Birth & Death Information from "Mudge Memorials in America" Alfred Mudge Boston 1868
Rebecca's origin and age have not been proved. She is assumed to be the child of George Steele, a founder of Hartford, because he included Micah Mudge and his brother in his will and they are assumed to be his grandchildren. That she married at least 3 men is undisputed. Jarvis Mudge was the second husband and died as her first husband did after a few years of marriage. Her 3rd husband was Nathaniel Greensmith. He did not survive long either because he was hung with her after she also implicated him as a witch.
Rebecca was accused of being a "lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman" by her minister. She and Nathaniel were indicted in 1662 as having familiarity with Satan, found guilty and hung on Gallows Hill in Hartford. There is not exact date recorded for Rebecca, but Nathaniel's death date was 25 Jan 1663.
She married (1) Abraham Elsen [3 daughters]; (2) Jarvis Mudge [2 sons]; and (3) Nathaniel Greensmith [no children,.
NOTED GENEALOGISTS STATE THAT THERE IS NO DEFINITE PROOF THAT HER MAIDEN NAME WAS STEELE
The following edited account of their trials is taken from a book written in 1899 by John M. Taylor from court records but with some later editors' opinion that this was all nonsense.
THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT
Nathaniel Greensmith lived in Hartford. He was thrifty by divergent and economical methods, since he is credited in the records of the time with stealing a bushel and a half of wheat, of stealing a hoe, and of lying to the court, and of battery.
But he made one adventure that was most unprofitable. In an evil hour he took to wife Rebecca, relict (widow) of Abraham Elson, and also relict of Jarvis Mudge, and of whom so good a man as the Rev. John Whiting, minister of the First Church in Hartford, said that she was 'a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman."
This triple combination of personal qualities soon elicited the criticism and animosity of the community, and Nathaniel and Rebecca fell under the most fatal of all suspicions of that day, that of being possessed by the evil one.
Gossip and rumor about these unpopular neighbors culminated in a formal complaint, and December 30, 1661, at a court held in Hartford, both the Greensmiths were separately indicted in the same formal charge.
While Rebecca was in prison under suspicion, she was interviewed by two ministers, Revs. Haynes and Whiting, as to the charges of Ann Cole a next door neighbor which were written down by them, all of which, and more, she confessed to be true before the court.
The Greensmiths were convicted and sentenced to suffer death. In January 1662, they were hung on "Gallows Hill," on the bluff a little north of where Trinity College now stands "a logical location" one most learned in the traditions and history of Hartford calls it as it afforded an excellent view of the execution to a large crowd on the meadows to the west, a hanging being then a popular spectacle and entertainment.
Rebecca's origin and age have not been proved. She is assumed to be the child of George Steele, a founder of Hartford, because he included Micah Mudge and his brother in his will and they are assumed to be his grandchildren. That she married at least 3 men is undisputed. Jarvis Mudge was the second husband and died as her first husband did after a few years of marriage. Her 3rd husband was Nathaniel Greensmith. He did not survive long either because he was hung with her after she also implicated him as a witch.
Rebecca was accused of being a "lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman" by her minister. She and Nathaniel were indicted in 1662 as having familiarity with Satan, found guilty and hung on Gallows Hill in Hartford. There is not exact date recorded for Rebecca, but Nathaniel's death date was 25 Jan 1663.
She married (1) Abraham Elsen [3 daughters]; (2) Jarvis Mudge [2 sons]; and (3) Nathaniel Greensmith [no children,.
NOTED GENEALOGISTS STATE THAT THERE IS NO DEFINITE PROOF THAT HER MAIDEN NAME WAS STEELE
The following edited account of their trials is taken from a book written in 1899 by John M. Taylor from court records but with some later editors' opinion that this was all nonsense.
THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT
Nathaniel Greensmith lived in Hartford. He was thrifty by divergent and economical methods, since he is credited in the records of the time with stealing a bushel and a half of wheat, of stealing a hoe, and of lying to the court, and of battery.
But he made one adventure that was most unprofitable. In an evil hour he took to wife Rebecca, relict (widow) of Abraham Elson, and also relict of Jarvis Mudge, and of whom so good a man as the Rev. John Whiting, minister of the First Church in Hartford, said that she was 'a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman."
This triple combination of personal qualities soon elicited the criticism and animosity of the community, and Nathaniel and Rebecca fell under the most fatal of all suspicions of that day, that of being possessed by the evil one.
Gossip and rumor about these unpopular neighbors culminated in a formal complaint, and December 30, 1661, at a court held in Hartford, both the Greensmiths were separately indicted in the same formal charge.
While Rebecca was in prison under suspicion, she was interviewed by two ministers, Revs. Haynes and Whiting, as to the charges of Ann Cole a next door neighbor which were written down by them, all of which, and more, she confessed to be true before the court.
The Greensmiths were convicted and sentenced to suffer death. In January 1662, they were hung on "Gallows Hill," on the bluff a little north of where Trinity College now stands "a logical location" one most learned in the traditions and history of Hartford calls it as it afforded an excellent view of the execution to a large crowd on the meadows to the west, a hanging being then a popular spectacle and entertainment.
