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Martin and the Evolving History of Massachusetts that Followed  

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Martin and the Evolving History of Massachusetts that Followed  

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In 1711, the Massachusetts legislature passed a resolution clearing the names of the convicted witches and offered financial restitution to their descendants. Susannah Martin’s family did not wish to be named in the law and did not seek restitution.

In 1957, the Massachusetts legislature formally apologized to the victims of the Salem Witch Trials but did not specifically mention any of the victims by name.

In 1992, the Salem Witch Trials Memorial was built in Salem, Mass and a marker was established for Susannah Martin.

In 2001, the Massachusetts legislature passed a resolution officially exonerating five of the victims not mentioned in the previous resolutions: Susannah Martin, Bridget Bishop, Alice Parker, Wilmot Redd and Margaret Scott.

In 2017, the Proctor’s Ledge Memorial was built in Salem, Mass and a marker was established for Susannah Martin.

Source: www.salemweb.com/memorial/chronology.shtml

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Her marker calls her an honest, hard-working Christian woman, and was “a Martyr of Superstition.” Quite the difference from Mather’s idea of her.

In 1857, the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who was a direct descendant of Susannah Martin, honored Susannah in a poem titled The Witch’s Daughter:

“Let Goody Martin rest in peace, I never knew her harm a fly,
And witch or not – God knows – not I?
I know who swore her life away;
And as God lives, I’d not condemn
An Indian dog on word of them.”

Residents of the town of Amesbury later placed a stone marker near Susannah and George Martin’s home that read:

“Here stood the house of Susannah Martin. An honest, hardworking Christian woman accused of being a witch and executed at Salem, July 19, 1692. She will be missed! A Martyr of Superstition. T.I.A. 1894”

Source: https://historyofmassachusetts.org/susannah-martin-accused-witch-from-salisbury/

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How the Witchcraft Trials of Susannah Martin Lasted Nearly 25 Years - New England Historical Society

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Martin proved herself as someone who led herself “according to the word of God.” When asked to quote the Bible as a part of her witch test (that was built around having the accused failed it), she was able to successfully quote it from memory. She clung to her Bible to the very end. The fits of her accusers caused her to laugh out loud and she dared to mock the proceedings with contempt.

“What! Do you laugh at it?” inquired one shocked magistrate.

“Well I may at such folly,” Susannah replied.

“Is this folly? The hurt of these persons?”

“I never hurt man, woman or child.”

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In 1692, the witch trials in Salem finally ended the life Susannah Martin. It was the culmination of a 25-year-long period during which her neighbors repeatedly accused her of being a witch.

While some of the accused in the famous Salem witch trials of 1692 were facing their first accusations, others, like Susannah, had been harassed repeatedly. Some historians suspect that the group of young girls in Salem who accused most of the witches chose some people that they knew personally and others simply because of their reputation.

The First Allegations

Susannah lived in Amesbury, Mass. - 30 miles north of Salem. Originally from England, she married Salisbury, Mass. widower George Martin in 1646. The couple moved to Amesbury and had eight children. The first allegations against Susannah came in 1669. William Sargent accused her of fornication, of killing her infant and witchcraft.

George Martin took the matter to court, suing Sargent for libel. The court eventually cleared Susannah of all charges, but it took an appeal to get her cleared of witchcraft.

It wasn't the only trouble the Martins had that wound up in court. Susannah and George went to court again to try to win part of her family's fortune. Susannah had been largely excluded from her stepmother's will. They sued six times to attempt to overturn the will; they lost each time.

In 1686 George Martin died, leaving Susannah a poor widow. Her argumentative nature left her with few defenders. And in 1692, when the witchcraft hysteria blossomed in Salem, Susannah again found herself accused of being a witch. This time it was the small group of Salem girls who sparked the accusations against Susannah. They claimed she was causing them fits.

Susannah Martin Goes to Court

Susannah's behavior before the accusations worked against her. She was known to mutter to herself. Aware that some considered her a witch, she may have played up the idea from time to time herself to scare people.

Arrested in May of 1692, she was jailed in Salem and indicted. Susannah was hardly contrite. When she witnessed the Salem girls going into convulsions that they said were the work of the witches, she laughed. When the magistrate asked her why, she said, "Well, I may at such folly."

Susannah Martin presented a vigorous defense. When asked to quote the Bible, something a witch was supposed to be unable to do, Susannah did quote it from memory. But there was a sizable group of witnesses against her. A full 24 people accused her of all manner of witchcraft.

They testified she had participated in Satanic rituals. One man said she had driven his wife insane. And one man recalled that years earlier she had been unhappy with a deal she and her husband made to swap some land for some cows. When the owner of the cows refused to give her the ones she wanted, she cursed the farmer's cows and they died. Others say she tormented them and gave them fits.

Susannah was argumentative to the end. She denied being a witch. Clung to her Bible. Perhaps, she suggested, her accusers were under the influence of Satan. "I desire to lead my self according to the word of God," she declared. But on July 19, 1692, she and four others were hanged in Salem for witchcraft. They were among the 19 people hanged for witchcraft during the hysteria of 1692 and 1693.
This story was updated in 2019.

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How the Witchcraft Trials of Susannah Martin Lasted Nearly 25 Years - New England Historical Society

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In 1692, the witch trials in Salem finally ended the life Susannah Martin. It was the culmination of a 25-year-long period during which her neighbors repeatedly accused her of being a witch. While some of the accused in the famous Salem witch trials of 1692 were facing their first accusations, others, like Susannah, had been [...]

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I resonated with her honesty and her stubbornness despite being faced with inevitable doom. Susanna had claimed her innocence throughout the entirety of her trail. Likely a result of the awareness that she will not be able to prove herself in a losing game, Martin spent her time in jail and at the court fully blunt and honest with her feelings. She presented a vigorous defense when she was expected not too and consistently laughed at the ridiculous accusations thrown her way. Though she was later hung, she was hung an honest and respectable woman.

Cotton Mather called Susannah Martin

“…one of the most impudent, Scurrilous, wicked creatures in the world.”

Which I found to be humorously entertaining.

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Many accused witches during the Salem Witch Trails faced this similar consequence. After the noted interrogation, Martin was found guilty and later hung for the accusations of witchcraft. She asserted her innocence the entire time, but she acknowledges in the case itself that it is impossible to prove your innocence in such a case. Pleading innocence and pleading guilt resulted in the same execution.

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“Susanna Martin, pleading Not Guilty to the Indictment of Witchcraft, brought in against her there were produced the Evidences of many Persons very sensibly and grievously Bewitched…”, Cotton Mather

— Martin’s case illustrates a typical exchange between judge and accused witch. It is important to note that the opening of this excerpt reiterating her trial reflects the preconceptions and conclusions set forth by the author, Mather, that Martin is a witch. The formal accusations presented in court were just that: personal accusations of the defendants like Martin that accompanied no real evidence beside word of mouth. It was virtually impossible to disprove these accusations because of those conclusions that were already made before the trial even occurred. The courts accepting and welcoming spectral evidence as a basis for conviction was the main reason the witch trails became as big as it was.