Robert Waterman was born about 1608 in England. There is tradition that Robert was from Norwich, England, the son of Thomas and Lydia (Chadwick) Waterman, but this has not been verified by genealogists. [Jacobus] He is my 10th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Ellis Davis’ side of the family.
Some researchers have Robert being at Salem in Massachusetts Bay Colony by 1636, but I have not found a source for this. Robert arrived at Plymouth by 1637 as on 11 December 1638, he married Elizabeth Bourne at Plymouth. [Plymouth VR p 653]
Elizabeth Bourne was born 1618 at Kempsey, Worcestershire, the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Rouse) Bourne. [The Mayflower Descendant, hereafter “MD,” 11:100-4] It was a good marriage for Robert—his new father-in-law was an original settler at Marshfield and prominent man of means, his brother-in-law John Bradford was son of Governor William Bradford, and brother-in-law Josiah Winslow was Governor Edward Winslow’s brother.
On 7 May 1639, Robert Waterman bought from Edward Hiliman a “garden place…in the new Streete in Plymouth aforesd betweene the land of Mr John Done…& of Mr Andrew Hellott…together wth all the tymber for buildinge fence in about the same” in Plymouth. Robert later sold this lot to Edward Winslow, but I have not found the date of that sale. [Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, hereafter “PCR,” 12:42]
By the early 1640s Robert and Elizabeth moved to live near Green’s Harbor, Marshfield. [Hills] The area was called Marshfield Neck or Rexame and other early settlers there were brothers Edward, Josiah and Kenelm Winslow, Joseph Beadle, Anthony Snow, and Elizabeth’s father Thomas Bourne. Settlers would have come by foot from Plymouth up the Green’s Harbor Path or up the Green Harbor River by boat. They would have to cross the tidal estuary by small boat or later a road made of laid logs. It was a fragile oceanside setting. [Krusell & Bates]
Various documents including Robert’s probate records indicate that he was an active in the Marshfield community, a capable and energetic man. He was a farmer, a member of the militia, was literate, had coopering and carpentry skills, was also a mariner and fisherman, and was involved in trade. I wonder if he came from a long line of mariners, hence his surname. His various offices indicate he was educated and he owned 12 books and some pamphlets. Scituate town records show that in January 1644 Robert Waterman was paid to “ballanc the glase,” meaning installing the windows, at the house being constructed for Rev. Edward Bulkeley. [Harper]
Robert must have been a man of substance to be quickly accepted by the Pilgrims and placed into the important position of Deputy to the Court and to marry into a reputable family. He was not, however, of the high social standing to be referred to with the honorific “Mr.” Robert died young and in debt, perhaps after a brief illness or an accident, but he owned luxury items of the day such as cloth napkins and tablecloths, books, brass items, a looking glass, and expensive clothing.
Elizabeth and Robert had four sons born at Marshfield:
1. John born 19 April 1642 [Marshfield VR 1:2]; married Ann Sturtevant 7 December 1665 [Plymouth VR 1:665]; Deacon John Waterman died 14 September 1718 [Plympton VR 1:529]
2. Thomas born last of November 1644 [Marshfield 1:2]; married Miriam Tracy November 1668 [Norwich CT VR 1:14]; died 19 June 1708 [Jacobus]
3. Joseph born 1650 (age at death); married Sarah Snow, who was a Mayflower descendant, about 1673; died Jan 1711[?/12] at Marshfield [Marshfield VR 1:389]
4. Robert born 1652; married 1st Susanna Lincoln 1 October 1675 [Hingham VR 2:183]; 2nd Sarah (Lewis) Lincoln 20 February 1699[?/1700] [Hingham VR 2:186]; died 18 May 1741 [Hingham VR 1:119]
I descend from John whom I wrote about here.. All four boys were named in their grandfather Thomas Bourne’s 2 May 1664 will, each to receive £2 in cattle, goods, or corn.
On 7 September 1642 Robert Waterman was propounded for freeman, to be admitted and sworn at next court (March 1642/3). [PCR 2:45]
The 1643 list of Plymouth Colony list of men who were able to bear arms at Marshfield includes Robert Waterman. [Stratton] He served his community in a variety of ways:
- Served as a Selectman. [Hills]
- Member of the Marshfield military company. [Jacobus]
- 7 March 1642/3 appointed to grand jury [PCR 2:53] ; 6 June 1643 appointed to grand inquest. [PCR 2:56]
- On 20 August 1643 he first appears as Deputy to the Plymouth General Court (early in records deputies were called Committees) [PCR 2:60]; again appears as Deputy March 1643/4 [PCR 2:68], June 1644 [PCR 2:72], August 1644 when noted as absent [PCR 2:75], March 1645/6 [PCR 2:95], July 1646 [PCR 2:104], June 1647 [2:123], June 1648 [PCR 2:123], June 1649 [PCR 2:144], June 1650 [PCR 2:154].
- On 27 September1643, Robert Waterman, Thomas Bourne, and John Bourne were appointed to keep watch at Thomas Bourne’s house. [Deforest] This was a response to a perceived threat from Native Americans.
- He was a highway surveyor and as a rater he assessed property values for the tax list. [Harper]
- In 1645 he was one of the 12 men in Marshfield responsible for establishing a public school, paying 20 shillings towards the school, one of the earliest in New England. [Jacobus]
- On 7 July 1646, Waterman was one of “the Men nominated and appoynted in every Towne to recover the Excise & gather it” for Marshfield.
- On 8 June 1649 he is one of the nine-man committee appointed to lease the Kennebec trade, an important source of revenue for the colony. [DeForest] The committee also included my ancestor Mr. William Collier a wealthy, prominent man.
- On 24 June 1649 Marshfield town meeting was held at Robert Waterman’s house. [DeForest] This likely indicates Robert had a large home to host such a meeting.
