back of a cart to Gallows Hill in Salem. Jeering crowds lined the streets and gathered at the scaffold to witness the hanging of Martha and four men, also "convicted" witches. Screaming her innocence from the scaffold, Martha never gave up. A report from the time describes the treatment of Martha and two of the men, including a Mr. Burroughs: "When he was cut down, he was dragged by a halter to a hole or grave between the rocks about two feet deep; his shirt and breeches were pulled off and an old pair of trousers of one of the executed put on his lower parts; he was so put in together with Willard and Carrier that one of his hands and his chin and a foot of one of them was left uncovered."

In May 1693, Governor Phips of Massachusetts returned from the Indian Wars and revoked all death sentences and released all those still held. The Governor also revoked the acceptance of "spectral evidence" in court, effectively ending the witch trials. Martha Carrier's name appeared on a 1711 list of sufferers whose legal representatives received compensation for imprisonment and death of relatives. The Carrier family received seven pounds, six shillings.

Belief in witchcraft was universal in the 17th century and was considered a major problem for the leaders of the time. The devil was an active force, constantly on hand to recruit new helpers in his fight against good Christians everywhere. In western Europe, some estimates claim nearly two million men and women lost their lives under accusations of witchcraft. In the Salem area, over 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. Within three months of Martha Carrier's arrest, in Andover alone, 40 warrants had been issued, naming members of some of the most prominent families in town. At one point every woman in Andover was blindfolded and led before the Salem girls to prove their innocence or guilt. When Magistrate Dudley Bradstreet threw down his pen and declared he would sign no more warrants, he himself was accused of being a witch. He and his family had to escape the town, fearing for their lives. In Salem, the 23 people who were hanged, tortured or died in jail were the ones who maintained their innocence. A testament to her courage, Martha Carrier was the only person, of all those accused, that maintained her innocence to the end, "I would rather die than confess a falsehood so filthy."

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 13 2017, 19:11:41 UTC

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Martha Ingalls Allen Carrier BIRTH 19 Aug 1650 Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA DEATH 19 Aug 1692 (aged 42) Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA BURIAL Salem Witch Trials Memorial Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA Add to Map MEMORIAL ID 8298 · View Source

Pictures added by S.K. Mach

Salem Witch Trial Victim. Convicted of practicing witchcraft and hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Twenty benches stand in a Memorial for the victims, one for each who were actively put to death (not counting those who died in prison). She was born between 1643 & 1650 to Andrew & Faith (Ingalls) Allen of Andover MA. She married Thomas Carrier, aka Morgan, a recently arrived bondservant, 7 May 1664, when she was 7 months pregnant with her eldest child. She unsuccessfully nursed her father & brothers in the 1690 smalpox epedemic, and thereby became a land owner in her own right. Some believe that she was accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 because she was a niece of the Rev. Francis Dane of Andover. (Over one third of the Salem accused were related to him or his wife in some way.) Martha's trial was fully transcribed at the direction of Cotton Mather, who believed this case to represent the strongest case for the use of spectral evidence. The evidence he found persuasive was the testimony of Martha's 16-year old-son, Richard, and her 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, that she made them become witches to "haunt" others at her direction. However, John Proctor (who was hung the same day as Martha) wrote the governor that he witnessed these children's torture in the jail where he was also imprisoned: they were reportedly tied neck to ankles (with a rope down their backs) and left that way until said what their interrogators wanted to hear. Salem erected a memorial in a downtown park for her and each other person hung (or, in one case, pressed to death) during the hysteria. The "witches" hanged at Salem were dumped in a nearby ravine.

Bio by: Linda Mac

Spouse Thomas Carrier, 1630–1739

Children Richard Carrier, 1674–1749 Andrew Carrier, 1677–1749 Thomas Carrier, 1682–1739 Sarah Carrier Chapman, 1684–1772 Hannah Carrier Wood, 1689–1772

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8298/martha-ingalls-carrier

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Salem Witch Trial Victim. Convicted of practicing witchcraft and hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Twenty benches stand in a Memorial for the victims, one for each who were actively put to death (not counting those who died in prison). She was born between 1643 & 1650 to Andrew & Faith (Ingalls) Allen of Andover MA. She married Thomas Carrier, aka Morgan, a recently arrived bondservant, 7 May 1664, when she was 7 months pregnant with her eldest child. She unsuccessfully nursed her father and brothers in the 1690 smallpox epidemic, and thereby became a land owner in her own right. Some believe that she was accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 because she was a niece of the Rev. Francis Dane of Andover. (Over one third of the Salem accused were related to him or his wife in some way.) Martha's trial was fully transcribed at the direction of Cotton Mather, who believed this case to represent the strongest case for the use of spectral evidence. The evidence he found persuasive was the testimony of Martha's 16-year old-son, Richard, and her 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, that she made them become witches to "haunt" others at her direction. However, John Proctor (who was hung the same day as Martha) wrote the governor that he witnessed these children's torture in the jail where he was also imprisoned: they were reportedly tied neck to ankles (with a rope down their backs) and left that way until said what their interrogators wanted to hear. Salem erected a memorial in a downtown park for her and each other person hung (or, in one case, pressed to death) during the hysteria. The "witches" hung at Salem were dumped in a nearby ravine.

