Nedson, Elsa

Eastern Pequot Elsa Nedson first appears in the historical record as receiving funds from the state-appointed overseer in the summer of 1828.  By October of that year, she fell ill and was boarded and cared for by Betsy Tikens, perhaps a relative.  A month later, she recovered enough to provide similar service to James Abner when he took sick and was dying.  

In 1831, Elsa once again received food supplies, molasses, meal, and cocoa.  By the fall of that year, she again took very sick.  Being away from her home, she was brought back in a horse and wagon by Cyrus Shelly.  She recovered yet was only mentioned in the tribe's overseer records in 1835, once for getting supplies and the last for having a coffin made for her in early December of that year.

Elsa may have been the Indian woman whose death was noticed in a temperance newspaper article.  The woman with her partner procured a half-gallon of rum from one of Ledyard's grog-shops and drank it.  Going home in a state of intoxication, she fell asleep too close to the fire, setting her clothes ablaze and fatally burning her.

The Colonial Churchman, Vol. 1 no. 8, p. 58. Sources for this biography come from the Related Digital Heritage Items listed below.