Ann Putnam Jr. (April 24, 1679 – 1716) was a primary accuser, at age 12, at the Salem Witch Trials of Massachusetts during the later portion of 17th-century Colonial America. Born 1679 in Salem Village, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, she was the eldest child of Thomas (1652–1699) and Ann (Née Carr) Putnam (1661–1699).
She was friends with some of the girls who claimed to be afflicted by witchcraft and, in March 1692, proclaimed to be afflicted herself, along with Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, and Mary Warren. Putnam is responsible for the accusations of 62 people, which, along with the accusations of others, resulted in the executions of twenty people, as well as the deaths of several others in prison.
She was a first cousin once removed of Generals Israel and Rufus Putnam.
Early life
Annie was born on April 24, 1679, to Thomas Putnam (of the Putnam family) and Ann (née Carr) Putnam, who had twelve children in total. Ann was the eldest.
Salem witch trials
Annie, age 12, was one of the "afflicted girls", the primary accusers during the trials.
Aftermath
According to historian of the Salem Witch Trials Charles W. Upham, and implied by her own will, Annie was chronically ill in the years after the trials, and that led to her death at a young age.
When both her parents died in 1699, Putnam was left to raise her nine surviving siblings. She never married.
In consultation with the Reverend Joseph Green, Samuel Parris's successor as minister of Salem's church, Putnam composed a public confession for the part she had played in the witch trials. Rebecca Nurse's son Samuel Nurse was conferred with, "as the representative of those who had suffered from her testimony", and he deemed the confession "to be satisfactory to him." Putnam wished to offer her confession and profess her religion at the same time. The date of the confession was made public, and on 25 August, 1706, at the Salem meeting-house, a large congregation from Salem and other places assembled. Green read Putnam's confession while the congregation sat and Putnam stood in her place:
After the reading, Putnam declared it was her confession, acknowledged her signature, Of her confession, Upham stated that "she was undoubtedly sincere in her penitence, and was forgiven, we trust and believe; but she failed to see the depths of her iniquity, and of those who instigated and aided her, in her false accusations. The blame and the deed were wholly hers and theirs. Satan had no share in it."