Ann Foster
Ann Foster (c. 1617 – December 3, 1692) was an Andover widow accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.[1][2]
Life and family
Ann married Andrew Foster and settled in Andover, Massachusetts. They had five children: Andrew, Abraham, Sarah (Mrs. Kemp), Hannah (Mrs. Stone, whose husband, Hugh Stone, killed her in a drunken rage in 1689, and was hanged), and Mary (Mrs. Lacey).[citation needed]
Accusation and trial
In 1692, when a woman named Elizabeth Ballard came down with a fever that baffled doctors, witchcraft was suspected, and a search for the responsible witch began. Two afflicted girls from Salem village, Ann Putnam and Mary Walcott, were taken to Andover to seek out the witch, and fell into fits at the sight of Ann Foster.
Ann, seven years a widow, was arrested and taken to Salem prison. Foster's daughter, Mary Foster Lacey, and her daughter, named Mary Lacey Kemp (called "Mary Lacey Jr."), were accused of witchcraft as well.
A close reading of the trial transcripts[3] reveals Ann resisted confessing to the crimes she was accused of, despite being "put to the question" (i.e. tortured) multiple times over a period of days.
Her resolve broke when her daughter, Mary Lacey Sr., similarly accused of witchcraft, accused her own mother Ann of the crime, likely to save herself and her child. Ann's subsequent confession was an apparent attempt to shield her daughter.
Death
Convicted, Ann died in the Salem jail on December 3, 1692, aged around 75, after 21 weeks of imprisonment before the trials were discredited and ended. Her son, Abraham, later petitioned the authorities to clear her name ("remove the attainder") and reimburse the family for the expenses associated with her incarceration and burial; the petition is also posted here.
Further reading
- Schiff, S. (2015). The Witches: Salem, 1692. Little, Brown. p. 216–. ISBN 978-0-316-20061-5. Retrieved July 30, 2016. (subscription required)
- Roach, M.K. (2004). The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-58979-132-9. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
Notes
- Trial Transcript of Ann Foster
- Ray, B.C. (2015). Satan and Salem: The Witch-Hunt Crisis of 1692. University of Virginia Press. pp. 145–46. ISBN 978-0-8139-3708-3; retrieved July 30, 2016.
- Beau, B.F.L. (2016). The Story of the Salem Witch Trials. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-315-50904-4; retrieved July 30, 2016.
- Bresette, Luci. "Salem Witch Trials Investigation..."; retrieved September 13, 2016.
References
- ^ Ray, B.C. (2015). Satan and Salem: The Witch-Hunt Crisis of 1692. University of Virginia Press. pp. 145–146. ISBN 978-0-8139-3708-3. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
- ^ Beau, B.F.L. (2016). The Story of the Salem Witch Trials. Routledge. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-315-50904-4. Retrieved July 30, 2016.
- ^ http://www.ostinatoguitars.com//ghtout/npr7.htm Trial Transcripts
- v
- t
- e
court officials
- Jonathan Corwin
- Bartholomew Gedney
- John Hathorne
- Joseph Herrick
- George Herrick
- John Richards
- Nathanial (or Nathaniel) Saltonstall
- Samuel Sewall
- William Stoughton
- Waitstill Winthrop
- William Griggs
- Thomas Barnard
- George Burroughs (convicted of witchcraft and hanged)
- Francis Dane
- John Hale
- John Higginson
- Deodat Lawson
- Cotton Mather
- Increase Mather
- William Milbourne
- Nicholas Noyes
- Samuel Parris
- Edward Payson
- Samuel Phillips
- Samuel Willard
and public figures
- Thomas Danforth
- James Russell
- William Phips
- Thomas Brattle
- Robert Calef
- Thomas Maule
- Benjamin Abbot
- Ebenezer Babson
- William Barker Sr.
- Thomas Barnard
- James Best Jr.
- James Best Sr.
- Elizabeth Booth
- John Bly Sr. and Rebecca Bly
- Thomas Boreman
- Thomas Chandler
- Nathaniel Coit
- Mary Daniel
- John DeRich
- Joseph Draper
- John Emerson
- Ralph Farnum Sr.
- Hannah Foster
- Joseph Fowler
- Mary Fuller
- Mary Herrick
- John Howe
- Elizabeth Hubbard
- Joseph Hutchinson
- John Indian
- Nathaniel Ingersoll
- Thomas and Mary Jacobs
- Henry Kinney
- Margaret Wilkins Knight
- Mercy Lewis
- Abigail Martin Jr.
- Jeremiah Neale
- Sarah Nurse
- Betty Parris
- Edward Payson
- Samuel and Ruth Perley (or Pearly)
- Samuel Pickworth
- Thomas Preston
- Ann Putnam Jr.
