Susanna+Walcott

Posted By Mike Skelly Research Summary: She is referred to as Susanna in the book, but it is important to know that her real name was Mary Walcott. When **Miller** wrote //The Crucible//, he was forced to change her name because it would have gotten confusing to have so many female characters named Mary. Eighteen years old at the time of the trials she was not the most prominent of the accusers, however she still played a major role in the Salem Witch Trials, and was one of the first "afflicted" girls. When her mother died when she was young her father went on to marry Deliverance Putnam, which in turn made him the brother-in-law of Thomas Putnam, one of the most powerful people in the village. When their families merged, Mary became the niece of Thomas Putnam and the cousin of Ann Putnam Jr., a twelve-year-old girl who was one of the main accusers. Another main accuser who also lived in the household was Mercy Lewis, who was an orphaned servant girl. Mary Walcott was one of the more quiet accusers. She would sit there quietly and occasionally look up to confirm someone else's "story." She was often referred to as “an old standby” and one of the “regulars.” She was not one of the crazy accusers and more often than not sat there and sewed, ignoring the frenzy of her fellow companions at certain trials.

Source: McCandlish, Kelly. "Salem Witch Trials Important Persons." //Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities//. Web. 25 Oct. 2010. .

Annotation: This is a well written paper by a college student from the University of Virginia. Through out the essay she covers all of the parts of the trials that Mary was involved in. Kelly McCandlish goes through Mary Walcott’s whole life in the village and explains many things like her family relations and about how her and her fellow accusers acted at the trials. She makes it clear that although one of the original “afflicted” accusers she was not the most aggressive and sometimes was not involved in the trials as much as the other accusers were.