Sarah Hills

Origins

Nathaniel Greensmith m abt 1654 in Hartford to Rebecca, widow of Jarvis Mudge. The two of them were found guilty of familiarity with Satan and executed 25 Jan 1662/3. Court records show that their estate was to pay debts and "to dispose of the 2 daughters, wth advice of the Assistants in Hartford." These daughters were named in the inventory as Hannah and Sarah Elsen. The fact that the Mudge boys were not mentioned makes it clear that they were not biological children of Rebecca, that she and Mudge, and she and Greensmith, had no living children when they were executed.

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Elsen-33

Sarah Elsen, d/o Abraham and Rebecca Elsen,was born in Wetherfield 17 Mar 1643/4.[1] [2]

In 1666, Nathaniel Dickinson wrote a letter to his friend Samuel Boarman, requesting that Samuel pay Goodman Ensigne of Hartford £5 16s, so that he wouldn't be sued. "you know he hath Received four pound four Shillings already of Sarah Elson's portion and If he be payd five punds sixten shiling more it will make 10-21 of her portion which will be the full of my part ... when paid I desire you to take an aquitance from Sarah Elson & her husband ..." He mentioned also Samuel Smith who promised to pay Sarah Elson also[3][4] Nathaniel Dickinson and Samuel Smith had been put in charge of the real property from the estate of Abraham Elson, for the benefit of the children. Sarah in 1666 would be 22 and from the text had a husband. It would seem that Ensign was facilitating the collection of estate owed, but he was not the unnamed husband.

Sarah was possibly the wife of William Hills Jr. No known evidence.

Claims that she was the niece of Sarah (Elson) Ensign [5] are probably incorrect since there is no proof of a relationship between James Ensign and Sarah Elson other than they knew each other.

Children

William and Sarah (Elson) Hills had, in Hartford and East Hartford, at least seven children, based on the probate records, [5] and [6]

1. Mary, b. 1667, buried 15 Aug 1693
2. Phyllis/Phillis, b. 1669, m. John Parsons
3. Hannah, b. 1672, m. William Butler
4. Ebenezer, b.1676
5. John, b. 1679, m. Margaret Dix
6. Esther, b. 1681
7. Joseph, b. 1683, m. Abigail Curtis, removed to Farmington

and, suggested by others but ruled out by Jacobus:

1. William, b. circa 1690
2. Sarah
3. Benjamin

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Hill Family

Sources

1. Wethersfield Vital Records, 1635-1665 in Land Records Vol 1. Hanah 1646 p. 12; Sarah and Hanah p. 37.. The American Genealogist. New Haven, CT: D. L. Jacobus, 1937-. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009 - .) Vol 9:27 https://www.americanancestors.org/DB283/i/11858/27/134897381
2. "Connecticut Births and Christenings, 1649-1906", database FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F77N-1MF ), Sarah Elson, 1643.
3. Nelson, Martha Eunice Ensign.. Record of the descendants of James Ensign and his wife Sarah Nelson, 1634-1939-1960. United States: M.E.E. Nelson, 1960. Accessed at Ancestry ($)
4. Goldthwaite, Charlotte. Boardman genealogy, 1525-1895 : the English home and ancestry of Samuel Boreman, Wethersfield, Conn., Thomas Boreman, Ipswich, Mass. ([S.l.] : W.F.J. Boardman, 1895) p. 725
5. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136195711/sarah-hills
6. Genealogical Data Relating to the Ancestry and Descendants of William Hills, the English Emigrant
7. North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000