Mary Walcott


Mary Walcott was one of the "afflicted" girls called as a witness at the Salem witch trials in early 1692-93.

Life

Born July 5, 1675, she was the daughter of Captain Jonathan Walcott, and his wife, Mary Sibley, both of Salem, and was about seventeen years old when the allegations started in 1692. Her aunt, Mary, the wife of Samuel Sibley, was the person who first showed Tituba and Tituba's husband John Indian how to bake a "witch cake" to feed to a dog in order that she and her friends might ascertain exactly who it was that was afflicting them. Joseph B. Felt quoted in The Annals of Salem vol. 2, p. 476 :
March 11, 1692 - "Mary, the wife of Samuel Sibley, having been suspended from communion with the church there, for the advices she gave John to make the above experiment, is restored on confession that her purpose was innocent."

Marriage

Mary Walcott married Isaac Farrar, son of John Farrar of Woburn, Massachusetts, on April 28, 1696. They had several children, and eventually moved to Townsend, Massachusetts. She married, secondly, to David Harwood in 1701 in Sutton, Massachusetts. They had nine children:
  1. Mary Harwood, b. Abt. 1702.; d. Abt. 1753.
  2. Emma Harwood, b. Abt. 1705..
  3. Hannah Harwood, b. Abt. 1706;.
  4. David Harwood, b. Abt. 1708, Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts; d. August 22, 1781, Sutton, Worcester County, Massachusetts;.
  5. Elizabeth Harwood, b. Abt. 1711; d. Abt. 1738;.
  6. Ezra Harwood, b. Abt. 1715.
  7. Alice Harwood, b. Abt. 1720, Salem, Massachusetts.
  8. Absalom Harwood, b. Abt. 1723;.
  9. Solomon Harwood, b. Abt. 1725;.

    Later years

They moved to Sutton about 1729, leaving most of their children living in Salem. David was a weaver by occupation. David died before 1744. Mary Walcott Harwood probably died before 1752.