Martha’s story, however, was only part of the Carrier family lore. Martha was ultimately hanged in August of 1692, going to her death refusing to admit to being a witch, refusing to implicate any of her neighbors, and chastising her judges for listening to a group of girls who were “out of their wits.” Her name was Martha Carrier and she was called by Cotton Mather, “The Queen of Hell.” My first novel, told from the point of view of her daughter, Sarah, was titled The Heretic’s Daughter, and it chronicled the growing witchcraft hysteria and the subsequent trials and imprisonment of Martha and four of her five children. I was about eight years old when I was told by my maternal grandmother that my grandmother, back nine generations, was one of the nineteen men and women hanged as a witch in Salem in 1692. I was extremely fortunate to have been given some of my mother’s family history as a young child.
It’s often only when we have the extra time and resources to look backwards that we pursue our lineage through genealogy, or, if we’re lucky, through family stories. For many people the discovery of their ancestry begins later in life following school, career-building, perhaps marriage and family.
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