Marion Lena Starkey (1901–1991)

Marion Lena Starkey was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to an old New England family. One of her ancestors, Peregrine White, was born on the Pilgrim ship Mayflower. She began writing as a child. She earned her B.S. in 1922 and her M.A. in 1935 from Boston University, and attended the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She worked as an editor for the Saugus Herald from 1923 to 1927, and spent two years in the Women’s Army Corps (WACs) during World War II. While in the Army, she saw Morocco, Algeria, Italy, and France, having previously visited Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Mexico in peacetime. She was a professor of English at the Hampton Institute in Virginia and at the University of Connecticut in New London, before becoming a full-time writer. Her most famous book was The Devil in Massachusetts: A Modern Inquiry into the Salem Witch Trials (1949). Working from court records, Miss Starkey created a now-famous psychological portrait tracing the development of the event from child fantasies to societal hysteria. Arthur Miller is said to have used this work in his research for his 1953 play The Crucible. Miss Starkey received a Guggenheim Fellowship to do research in Massachusetts history for her book A Little Rebellion (1955), about the series of revolts that culminated in Shays’ Rebellion. Her other history books included Land Where Our Fathers Died: The Settling of the Eastern Shores, 1607-1735 (1962); Lace Cuffs and Leather Aprons: Popular Struggles in the Federalist Era, 1783-1800 (1972); and a children's book, The Tall Man from Boston (1975).