Rachel Wall was probably born in the late 1750's. She was born on a farm outside of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Her birth name was Rachel Schmidt. She had long brown hair, light skin, and bright blue eyes. She was born Rachel Schmidt.

Rachel did not like the farm. When she was about sixteen, her grandfather, who's name was Joe Kirsch, died. She and her mother attended the funeral which was in Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.

Rachel loved the docks. It was on these docks that Rachel met George Wall when he rescued her from a group of girls. She married George against her mother's wishes. He took her to Boston, where she found a job as a servant, while he went to sea on a fishing schooner.

Following his first voyage after the wedding, Rachel reported that he came back to Boston and "tricked me into leaving my service and take into bad company." According to her husband, the bad company involved five sailors and their female companions. They spent a week drinking until all the money was gone and their schooner on which the men had worked had put out to sea again.

George Wall then suggested piracy, He borrowed a fast fishing schooner from a friend and went to work. George and Rachel and the crew would stay in an area called the Isle of Shoals. This was off the New Hampshire coast. After a storm would pass, they would pretend they had trouble. When someone would stop to help, they would kill them and take all their valuables. This is mostly how they had operated with Rachel standing on the deck pretending she needed help. Her husband George made a mistake during one of the storms and he was washed out to sea.

A boat picked up Rachel and took her to Boston, and she had her old job back. Whenever she got a chance she would go to the docks in Boston. She would sneak in some boats and steal things from the captain's cabin. One day she saw a girl, seventeen years old Margaret Bender, walking by with a nice bonnet. Rachel went crazy and pushed Margaret down, stole her bonnet, and tried to rip out her tongue. Rachel got chased by the cops and was put in jail. She was tried September 10, 1789 for robbery. She told them she wanted to be tried as a pirate but she never killed anyone. She was found guilty of robbery and on a beautiful fall day, she was hung by Sheriff Joe Robinson. She was very firm faced. All her trouble was from a bonnet!