American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts

Note

Rebecca Abigail Woodhull (née Mix) was born on 1741 in New Haven, Connecticut. She was the daugther of Samuel Mix and Abigail (Cutler) Mix. On May 2, 1762, Rebecca married Richard Woodhull (b. May 22, 1729, Mastic, Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York) in New Haven. Together she and Richard had one child, Abigail (Woodhull) Brainer (1763-1804). After only two years of marriage, Rebecca died on August 11, 1764.

Richard Woodhull, a loyalist, was brother to General Nathaniel Woodhull, who led the New York militia in the Revolutionary War and died in battle in 1776. A graduate of Yale College in 1752, Richard permanently settled in New Haven after tutoring students for a four-year period. In 1762, he was admitted to the bar and practiced law. He owned property at the corner of Elm and Church Street, which he acquired in May 1765, a year following Rebecca's death in 1764.

Rebecca inherited her own family plot, located at the corner of Chapel and Church Street, following her father's death and the dispersal of the estate holdings in 1759. According to Papers of the New Haven Colony Historical Society (1865), Volume 1, page 44, Richard Cutler acquired ownership of her lot in 1764, making it the site of his shop, although it is unclear whether this transfer of property occurred before or after her death in the same year. Richard Cutler (1736-1810), was a prominent goldsmith in New Haven, and based on the strong link between him and Rebecca, it is highly probable that he crafted the ring in her memory following a commission by Richard Woodhull. The ring's American origins make it a rare example, considering the greater proportion of English-made rings that survive from the same period.