The Kitchen Musician ~ July 2021

Hello friends,

This month marks the 329th anniversary of the death of my wife’s 9x great grandmother, Susanna Martin. Come into the kitchen and I will share a great song I learned from the band Touchstone, about her dramatic and famous demise.


Index

  NEWS: New music from Mally Smith!
  THIS MONTH’S MUSIC: “Susanna Martin”
  UPCOMING SHOWS
  FEATURED NON-PROFIT: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

My first time performing live since COVID lockdown.
Dublin, NH. Photo by Volkert Volkersz.


News:

I am taking a little time off, so will probably be quiet through mid August. The borders between the US and Switzerland have just opened up. Margo and I are taking advantage to visit our son’s family, including twin grandchildren whom we have never met in person – even though they are now over a year old. Following that, we are taking more family time at our cabin in Jaffrey, NH.

My daughter Mally Smith has been pretty busy. This week she releases “Dive In”, the second single from her forthcoming album “Free”. I am so proud of Mally, and I am really impressed with this her latest album. “Dive In” and the accompanying video in particular really touched my heart. You will LOVE the full album when it comes out next month. For more information, please visit MallySmith.com.


This Month’s Music: “Susanna Martin”


“Susanna Martin”
Words & Music © 1962 John Allison and Claudine Langille

Lyrics in the comments below.

“The Salem Martyr”, by Thomas Satterwhite Noble, 1869

Recently, I found the chart that my wife Margo’s grandfather Robert George did to trace the geneology of his wife Katharine, also known to her grandchildren as “Gummy.” As the family story goes, Gummy had applied for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), “a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States’ efforts towards independence.” In order to prove her lineage, Grampa Bob set on the arduous task of checking birth and death records in the days before services like Ancestry, Legacy, MyHeritage and others. This involved visiting dusty records rooms, libraries and a long letter writing campaign to various historical organizations and town offices.

Grampa Bob and Gummy had very different personalities. Grampa Bob was a beloved college history professor (Brown University). He was a brilliant historian, but also a gentle soul who loved working in his wood shop and hanging out with the “blue collar” guys at the Jaffrey, NH fire station or local diner. Gummy on the other hand was status conscious, intense, driven, and sometimes demanding of herself and others. Understandably, there was occasional friction between them; so Bob’s quiet delight was more than a little obvious when he shared his chart with Gummy, showing that she was a direct descendant of Susanna (North) Martin, who was convicted of witchcraft in the famous Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

As I read about Susanna Martin, I recognized some of the strong-mindedness of Gummy, who didn’t suffer fools. According to notes written by the famous local Puritan minister Cotton Mather (who was present at the trial), during testimony by the young girls who accused her of witchcraft, she laughed out loud more than once! To those present, this was a shocking expression of contempt.

    [Magistrate] (To Martin): “What do you laugh at it?”
    [Martin]: “Well I may at such folly.”
    [Magistrate]: “Is this folly? The hurt of these persons.”
    [Martin]: “I never hurt man woman or child.”
    [Mercy Lewes]: “She hath hurt me a great many times, & pulls me down
    Then Martin laughed again.”

Despite the clear lack of evidence, Susanna Martin was convicted and hanged in Salem on July 19th, 1692. The story of the Salem witch trials is fascinating, full of contradictions, speculations, and echoes of modern events like the Joseph McCarthy hearings in the 1950’s and persecution of the powerless.

I first heard the song “Susanna Martin” by the band Touchstone. Although it sounds distinctly traditional, it was written in 1962 by John Allison and Claudine Langille. They took inspiration from the historical records and notes written by Cotton Mather, though there are a few historical inaccuracies. For example, Cotton Mather was present at the trial but he was not the magistrate; and Susanna Martin was a widow of about seventy years of age and not the comely, youthful woman described in their song.

Recently I (virtually) performed this song in a showcase for the Northwich Folk Club (UK). An audience member shared that she too was a direct descendant of someone convicted of witchcraft in the UK, which calls to mind that witch trials were a phenomenon in both Europe and the “New World.” With modern DNA testing, I predict more people will find this blog and reach out to claim a distant cousin relationship with my wife Margo, the 9x great granddaughter of Susanna Martin.

Steady on, friends! If you haven’t already received your COVID vaccine, please consider it. Margo and I are fully vaccinated, and gratefully, we are cautiously attending live music shows these days. I am also starting to book my own shows beginning in September.

Take care!

Tom

(If so inclined, I invite you to leave a comment by scrolling to the end of this page.)