Hanged as a witch in the Salem witch trials, Martha was apparently the only "witch" who maintained her innocence to the end. Many articles have been written about her life and transcripts of the trial have been preserved. The Salem Witch Trials website http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people?group.num=G01&mbio.num=mb4 provides detailed information. Martha and her equally famous husband, Thomas Carrier, are the subjects of two recent novels by a Carrier descendant, Kathleen Kent.

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GEDCOM Note

Linda Newton Jackson's notes for a talk on Martha Allen Carrier, who was hanged as a witch in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692:

Family: Born abt. 1659 in Massachusetts; daughter of Andrew Allen and Faith Ingalls, both of England; married Thomas Carrier in 1674 around the age of 15 years old. He was born abt. 1626 in Wales and died in Colchester, Conn. 1735, around the age of 113. He was 7 feet 4 inches tall. They were the parents of six children, 3 boys and 3 girls, one of whom died at a month old.

Martha's daughter Sarah married John Chapman. Their son Abner had Isham Chapman. Isham Chapman had Susan. Susan Chapman married Simeon Colton . Their daughter Susan Colton married Oscar Newton. Their son Alexander Newton married Alice Letitia Mackie. Alice and Alexander had Claude Mackie Newton, my father. Martha Allen Carrier is my sixth great-grandmother

Salem Village: Salem Village was a small community of 500 people 10 miles out of Salem Town, Massachusetts in the 1690s. The winter of 1692 was especially bitter with a lot of sickness. There was a strong belief in the devil and a lot of rivalry between families and with the town of Salem. There was always the threat of warring Indian tribes. Fear and suspicion abounded; it was believed that witchcraft posed a serious threat to the health and spiritual well-being of the colony; they believed that witchcraft was the cause of illness and death. According to British law anyone "consorting with the devil" was considered a felon.

Events Leading to the Trials: Reverend Samuel Parris, the pastor in Salem Village, had once lived in Barbados and had brought a slave woman home with him. Tituba entertained the minister's nine-year-old daughter, Betty, and her cousin, Abigail Williams with tales of voodoo. Other girls heard the tales and became involved in playing games. In January of 1692, the girls began to make noises , act like animals, scream, and go into trance-like states. When doctors couldn't determine the cause of the strange behavior, they concluded that the girls were under the influence of Satan. Late in February, Reverend Parris, the nine-year-old's father, and others prayed and fasted that the girls would be healed of Satan's influence. When nothing changed the girls were pressured to identify who was afflicting them.

They named 3 women: Tituba, the Indian slave, and two older women in the community. Tituba admitted that she practiced witchcraft, but the others claimed innocence. On March 1, 1692, Tituba, Sarah Goodand Sarah Osborne were examined. By early June, many others in the community had been accused, both male and female. At first the girls only accused people on the "outside" of society, but later even the governor's wife was accused as well as other prominent citizens.

156 people were accused of witchcraft. The jail was cold and rat infested. Prisoners were fed salty food and drink in order to encourage confessions. They and their families were often tortured for confessions. On June 10, 1692, Bridget Bishop was hanged in Salem, the first official execution of the Salem Witch Trials. Fourteen women and five men were hanged as witches, one man was pressed to death, and two dogs were hanged as witches for giving the girls "the evil eye."

The Trials: There was no justice as we have today, where guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The girls said that a person's spectre would torment them ; they believed that the accused could use their individual shape to torment their victims. During the trials the girls would scream or fall down when looked upon by an accused person; they claimed to be bitten or pricked by pins. People came from miles around to watch the proceedings.

Martha Allen Carrier's Defense and her Death: Martha Carrier was the first accused from Andover, Massachusetts. She was arrested on May 28, 1692. Four of her children were taken into custody when she was arrested. She was examined by the magistrates along with several others on May 31. Her children were tortured until they confessed that their mother was a witch and that they were witches: they were tied by the neck and heels till the blood came out of their noses.

Read the children's confessions. Read Martha's response to her accusers.

Dr. Cotton Mather's response to Martha Carrier's testimony was: "This rampant hag was the person of whom the confessions of the witches, and of her own children among the rest, agreed that the Devil had promised her that she should be queen of Hell."

