Susanna Abbott

**Susanna Abbott** (28 April, 1677 - 2 November, 1734) was an American witch who lived in New Salem during the 17th and 18th centuries. She was the daughter of Alwin Abbott I, a descendant of the Noble and Ancient House of Abbott, an English member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight.

Susanna's mother was Mercy Ellis, a witch, whose sister was hanged for witchcraft. The family later fled Salem after the Witch Trials and resettled in Barnstaple, Devon, England. During this time, Susanna kept a journal, which is still studied today in History of Magic classes.

## Biography

#### Early life

Susanna Abbott was born on 28 April, 1677, in Bedford, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, in Colonial America. She had seven sisters and three brothers. Her father, Alwin Abbott I, was the grandson of one of the first Abbotts to arrive in America, and her mother, Mercy Ellis, was the daughter of two muggle-borns, who came to join the covenant.

#### Salem Witch Trials (1692 and 1693)

Susanna was fifteen and sixteen years old during the deadliest witch hunt in the history of Colonial America. Susanna kept a diary during the Salem witch trials, which were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, taking place between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused, 19 of whom were found guilty and executed by hanging (14 women and 5 men). One other man, Giles Corey, was crushed to death for refusing to plead, and at least five people died in jail. It was the deadliest witch hunt in the history of colonial North America.

Some of the women accused and executed were actually witches, though they were entirely innocent of the crimes of which they were convicted- Susanna's maternal aunt, Ann Ellis, was one of them. Others were simply No-Majes unlucky enough to be swept up in a moment of mass hysteria.

#### Aftermath

The Salem witch trials were a major traumatic event in the history of the wizarding world. They provoked many witches and wizards who had settled in the New World to return to their homelands, and helped to dissuade further immigration for centuries to come, especially by pure-blood families.

#### Later life

The Abbotts, and most of Susanna's family, returned to England. Susanna had married at twenty and resettled in Connecticut with her new husband, Increase Clapp. She had several children with him, and died at the age of 57 in New London, Connecticut.

#### Post-mortem

Her diary was published by a grandson in a wizarding journal aimed at collecting information about the trials. Her detailed entries, and her relatively young perspective at the time helped young witches and wizards understand the historical event without getting too bored.

The book *The Scars of Salem: Essays on the Witch Trials of 1692* contained a collection of essays on the Salem Witch Trials and their lasting impact on the American wizarding community. It contains a forward written by Samuel Clapp, Susanna's great-great-grandson.

## Etymology

Susanna is from *Σουσαννα (Sousanna)*, the Greek form of the Hebrew name *שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (Shoshannah)*. This was derived from the Hebrew word *שׁוֹשָׁן (shoshan)* meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose"), perhaps ultimately from Egyptian *sšn* "lotus". In the Old Testament Apocrypha this is the name of a woman falsely accused of adultery. The prophet Daniel clears her name by tricking her accusers, who end up being condemned themselves. It also occurs in the New Testament belonging to a woman who ministers to Jesus.