Rufus Greene
Rufus Greene (May 30, 1707 - December 31, 1777) was a noted American silversmith, and subsequently a wealthy Loyalist merchant, active in colonial Boston, Massachusetts.
Greene was apprenticed to William Cowell Sr., married Katherine Stanbridge on December 10, 1728, and worked from 1728 to 1749 as a silversmith. His account book notes: "I Began or Sett up my Bisness October the 7:1728 and the Making of the things from that time to January the 1:1732 Came to £1624..6..0." Together with his brother, Benjamin, he gradually expanded his interests as a land speculator and general merchant. By 1749, deeds and contracts identify him as a merchant, though he may have sometimes continued to produce silver pieces. His daughter, Katharine Greene Amory, is known for the journal she kept during the American Revolution.
References
- Guide to the Winterthur Library: The Joseph Downs Collection and the Winterthur Archives, Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts & Printed Ephemera, Winterthur Library, 2003, page 237.
- Historic Silver of the Colonies and Its Makers, Francis Hill Bigelow, Macmillan, 1917, page 403.
- American Silversmiths