Birth & Death Information from "Mudge Memorials in America" Alfred Mudge Boston 1868
Rebecca's origin and age have not been proved. She is assumed to be the child of George Steele, a founder of Hartford, because he included Micah Mudge and his brother in his will and they are assumed to be his grandchildren. That she married at least 3 men is undisputed. Jarvis Mudge was the second husband and died as her first husband did after a few years of marriage. Her 3rd husband was Nathaniel Greensmith. He did not survive long either because he was hung with her after she also implicated him as a witch.
Rebecca was accused of being a "lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman" by her minister. She and Nathaniel were indicted in 1662 as having familiarity with Satan, found guilty and hung on Gallows Hill in Hartford. There is not exact date recorded for Rebecca, but Nathaniel's death date was 25 Jan 1663.
She married (1) Abraham Elsen [3 daughters]; (2) Jarvis Mudge [2 sons]; and (3) Nathaniel Greensmith [no children,.
NOTED GENEALOGISTS STATE THAT THERE IS NO DEFINITE PROOF THAT HER MAIDEN NAME WAS STEELE
The following edited account of their trials is taken from a book written in 1899 by John M. Taylor from court records but with some later editors' opinion that this was all nonsense.
THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT
Nathaniel Greensmith lived in Hartford. He was thrifty by divergent and economical methods, since he is credited in the records of the time with stealing a bushel and a half of wheat, of stealing a hoe, and of lying to the court, and of battery.
But he made one adventure that was most unprofitable. In an evil hour he took to wife Rebecca, relict (widow) of Abraham Elson, and also relict of Jarvis Mudge, and of whom so good a man as the Rev. John Whiting, minister of the First Church in Hartford, said that she was 'a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman."
This triple combination of personal qualities soon elicited the criticism and animosity of the community, and Nathaniel and Rebecca fell under the most fatal of all suspicions of that day, that of being possessed by the evil one.
Gossip and rumor about these unpopular neighbors culminated in a formal complaint, and December 30, 1661, at a court held in Hartford, both the Greensmiths were separately indicted in the same formal charge.
While Rebecca was in prison under suspicion, she was interviewed by two ministers, Revs. Haynes and Whiting, as to the charges of Ann Cole a next door neighbor which were written down by them, all of which, and more, she confessed to be true before the court.
The Greensmiths were convicted and sentenced to suffer death. In January 1662, they were hung on "Gallows Hill," on the bluff a little north of where Trinity College now stands "a logical location" one most learned in the traditions and history of Hartford calls it as it afforded an excellent view of the execution to a large crowd on the meadows to the west, a hanging being then a popular spectacle and entertainment.
Rebecca's origin and age have not been proved. She is assumed to be the child of George Steele, a founder of Hartford, because he included Micah Mudge and his brother in his will and they are assumed to be his grandchildren. That she married at least 3 men is undisputed. Jarvis Mudge was the second husband and died as her first husband did after a few years of marriage. Her 3rd husband was Nathaniel Greensmith. He did not survive long either because he was hung with her after she also implicated him as a witch.
Rebecca was accused of being a "lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman" by her minister. She and Nathaniel were indicted in 1662 as having familiarity with Satan, found guilty and hung on Gallows Hill in Hartford. There is not exact date recorded for Rebecca, but Nathaniel's death date was 25 Jan 1663.
She married (1) Abraham Elsen [3 daughters]; (2) Jarvis Mudge [2 sons]; and (3) Nathaniel Greensmith [no children,.
NOTED GENEALOGISTS STATE THAT THERE IS NO DEFINITE PROOF THAT HER MAIDEN NAME WAS STEELE
The following edited account of their trials is taken from a book written in 1899 by John M. Taylor from court records but with some later editors' opinion that this was all nonsense.
THE WITCHCRAFT DELUSION IN COLONIAL CONNECTICUT
Nathaniel Greensmith lived in Hartford. He was thrifty by divergent and economical methods, since he is credited in the records of the time with stealing a bushel and a half of wheat, of stealing a hoe, and of lying to the court, and of battery.
But he made one adventure that was most unprofitable. In an evil hour he took to wife Rebecca, relict (widow) of Abraham Elson, and also relict of Jarvis Mudge, and of whom so good a man as the Rev. John Whiting, minister of the First Church in Hartford, said that she was 'a lewd, ignorant and considerably aged woman."
This triple combination of personal qualities soon elicited the criticism and animosity of the community, and Nathaniel and Rebecca fell under the most fatal of all suspicions of that day, that of being possessed by the evil one.
Gossip and rumor about these unpopular neighbors culminated in a formal complaint, and December 30, 1661, at a court held in Hartford, both the Greensmiths were separately indicted in the same formal charge.
While Rebecca was in prison under suspicion, she was interviewed by two ministers, Revs. Haynes and Whiting, as to the charges of Ann Cole a next door neighbor which were written down by them, all of which, and more, she confessed to be true before the court.
The Greensmiths were convicted and sentenced to suffer death. In January 1662, they were hung on "Gallows Hill," on the bluff a little north of where Trinity College now stands "a logical location" one most learned in the traditions and history of Hartford calls it as it afforded an excellent view of the execution to a large crowd on the meadows to the west, a hanging being then a popular spectacle and entertainment.
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