Andover Bewitched: Martha Carrier (Part II)
Our last "Andover Bewitched" entry and the rest of Martha Carrier's sad story.
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Andover Bewitched: Martha Carrier (Part II)
Read Part I of Martha Carrier’s story here, or dive right in to the second half…
In early 1692, news of the witch trials in Salem made its way to Andover.
Martha Carrier had already made many enemies in town. The townsfolk suspected her family had brought a smallpox epidemic. The Carrier family was not wealthy and had struggled financially for years. Plus, Martha had recently received new land in town, and as if gaining new power through land ownership wasn’t enough, this acquisition triggered arguments with her neighbors about boundary lines.
In short: Martha was an easy target. While many others in town knew each other well and respected each other, Martha was new and already disliked. On May 28, 1692, Martha Carrier was arrested under suspicion of witchcraft.1
Earlier in May, Joseph Ballard, a well-known town official, brought afflicted girls from Salem to Andover in search of Andover’s own witch. His wife, Elizabeth, had fallen mysteriously ill and he believed that a witch was behind her sickness. By his logic, the witch who had afflicted the Salem teenagers might also be making his wife sick.2
In several of the trials, these afflicted girls stood in for others who were unwell. When a suspected witch would lay hands on an afflicted person like young Abigail Williams or Mary Walcott, the jury would watch: if the afflicted person’s illness ceased, then the suspect must be guilty. The girls spent the month of May traveling around Massachusetts in search of other witches, spreading Salem’s hysteria across the colony.
The town was already primed to suspect and dislike Martha, so when the Salem girls pointed a finger at her, everyone believed them. Joseph Ballard himself signed Martha’s arrest warrant, and she was carted off to Salem to face trial.3
Martha’s trial was full of dramatics. On the first day, the afflicted girls testified against her and fell into such a state that the trial ended early. The girls accused Martha of murdered thirteen people during Andover’s smallpox epidemic:
Susan Sheldon cried out in a trance: I wonder, how could you murder 13 persons?
Mary Walcott testified the same that there lay 13 ghosts.
All the afflicted fell into most intolerable out-cries & agonies.…
Martha: It is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits.
Examiner: Do not you see them?
Martha: If I do speak you will not believe me?
The Afflicted: You do see them.
Martha: You lie, I am wronged.4
Over and over, Martha vehemently denied the accusations, even as the girls felt into dramatic convulsive fits. They claimed Martha had caused their illness and the courts believed them. As Martha denied the claims, the courts and the afflicted grew even more adamant.
The courts summoned more witnesses against Martha.
Neighbors from across Andover testified against her. Mary Lacey claimed Martha had led her to a witches’ meeting. 22-year-old Allen Toothaker recounted a fight between Benjamin Abbot and Martha Carrier over land boundaries.5
Elderly Ann Foster blamed Martha too: “it was Goody Carrier that made her a witch that she came to her in person about six years ago and told her if she would not be a witch, the Devil would tear her in pieces and carry her away.”6
But as Martha’s trial continued, Martha continued to deny the claims. She insisted that the afflicted teenagers were unstable and that – of course – she had never practiced witchcraft.
The courts escalated her trial. They arrested her children, Richard (age 18), Thomas Jr. (age 10), and Sarah (age 8) and jailed them in Salem.7 Some reports allude to the children being hung from their ankles as a form of punishment and to encourage them to talk.8 Whether or not this happened, the experience of being torn from their homes, jailed in dank conditions, and dragged out to a large and imposing courtroom was certainly intimidating enough.
Richard, Thomas, and Sarah all testified against their mother, claiming that she had led them into practicing witchcraft too.
This accusation kept the children safe and doomed Martha.
For those accused of witchcraft, if they confessed, the courts believed that they could be absolved of the sin and could go back to their lives. If someone denied the accusation, especially when there was “credible” evidence that they had practiced witchcraft, this was evidence that they were too far gone to save.
Martha never confessed because she did not practice witchcraft. And the court did not let up, believing that her lack of confession was the biggest evidence of her guilt.
In July 1692, Martha was formally indicted for practicing witchcraft against Mary Walcott and Elizabeth Hubbard.
Her charge reads: “[Martha Carrier] Wickedly and feloniously hath used, practised and exercised [certain Detestable Arts called Witchcrafts and Sorceries], at and within the Township of Salem… against one Mary Walcott of Salem Village. [Mary Walcott is] tortured, afflicted, pinned, consumed, wasted and tormented [by Carrier].”9
On August 19, 1692, Martha was executed for practicing witchcraft. It was a Friday afternoon. Martha stood with four others: George Burroughs, John Willard, George Jacobs, and John Proctor.10 Accounts of the day written after the fact say that Martha continued to insist on her innocence all the way up to her execution.
Supposedly, Martha’s body was left in a shallow grave near the hanging site. The story goes that she might have been later exhumed and properly buried by her family, but her current resting place is unknown.
Martha was the first person from Andover executed for practicing witchcraft in 1692, but she was not the last. Samuel Wardwell and Mary Parker were brought to trial and executed in September – and so the trials continued in the months following Martha’s death.
Soon after Samuel and Mary’s deaths, the chaos began to slow. The governor stepped in and quelled some of the anxiety about witches by disbanding the special court in Salem. No one else was executed for witchcraft after September 22, 1692.
Though it was a small comfort, in 1711, Martha’s husband Thomas received restitution from the Massachusetts government. This request, mostly for jail fees for Martha and their children, amounted to 7 pounds, or about $2,500 in 2022.11 It seems a pittance for the grueling experience of the trials and the loss of life.
Martha’s sentence was officially reversed in 1711.12 Today, her memory is commemorated with several memorials in Salem and Danvers, Massachusetts.
Thank you so much for reading along with “Andover Bewitched”! It has been a joy to share these stories with you. Thank you for your comments and questions along the way! Though this is the last entry in the Andover Bewitched series (for now), I will return in September for more tales from our collection…
As always, if you have any questions, I love to hear from you! Plus, don’t forget to click here to open a free Substack account, so you can like, share, and comment.
Thanks for reading!
— Toni
Juliet Haines Mofford, Andover Massachusetts: Historical Selections from Four Centuries (Merrimack Valley Press, 2004): 28-30.
Warrant for apprehension of Martha Carrier, and Officer's Return, May 28, 1692. Via Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, Essex County Court Archives.
Examination of Mary Lacey, Sr., July 21, 1692. Deposition of Allen Toothaker v. Martha Carrier, August 3, 1692. Via Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, Essex County Court Archives.
Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem witch trials: a day-by-day chronicle of a community under siege (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2002).
Indictment No. 1 of Martha Carrier, for Afflicting Mary Walcott, July 1, 1692. Via Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Roach, The Salem Witch Trials (2002).
Petition of Thomas Carrier for Restitution for Martha Carrier, September 9, 1710. Via Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, Massachusetts State Archives. “Currency Converter,” by Eric Nye, University of Wyoming.