Ann Poynter1

#1369, (say 1630 - 22 September 1692)

Family 1

Thomas Greenslade b. s 1624, d. 1674
Children 1.Abigail Greenslade9 (a 1650 - )
 2.Thomas Greenslade10 (bt 1650 - 1660 - )
 3.John Greenslade10 (bt 1650 - 1660 - )
 4.Samuel Greenslade10 (bt 1650 - 1660 - )
 5.James Greenslade10 (bt 1650 - 1660 - )
 6.Ruth Greenslip+ (1659 - b 1724)

Family 2

Jacob Pudeator d. c 1682
Her married name was Greenslade. 
Her married name was Pudeator.2 
Birth*say 1630She was born say 1630.1 
Marriage*before 1650She married Thomas Greenslade before 1650 in MaineG.3 
Marriage*after 1677She married Jacob Pudeator after 1677 at Salem, Essex Co., MassachusettsG.2 
Probate27 March 1677She was the administrator of Thomas Greenslade's estate on 27 March 1677 at Court at Ipswich, Essex Co., MassachusettsG.4 
12 May 1692
Warrant for Arrest of Ann Pudeator and Alice Parker

To the Marshall of Essex or Constable in Salem

You are in theire Majes'ts names hereby required forthwith to apprehend and bring before us Alice parker the wife of John parker of Salem and Ann Pudeator of Salem Widdow who stand Charged with sundry acts of Witchcraft by them Committed this day Contrary to the Laws of our Sov'r Lord & Lady. faile not Dated Salem. May the. 12'th 1692

John Hathorne
Jonathan. Corwin
May 12'th -- 1692 I have apprehended the above named persons and Brought them att the place apointed by your honors

George Herrick Marshall of Essex


(Source: Essex County Archives, Salem -- Witchcraft Vol. 1 Page 109 ) on 12 May 1692 at Essex Co., MassachusettsG.5
Death*22 September 1692She died by hanging on 22 September 1692 at Essex Co., MassachusettsG.6 
Burial*22 September 1692She was buried on 22 September 1692 at Burying Point Cemetery, Salem, Essex Co., MassachusettsG.7
Wikipedia:
Ann Greenslit Pudeator was a well-to-do septuagenarian widow hanged on charges of being a witch on September 22, 1692. Thomas Greenslit was her first husband and they had five children (Thomas, Jr., Ruth, John, Samuel, and James). Ann's maiden name is not known, nor the place of her birth. After Thomas' death, she married Jacob Pudeator and took his name. Jacob died in 1682, leaving Ann well-off. Some have theorized that her likely occupation as a nurse and midwife, along with her being a woman of property, made her vulnerable to charges of witchcraft.

The inventory of Goody Pudeator's alleged misdeeds included:

Presenting the Devil's Book to a girl and forcing her to sign it.
Bewitchment causing the death of neighbor's wife.
Appearing in spectral form to afflicted girls.
Having witchcraft materials in her home, which she claimed was grease for making soap.
Torturing with pins.
Causing a man to fall out of a tree.
Killing her second husband and his first wife.
Turning herself into a bird and flying into her house.

Many of these allegations were made by Mary Warren, one of the so-called "afflicted girls". Her other accusers were John Best, Sr., John Best, Jr., and Samuel Pickworth. Ann Pudeator was tried and sentenced to death on September 9, 1692, along with Alice Parker, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Bradbury, and Mary Easty. It is not known where she is buried. She was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town.

Ann's son Thomas testified against George Burroughs at his trial for witchcraft.

In October 1710, the General Court passed an act reversing the convictions of those for whom their families had pleaded, but Ann Pudeator was not among them. Ann was exonerated in 1957 by the Massachusetts State Legislature, partly because of the efforts of Lee Greenslit, a Midwestern textbook publisher.8
 

Citations

  1. [S520] VWH.
  2. [S183] Clarence Almon Torrey, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (GPC) (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2004), p. 606; Jacob Pudeator (-1682) & 2nd wife Ann [Greenslit/Greenslade] (-1692/3], widow of Thomas, marr. after 1677, Salem. Online Ancestry.com.
  3. [S341] Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin, editor, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, ME: Southward Press, 1928–1939), p. 289, from estimated birth dates of children. Ann, his widow, swore to his estate inventory in 1677.
  4. [S386] Probate Records of Essex County Massachusetts: Vol. III, 1675-1681 (Salem, MA: The Essex Institute, 1920), III:121. Estate of Thomas Geeenslett. "Administration upon the estate of Thomas Greenslett, intestate, was granted Mar. 27, 1677, to Ann Greenslett, who was to pay the debts as far as the inventory, which was 3li. 16s. 2d., would allow." Ipswich Quarterly Court Records, vol. 5, page 287.
    Inventory of the estate of Thomas Greenslet taken Mar. 21, 1676-7 by Edmund Batter and John Massey: one flocke bed & apertenances. 1ii; 2 old Chests with raggs, 6s.; a lampe, ticke & Hauke, 4s.; table, 2 wheels & Chairs, 10s. 6d.; one Irone pott, 6s. 8d. ; wood & old bedsteed, 7s.; potts, 2s.; 2 swine 1 li. ; total, 3li. 16s. 2d. The debts many & not knowne.
    Attested in Ipswich court Mar. 27, 1677 by An Greenslet administratrix of the estate of her late husband Thomas Greenslet.
    Essex County Probate Files, Docket 11,851.
  5. [S1125] Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, online http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html
  6. [S1125] Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, online http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html, "Executed on Sept. 22, 1692, the widow Ann Greenslit Pudeator was one of the seven unfortunate victims of the final hanging on Gallows Hill during the Salem witch trials."
  7. [S1628] FindAGrave.com, online findagrave.com, modern carving in old stone "Ann Pudeator / Hanged / Sept. 22 1692." Burying Point Cemetery (also known as Charter Street Cemetery and Salem Burying Point), 51 Charter Street, Salem, Essex Co., MA. Memorial 8302, maintained by FindAGrave, photo by The Guardian.
  8. [S504] Wikipedia, online Wikipedia.com.
  9. [S341] Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, 289.
  10. [S182] Greenslip List on Rootsweb, online http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/GREENSLIT/, Helen Greenslit Graves on 30 Apr 2006 and 26 Jul 2000.