Mary Toppan

Biography

Mary Toppan (1744-1817) lived much of her life in Salem, a witness to the town's transition from colonial outpost to a center of American trade, and her presence helped sustain the communal bonds of family and neighborhood.

Though details of her daily labors remain largely private, she is remembered as a devoted member of her household whose steadiness comforted friends and kin through the trials of war and the uncertainties of growth.