Individual Details

See "Putnam's Direct Line" by Read H. Putnam dated 1964, page 7. Found at Heritage Quest Online.

Nathaniel Putnam http://biographiks.com/pleasant/salem.htm
(1416), one of three influential immigrant brothers, became head of the prominent Putnam family of Danvers, MA after his brother Thomas died in 1686. Nathaniel was smart, perceptive and energetic, very active in business and skilled at it. With his father John Putnam
(2832), Nathaniel left Aston Abbots, Buckinghamshire, England about 1634 and came to New England. He married Elizabeth Hutchinson
(1417) in 1651. Before 1673, he and his brother John invested in an ironworks on lands they owned in nearby Rowley. When the financially-troubled enterprise burned in 1674, they sued the managers for negligence. For years, Nathaniel joined his neighbors in protesting that Salem Village ("the Farms," later Danvers) was too far away from Salem for its men to be expected to share in mandatory guard duty there. For that and other reasons, he wanted Danvers to become independent from the town of Salem. In 1669 a Salem court ordered him to apologize publicly over this issue or pay a fine of 20 pounds.
In 1681, second in wealth only to his brother Thomas, Nathaniel was taxed 9 pounds 10 shillings, while Francis Nourse was only taxed 18 shillings and Samuel Nourse and John Tarbell were each taxed one pound four shillings. He lived on 75 acres acquired from his father-in-law Richard Hutchinson. Even after Danvers built its own church in 1672, (Nathaniel served on the first building committee), a Salem constable seized two and a half acres from his front yard because he refused to pay taxes to support the Salem congregation. He was a steadfast servant to the Danvers church. With his relatives and neighbors (but not his wife), he put his stubby signature on the first Danvers church covenant on Nov. 19, 1689.
"We do, in some measure of sinceritie, this day give up ourselves unto God in Christ, to be for him and not for another, at the same time renouncing all the vanities and Idols of this present evil world..."
Church Covenant, Salem Village, 1689
Nathaniel knew the Nourses for forty years. His land holdings bordered on the Nourses to the south, and the two families bickered about the property line. Yet when Rebecca Nourse was accused of witchcraft by some of his Putnam relatives, Nathaniel defended her, writing to the court, "She hath brought up a great family of children and educated them well, so that there is in some of them apparent savor of godliness." Thirty other neighbors signed a similar letter.
Nathaniel's son Capt. Benjamin Putnam
(708) was head of the Putnam family after his father's death. He served in Danvers as church clerk in 1705 and as deacon for nine years beginning in 1709. He first married Elizabeth Tarrant
(709), then Sarah Holten. In 1872, his land was owned by "Miss Goodhue, near Sam Wallis' farm." Benjamin's son, also named Benjamin, was the father of Eunice Putnam
(177), who married Francis Nourse II
(176) on March 13, 1741 in Salem, MA, uniting the families of the accusers and the accused. Alice Putnam, a dear cousin of Ruth O'Bryan, was also the daughter of a Nourse and a Putnam (and also descended from Nathaniel's son Benjamin). So Alice and Ruth were not only first cousins, they were also 7th cousins and 6th cousins once removed.

Christen	11 Oct 1619	Aston Abbots, Buckhamshire., Kingdom of England
Marriage	1651	Elizabeth Hutchinson
Death	23 Jul 1700	Salem, Essex, Massachusetts Bay, British America
LDS Family Tree ID		LZPW-BXN
WikiTree		Putnam-86

Spouse	Elizabeth Hutchinson (1629 - 1688)
Child	Samuel Putnam (1652 - 1676)
Child	Nathaniel Putnam (1655 - )
Child	John Putnam (1657 - 1722)
Child	Joseplh Putnam (1659 - )
Child	Elizabeth Putnam (1662 - 1697)
Child	Capt. Benjamin Putnam (1664 - 1715)
Child	Mary Putnam (1668 - 1758)

Father	John Putnam Sr. ( - 1662)
Mother	Priscella Gould (1590 - )
Sibling	Elizabeth Putnam ( - )
Sibling	Thomas Putnam ( - 1686)
Sibling	John Putnam ( - 1620)
Sibling	Sarah Putnam ( - )
Sibling	Phoebe Putnam ( - )
Sibling	John Putnam Jr. ( - 1710)

Notes