Genne was an enslaved Indigenous girl who lived at Cogswell’s Grant in the early eighteenth century. She appears only once in the surviving records, in the 1723 will of Elizabeth Cogswell, who referred to her as “the little Indian girl called Genne.” Elizabeth left Genne to her daughter Sarah Brown.

The description of Genne as a “little” girl suggests that she was a child or young teenager when she was enslaved. Historians have suggested she may have been related to Nell, although no records confirm such a relationship. It is equally possible that she was purchased separately, as colonial enslavers often sought to acquire Indigenous children.

Genne’s story highlights how children were also caught up in systems of slavery and forced labor in colonial New England. Although only her first name survives in the historical record, her presence reminds us that Indigenous girls and women were part of the enslaved community at Cogswell’s Grant.