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22 Comments
  • Tom
    June 29, 2021

    Susanna Martin
    © 1962 John Allison and Claudine Langille (from the band Touchstone)

    Susanna Martin was a witch who dwelt in Amesbury
    With brilliant eye and saucy tongue she worked her sorcery
    And when into the judges court the sheriffs brought her hither
    The lilacs drooped as she passed by
    And then were seen to wither

    A witch she was, though trim and neat with comely head held high
    It did not seem that one as she with Satan so would vie
    And when in court the afflicted ones proclaimed her evil ways
    She laughed aloud and boldly then
    Met Cotton Mather’s gaze

    “Who hath bewitched these maids,” he asked, and strong was her reply
    “If they be dealing in black arts, ye know as well as I”
    And then the stricken ones made moan as she approached near
    They saw her shaped upon the beam
    So none could doubt ’twas there

    The neighbors ’round swore to the truth of her Satanic powers
    That she could fly o’er land and stream and come dry shod through showers
    At night, twas said, she had appeared a cat of fearsome mien
    “Avoid she-devil,” they had cried
    To keep their spirits clean

    The spectral evidence was weighed, then stern the parson spoke
    “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live, tis written in the Book”
    Susanna Martin so accused, spoke with flaming eyes
    “I scorn these things for they are naught
    But filthy gossip’s lies”

    Now those bewitched, they cried her out, and loud their voice did ring
    They saw a bird above her head, an evil yellow thing
    And so, beneath a summer sky, Susanna Martin died
    And still in scorn she faced the rope
    Her comely head held high

  • Cheryl DOUCETTE
    June 29, 2021

    That is such a cool thing to find! I’m definitely going to need to my charts now. Lol

    • Tom
      June 29, 2021

      Who knows what skeletons you will find in there? 🙂

  • Dietrich Knabe
    June 29, 2021

    What a great story! Clearly Margo has some skillz with the wand here in the 21st century, I’d be quite careful!

    And that was a great performance. Thanks for putting that up. Would love to see more! (Texas is quite far away)

    • Tom
      June 30, 2021

      Thank you for the kind comment, Dietrich. … and I think Margo is not a threat. 🙂 Take care.

  • Kevin
    November 20, 2021

    As a fellow 9x great grandchild, it’s Susannah, with an “h.”

    • Tom
      November 20, 2021

      Hello, Thanks for the comment. Other than my wife, you are now the third person I am aware of who is a direct descendant of Goody Martin. Her first is frequently written with an “H”, but not always. For example, the inscription on the stone of the “Susanna Martin Memorial” reads “Here stood the house of Susanna Martin, Christian woman accused as a witch, tried, and executed at Salem, July 19, 1692, a martyr of superstition.” I used the spelling that was used by the composers of the song.

  • Karla Goddard
    December 24, 2021

    Merry Christmas. Susannah is my 10th great grandmother. Sooo, hello cousin. She is related to us through my mother’s maternal side. I’m sure she would be surprised that she still is part of our conversations so many years after. Thank you for your posts!

    • Tom
      December 25, 2021

      Hello Karla, Actually it is my wife and our children who are directly related to you via Susannah. Wishing you good health in 2022. Thanks for visiting my web site.

  • Jamie Bevec
    August 29, 2022

    I just learned, I too am a descendant of Susannah North Martin! This is from my cousin: She was an Aunt to out Ancestor Anna Oldham who married Francis Bates in Ipswich. The accused witch was Susannah North Martin. She was twice accused of being a witch before she was hung in 1692.

    • admin
      August 29, 2022

      It is my wife who is the 9x great granddaughter of Susannah North Martin. What a horror show to imagine!

  • Linda Ruhl
    October 22, 2022

    also a descendant of Susannah Martin!

    • Mary LaChance Haliburton
      January 9, 2023

      As am I!

      • Tom
        January 9, 2023

        Maybe we should schedule a family reunion? 🙂

        • Jenny Cookson
          January 29, 2023

          She is also my 9th great-grandmother, through her first son, George! A reunion would be surreal and sublime. 🙂 I’m currently working on a manuscript about Cotton Mather, which was (sort of) inspired by William Carlos Williams’ chapter on him in “In the American Grain,” in which Williams considers (and reprints) part of Mather’s transcript of Martin’s trial.

          • Tom
            January 30, 2023

            Hi Jenny. I wonder how many living relatives there are. Good luck with your manuscript. Fascinating subject.

  • Lark
    November 8, 2022

    Susanna Martin is my 8th great grandmother. And so therefore am a distant cousin to Margo! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on Susanna. I’ve always been in awe of her bravery, and proud to be her one of her (many, many, many) descendants. I also very much enjoyed the tune. Thanks!

    • Tom
      November 8, 2022

      Welcome to the family. 🙂 Glad you like this song.

  • Abigail Lawrence
    August 6, 2023

    I too am a descendant of Susannah Martin. How exciting about find out about the song!

    • Tom
      August 7, 2023

      Hello Abigail. Sometimes I kid my wife about being related to a witch, but she takes it with good hmor. I’ll bet you get the same. 🙂

  • Robert
    October 31, 2023

    Also 9th great grand mother through son Joseph

    • Tom
      November 9, 2023

      Hello “cousin”!