Martha was executed by hanging on Friday, August 19, 1692, along with 4 men; She was only 33 years old. Her body was put into a hole along with some others; they were not permitted to be buried in the church cemetery.

Conclusion: There are 552 original documents pertaining to the trials which are in a museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The Salem Witch Trials lasted about 13 months and ended during the fall of 1692. Many people opposed the trials. Spectral evidence became no longer admissible in court: Increase Mather, Cotton Mather's son, was instrumental in promoting only evidence that could be proven.

On January 14, 1697, only 4 years after the trials ended, the Puritan clergy had called for an Official Day of Humiliation for fasting and public apology. One of the girls publicly apologized before the village in 1706, fourteen years later.

Can we learn a lesson from the Salem Witch Trials? Are we so civilized that this could not happen here? Should we ask ourselves today if we judge others unrighteously? Do we gossip or spread rumors? May we always be careful that this history is not repeated.

From Witchcraft at Salem Village, p. 211, Charles W. Upham, 1867: "It i s quite evident that this "rampant hag" had no better opinion of the dignitaries and divines who managed matters at the time than they had of her . The record of her examination shows that she was not afraid to speak her mind, and in plain terms, too. When brought before the magistrates, the following were their questions and her answers…. "What do you say to this you are charged with?" She answered, "I have not done it." One of the accusers cried out that she was, at that moment, sticking pins into her. Another declared that she was then looking upon "the black man,"- -the shape in which they pretended the devil appeared. The magistrate asked the accused, "What black man is that?" Her answer was, "I know none. " The accusers cried out that the black man was present, and visible to them. The magistrate asked her, "What black man did you see?" Her answer was, "I saw no black man but your own presence." Whenever she looked upon the accusers, they were knocked down. The magistrate, entirely deluded by their practised acting, said to her, "Can you look upon these, and not knock them down?" Her answer was, "They will dissemble, if I look upon them." He continued: "You see, you look upon them, and they fall down." She broke out, "It is false: the Devil is a liar. I looked upon none since I came into the room but you." Susanna Sheldon cried out, in a trance, "I wonder what could you murder thirteen persons for?" At this, her spirit became aroused: the accusers fell into the most intolerable outcries and agonies. The accused rebuked the magistrate, charging him with unfairness in not paying any regard to what she said, and receiving every thing that the accusers said. "It is a shameful thing, that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits;" and turning to those who were bringing these false and ridiculous charges against her, she said, "You lie: I am wronged." The energy and courage of the prisoner threw the accusers, magistrates, and the whole crowd into confusion and uproar. The record closes the description of the scene in these words : "The tortures of the afflicted were so great that there was no enduring of it, so that she was ordered away, and to be bound hand and foot with all expedition; the afflicted, in the mean while, almost killed, to the great trouble of all spectators, magistrates, and others."

The author also says: She always indignantly repelled the charge of being a witch….there was the more than ordinary bold and defiant bearing of the prisoner, stung to desperation by the outrage upon human nature in the abuse practised upon her poor children; her firm and unshrinking courage, facing the tempest that was raised to overwhelm her, and sternly rebuking the magistrates….her whole demeanor, proclaiming her conscious innocence, and proving that she chose chains, the dungeon, and the scaffold, rather that to belie herself….

Witchcraft at Salem Village: Children's confessions: "It was asked Sarah Carrier by the magistrates,--"How long hast thou been a witch?--Ever since I was six years old. "How old are you now?--Near eight years old: my brother Richard says I shall be eight years old in November next. "Who made you a witch?"--My mother: she made me set my hand to a book….."But you said you saw a cat once; what did that say to you? --It said it would tear me in pieces, if I would not set my hand to the book…."How did you afflict folks?--I pinched them.

"And she said she had no puppets, but she went to them that she afflicted ." Being asked whether she went in her body or her spirit, she said in her spirit. She said her mother carried her thither to afflict. "How did your mother carry you when she was in prison?--She came like a black ca t. "How did you know it was your mother?--The cat told me so, that she was my mother…. Another of her children confessed to being a witch: "Have you been in th e devil's snare?--Yes.

"Is your brother Andrew ensnared by the Devil's snare?--Yes. "How long has your brother been a witch?--Near a month. "How long have you been a witch?--not long. "Have you joined in afflicting the afflicted persons?-- Yes…

• U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Find A Grave 1,60525::0
• Farrand, Susan Newton, Family Research and Genealogy: Newton-Mackie (in possession of Linda Newton Jackson)
• Carrier, Ethel, <i>Book: Carrier Genealogy</i> (1969)