Halloween Edition - Which Witch - The Rebecca Steele Elsen Mudge Greensmith Story

Rebecca Steele was born into the Puritan community in Hartford, Connecticut in 1629.  Puritans weren't really interested in reforming the Anglican Church like the Pilgrims and other Separatists.  Puritans didn't like the rulemakers in the church in England and wanted to come to the colonies where they could be the rulemakers. Puritans had a lot of rules and loved punishing rule violators,  There wasn't a division of Church and State at the time so Churches had a lot of political power.  Sometimes the punishments got out of hand.  This is one of those times.

In keeping with the customs of the times, Rebecca was married off early at age 16.  Her husband, Abraham Elsen, was 56, 16 years older than her own Father.  Within three years, she had two daughters and her husband was dead.  

A few months after Abraham's death, she married Jarvis Mudge (my 10th Great Grandfather on my Father's Father's side). She was 19 and he was 23.  Within four years, they had two sons, Micah (my 9th GG) and Moses.  Happiness and luck was not on Rebecca's side as Jarvis died at 27 after 4 years of marriage.

Three years later in 1657, Rebecca married Nathan Greensmith.  He was 31 and she was 28.  This would be her last marriage.  It was her longest lasting marriage too - six years.  Nathan was a prosperous, but unpopular farmer. He lived south of the Little River in Hartford, Connecticut, on some 20 acres of land that had a house and a barn. He also had other holdings on the road leading to Farmington. Nathan had several run-ins with the authorities when he was accused of stealing a hoe, stealing 1 1/2 bushels of wheat, lying in court, and of battery.

Popular or not, Nathan and Rebecca were married by the minister of First Anglican Church in Hartford, Rev. John Whiting. Rebecca did not make a good impression on the good Rev. Whiting. He described her as "lewd, ignorant, and a considerably aged woman."  She was 28.

These attributes did not make Rebecca any more popular with the women in the community than Nathan was with the men.  Gossip and rumors about these unpopular neighbors culminated in a formal complaint.  

A young neighbor named Ann Cole  suddenly became “afflicted,” shaking violently and spouting blasphemy" both in private and in public, including at Church.  Ann was described by the good Reverend as a woman of "great integrity and piety."  However, she had to justify her weird behavior somehow lest she be accused of witchcraft or cavorting with the devil.  So she attributed her affliction to bewitchment by her unlikable neighbor, Rebecca.

Before long, there were more people in Hartford who claimed to be possessed the afflicted were having attacks in public and at church. Rebecca was arrested and jailed for suspicion of witchcraft.  

While she was in jail, she was interviewed many times by the Reverends Joseph Haynes and John Whiting. After numerous interviews and many denials of wrongdoing,  the Reverends said Rebecca confessed.  I would love to see the transcript.  What in the world did these good Reverends say to this 33 year old mother of four that scared her enough to be afraid for her mortal soul?  Remember Rev Whiting already had the opinion that Rebecca was lewd, ignorant, and unattractive.  Did the Reverends take advantage of her ignorance and unlikability? Did they say the moral souls of her children were in jeopardy unless she confessed? We will never know because only the Reverends' version of the confession survives.

According to the Reverends, Rebecca confessed that she had familiarity with the devil.  He would call to her and she would come to him in the woods where the devil would appear to her in the form of a deer or a crow.  She said that the devil would often have his way with her body.  When asked whether she had a covenant with the devil, she said no but only agreed to come when he called.  This would have been enough to clear her conscience and insure her execution as a witch but Rebecca wasn't done unburdening her conscience.  She started naming names. 

Rebecca implicated fellow nine fellow Puritans and neighbors  She allegedly said that the devil called them together on Christmas night and they had drank white wine and danced with the devil in the woods.  In another instance, she said she was called by the devil to the Varlet's orchard where she found Mrs. Varlet who wanted evil done to the local Marshall.  No indication that anything evil happened to the Marshall who was Mrs. Varlet's neighbor.

Out of "love" for her husband and concern for his mortal soul, Rebecca implicated her husband, Nathan.  She said he could do such things as lift heavy weights that even two men could not manage and do more work than any human man could do.   When he was exhibiting these feats of super strength, he was followed by a red animal-like devil creature.  She also said she was afraid of him because of all the things she had heard about him before their marriage.

On December 30, 1662, Nathan and Rebecca were indicted for familiarity with the devil in the same formal charge:

Thou art indicted for not having the fear of God before thine eyes, thous hast entertained familiarity with Satan, the grand enemy of God and mankind and by his help hast acted things in a preternatural way beyond human abilities in a natural course for which according to the law of God and the established law of this commonwealth thou deservest to die.

The couple was taken into custody and early January 1663, their trial was held at Hartford. Rebecca confessed her guilt, but Nathan, protested his innocence.  The trial was much different than the trials we have today.  There was no right to counsel, no guarantee of due process, no right to cross-examination of accusers, no right to a jury trial, and no presumption of innocence.

St Anthony's Hall - Trinity College

The court sentenced them to death by hanging on Gallows Hill.  They were hung by the neck until dead on January 25, 1663.  Gallows Hill is now part of Trinity College and is said to be where St Anthony's Hall sits.

What happened to the neighbors called out by Rebecca in her confession:

Ann Barns - Convicted; hanged

Elizabeth Seager - Convicted; pardoned

Mary Sanford - Convicted; hanged

Andrew Sanford - Acquitted 

James Wakely - Escaped to Rhode Island

William and Goody Ayres - Fled

Judith Varlett - Imprisoned and released

Katherine Palmer - Exonerated and sued for slander

After all of the accused were dead or gone, Ann Cole recovered. She went on to marry Andrew Benton, a widower with eight children. Twenty years later, the Rev Whiting was still in the parish and reported that Ann was still devout and free of fits.  There is no record of Rev Whiting ever showing any remorse in his participation in the witch trials.  The Connecticut Witch Trials preceded the more famous Salem witch trials by nearly30 years and resulted in 37 cases and 11 executions.

Rebecca's children were raised by her father, George Steele.  The ages of her children at the time of her death were 18, 17, 13, and 12. 

Micah (my 9thGG) was 3 when his father died and 13 when his mother and stepfather were executed.  Later, Micah was one of the early settlers of Lebanon, Connecticut where he also served as a surveyor, and assisted in laying out the town. Micah was one of nine people who organized the First Congregational Church in Lebanon, Nov. 27, 1700.  Just in case you don't know, Congregational Churches were the churches of the Pilgrims.  The Pilgrims were Separatists who been persecuted by the Anglicans in England necessitating their leaving. The Pilgrims were allowed to come to the colonies where they could start their own church.  They called it Congregational Church.  Micah's establishing the first Congregational Church in the new town of Lebanon was maybe his way of honoring his mother's deadly treatment by representatives of the Anglican Church.