 |
Map of Salem Village
from A Storm of Witchcraft, page 121
note all the PUTNAM families on this map |
PUTNAM
In Salem Possessed, a book by history professors Boyer and
Nissenbaum, [page 111], John Putnam was first granted 100 acres in Salem in
1641. Little by little he bought and was
granted more land until he owned almost 800 acres at the time of his death in
1662. He was one of the most wealthy
land owners in Salem. Then two of his
sons lost much of his fortune. Was this the cause of his family’s involvement
with so many accusations during the 1692 witch hysteria?
His second son, Nathaniel (1619 – 1700) is my 9th
great grandfather. He was one of the
wealthiest men in Salem, and he owned an interest in the ironworks at Rowley
with his brother John. About 1674 the
ironworks burned to the ground, and there was a lot of paperwork and litigation
in the Essex County records. The Putnam
brothers lost a lot of money, and turned back to farming their extensive
lands. Nathaniel Putnam owned the “Putnam
Cupboard” made by James Symonds, a famous Salem furniture maker, now on display
at the Peabody Essex Museum. This is amusing to me because two generations later
one of Nathaniel Putnam’s descendants married Jerusha Pope, whose parents owned
the “Pope Chest”, which was also attributed to Symonds and also on display at
the PEM!
The Putnams were on both sides of the witch hysteria. Their cousin was Ann Putnam, one of the main
accusers. They also signed a petition
for the innocence of Rebecca Nurse. There
are many books and even several movies that dramatize the Putnam family during
this sad period in history. There is too
much about the Putnams, especially Ann Putnam, Sr. and Jr. to include here in a
short blog post, but if you are interested in learning more I will list some
books below. Ann Putnam, Jr. (1679 -
1716)
Nathaniel’s daughter, Elizabeth Putnam (1662 – 1697) married
George Flint who removed to North Reading as a farmer. Their nephew, Daniel Putnam, was the first
minister of their church at the North Parish.
The Flint house was a garrison since this area, called the North
Precinct, was considered the frontier.
They lived five miles from the meeting house. There is a curious story about two little
daughters who were left home while the family traveled to church on the
Sabbath, and one little girl ended up shooting the other with a pistol. Such accidents are not new, they have
probably been happening since firearms were invented.
Some PUTNAM resources:
Chase- Wigglesworth Genealogy, by Alice Crane Williamson, 1990,
pages 341-356
The American
Genealogist 68: 77 – 83, 69: 212 – 218
A History of the Putnam Family, by Eben Putnam, 1891 (online at Hathi Trust)
History of Salem, Volume 2, by Sidney Perley, 1926 (online at Hathi Trust)
and for more about the PUTNAM family and the witch trials:
Salem Possessed, by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, 1974
A Storm of Witchcraft, by Emerson W. Baker, 2014 (online at Google Books)
The Enemy Within, by John Demos, 2008
Currents of Malice, by Persis McMillen, 1990
for legal evidence in the Salem witch hunt see Salem Village Witchcraft: A Documentary History of Local Conflict in Colonial New England, by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, 1972
and also see
Records of the Salem Witch Hunt, edited by Bernard Rosenthal, 2009 (all the legal documents in chronological order)
My PUTNAM genealogy:
Generation 1: John
Putnam, son of Nicholas Putnam and Margaret Goodspeed, was baptized on 17
January 1579/80 in Wingrove or Aston Abbots, Buckinghamshire, England, died 30
December 1662 in Salem, Massachusetts; married about 1611 in Buckinghamshire to
Priscilla Gould, daughter of Richard Gould and Elizabeth Young. She was born about 1585. Four children.
Generation 2:
Nathaniel Putnam, born 3 September 1619 in Wingrove, died 23 July 1700
in Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts; married on 3 September 1652 in
Salem to Elizabeth Hutchinson, daughter of Richard Hutchinson and Alice. She was baptized on 30 August 1629 in
Nottinghamshire, England and died 24 June 1688 in Salem. Seven children.
Generation 3: Elizabeth Putnam, born 11 August 1662 in
Salem, died 6 March 1697 in Salem, Village; married on 2 March 1679 in Salem to
George Flint, son of Thomas Flint and Ann.
He was born 6 January 1652 in Salem, and died 23 June 1720 in the North
Precinct (now the town of Reading). Ten
children.
Generation 4: George
Flint m. Jerusha Pope
Generation 5: George
Flint m. Hannah Phelps
Generation 6: Phebe
Flint m. John Flint
Generation 7: Olive
Flint m. Luther Simonds Munroe
Generation 8: Phebe Cross
Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson
Generation 9: Albert
Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill
Generation 10: Donald
Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)
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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ PUTNAM of Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 29, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/10/surname-saturday-putnam-of-salem.html: accessed [access date]).