- Ann Putnam Sr.
- Edward Putnam
- Hannah Putnam
- John Putnam Jr.
- John Putnam Sr.
- Jonathan (or Johnathan) Putnam
- Nathaniel Putnam
- Thomas Putnam
- Nicholas Rist
- Margaret Rule
- Susannah Sheldon
- Mercy Short
- Martha Sprague
- Timothy Swan or Swann
- Christian Trask
- Peter Tufts
- Moses Tyler
- Jonathan Walcott
- Mary Walcott
- Richard Walker
- Mary Warren
- Joseph Whipple
- Bray Wilkins
- John Wilkins
- Samuel Wilkins
- Abigail Williams
- Daniel Wycom or Wicom or Wycombe
- Frances Wycom or Wycome or Wycombe
- Arthur Abbot
- Nehemiah Abbot Jr.
- John Alden
- Abigail Barker
- Katerina Biss
- Edward Bishop
- Edward Bishop III
- Mary Black
- Anne Bradstreet
- Dudley Bradstreet
- John Bradstreet
- Mary Bridges Sr.
- Sarah Bridges
- Sarah Buckley
- John Busse (or Buss)
- Andrew Carrier
- Richard Carrier
- Sarah Carrier
- Thomas Carrier Jr.
- Bethiah Carter Jr.
- Bethiah Carter Sr.
- Rachel Clinton
- Sarah Cloyce
- Elizabeth Colson
- Mary Colson
- Francis Dane
- Phoebe Day
- Elizabeth Dicer
- Rebecca Dike
- Ann Dolliver
- Mehitable Downing
- Mary Dyer
- Daniel and Lydia Eames
- Rebecca Blake Eames
- Esther Elwell
- Martha Emerson
- Joseph Emons
- Thomas Farrar Sr.
- Abigail Faulkner Jr.
- Abigail Faulkner Sr.
- Dorothy Faulkner
- Elizabeth Fosdick
- Eunice Frye
- Dorothy Good
- Mary Green
- Sarah Noyes Hale (wife of John Hale)
- Elizabeth Hutchinson Hart
- Margaret Hawkes
- Sarah Hawkes Jr.
- Dorcas Hoar
- Deliverance Hobbs
- William Hobbs
- Elizabeth Johnson Sr.
- Stephen Johnson
- Rebecca Jacobs
- Jane Lilly (or Lillie)
- Mary Marston
- Sarah Morey
- Sarah Murrell
- Robert and Sarah Pease
- Joan Penney (or Penny)
- Sarah Phelps
- Lady Mary Phips
- Mary Post
- Susannah Post
- Margaret Prince
- Elizabeth Proctor
- Sarah Proctor
- William Proctor
- Sarah Davis Rice
- Sarah Rist
- Sarah Root
- Susanna Rootes
- Abigail Rowe
- Mary Rowe
- Elizabeth Scargen
- Ann Sears
- Abigail Somes
- Sarah Clapp Swift
- Mary Harrington Taylor
- Margaret Thacher
- Job Tookey
- Margaret Toothaker
- Mary Toothaker
- Hannah Tyler
- Mary Lovett Tyler
- Hezekiah Usher II
- Rachel Vinson
- Mary Whittredge (or Witheridge)
- Sarah Wilson Jr.
- Sarah Wilson Sr.
- Edward Wooland
accused others
- Mary Barker
- William Barker Jr.
- William Barker Sr.
- Sarah Bibber
- Mary Bridges Jr.
- Sarah Churchwell
- Deliverance Dane
- Rebecca Eames
- Abigail Hobbs
- Margaret Jacobs
- Mary Lacey Jr.
- Mary Lacey Sr.
- Joanna Tyler
- Martha Tyler
- Mercy Wardwell
- Sarah Wardwell
- Mary Warren
- Candy
- Tituba
- Bridget Bishop
- George Burroughs
- Martha Carrier
- Martha Corey
- Mary Eastey
- Sarah Good
- Elizabeth Howe
- George Jacobs Sr.
- Susannah Martin
- Rebecca Nurse
- Alice Parker
- Mary Ayer Parker
- John Proctor
- Ann Pudeator
- Wilmot Redd
- Margaret Scott
- Samuel Wardwell
- Sarah Wildes
- John Willard
- John Durrant
- Lydia Dustin
- Ann Foster
- Mercy, infant child of Sarah Good
- Sarah Osborne
- Infant child of Elizabeth Scargen
- Roger Toothaker
otherwise fled
- John Alden
- Daniel Andrew
- Mary Bradbury
- Elizabeth Cary
- Phillip and Mary English
- Edward Farrington
- Mary Green
- George Jacobs Jr.
- Ephraim Stevens