A 7 July 1640 letter written by Edward Winslow to John Winthrop, shows that Winslow was indebted by note to Winthrop, and discharged the debt by payment in cattle. “Concerning your acceptance of the five cows I am willing to send them, & becawse the wether is so hott, the flies so busie, & the woods so thick, I have agreed with Robert Waterman to bring them by water. I pray you send me a receipt under your hand for them upon the back of the note or bill I left with you.” [Jacobus citing Mass Hist Soc Collection 4th Series, 6:168] This indicates Robert was a seafaring man.
Robert is mentioned in Plymouth Court records:
- On 5 March 1638/9 Robert Waterman, yeoman, was bonded for £20 for William Heller of Plymouth to assure the latter would keep the peace and appearing at the next Court. [PCR 1:119]
- On 3 December 1639 he was a participant in an action of trespass against Thomas Clarke for £20 and jury ruled in his favor. [PCR 7:14]
- On 7 Dec 1641 Robte Waterman complained against James Luxford in action of trespass. Judgment granted but doesn’t state what that was. [PCR 7:26]
- In 1644 Robert is mentioned in records about a dispute between James Skiffe and Samuel Jenney; the court ordered that James Skiffe should deliver the sail and the damages to Robert Waterman, with the “boat hee hath sold him.” [DeForest]
- On 5 June 1644 Robert Waterman was a defendant in a case concerning a canoe purchased by Henry Coggen which was to be settled by Anthony Thacher and Thomas Dimmack. [PCR 2:72]
Several court records indicate that in spite of Robert’s position in the colony, he ran afoul of the law:
- On 3 September 1639 Mr. John Holmes the messenger, Mr. Nathaniel Thomas, Robte Waterman, and Mr. John Combe were all at court for being drunk. Combe was disenfranchised and the rest fined. Robert fined 40 shillings for “drinking inordinately.” [PCR 1:132] Robert was in the company of some leading citizens who were referred to with the honorific “Mr” indicating a high standing in the colony. It seems likely this was a one-time indiscretion.
- At the 4 March 1650/51 Court “Wee present Robert Waterman of the towne of Marshfeild, for offering an attempt of boddyly uncleanes to Sara Pitney, of the aforesaid towne.” He was to pay a 50 shilling fine or suffer bodily punishment. [PCR 2:165] Sarah Pitney was the wife of James Pitney of Marshfield and is my 8th great-grandmother. Perhaps he had propositioned Sarah or attempted an inappropriate kiss, which was a breach of separatist/Puritan etiquette rather than one of morality. A more serious offense, such as adultery, would have been punished much more severely. Jacobus writes: “He seems to have been of a social disposition and perhaps was too jovial or exuberant in temperament to suit the staid manners of the period.”
Thomas Howell’s inventory was taken on 31 May 1648 and showed “cattell at Robert Watermans” valued at £38 and 2s. Howell also had cattle in Thomas Bourne’s keeping. [Deforest]
Robert witnessed the 19 December 1648 will of William Launders who left one cow and calfe to “the children of Robert Watterman My frend.” He appointed Robert and Thomas Bourne executors. Launders’ estate owed debts to Robert Waterman “for diet,” “for one hogshead,” and for an unspecified item. [DeForest]
In 1649 Edmond Weston of Duxbury sold Marshfield land to Robert Waterman for £14 10s already paid and £3 15s to be paid. Before the deed was acknowledged on 11 January 1652/3, Robert’s father-in-law Thomas Bourne paid the balance owed. [DeForest]
The 27 February 1643/4 inventory of John Atwood of Plymouth, indicated a debt of £2 10s 6d due from Robert Waterman and also “2 lines & a leade & a bushell of Corne.” In the 2 March 1651/2 inventory of Henry Drayton’s estate, a debt is due from the estate to “Robert Waterman for 2 load and a halfe of hay in 1650.” [DeForest]
I was really excited to stumble upon information about an early homesite uncovered in 2012 when the Marshfield Municipal Airport was undergoing expansion. The site was excavated by archaeologists and determined to be the circa 1638 site of the Robert and Elizabeth Waterman home! Ross K. Harper, Ph.D., led the dig and wrote a very interesting paper about the project which is very informative about how the Waterman family lived during the first period of settlement in Plymouth Colony. The house was situated on Marshfield Neck between the Green Harbor River and the South River, just over a mile from the coast. It was surrounded by wetlands rich in plant and animal life and the salt marshes provided hay for livestock. The house was lost in the mid 1640s to a catastrophic fire and a house was not rebuilt on the site, although the land stayed in the family for generations. These conditions resulted in a fruitful dig resulting in the discovery of over 11,000 artifacts including ceramics including Native American pottery, redware, borderware; copper & glass beads used in trading, pewter; green bottle glass; nails; spoons; tobacco pipes; textiles; compass; whetsone; brass skimmer; gun flints; brass book clasp; goffering iron (used to make pleats and ruffs in collars and cuffs); fragment of a brass kettle; and straight pins. The date of the fire is not found in town records. [Harper] The project revealed insight into colonial New Englanders’ diet as well.
The house would have been 20 by 14 feet with one palisaded wall, likely to protect against cold ocean breezes in winter. It was sided with clapboards, had a thatch roof and likely a dirt floor covered in rushes. It featured a entryway or informal porch, a loft, an enclosed pantry, a food pit for winter storage, and a cellar with an intact hearth where the ground is well trampled from Elizabeth herself cooking and tending the fire. [Harper]
The Waterman’s brought many of their English ways with them to the colony—they built an English-style cottage, raised livestock, grew wheat, peas, and apples. They were also influenced by Native Americans and grew Indian corn, kidney beans, and squash and foraged for huckleberry, hickory and walnuts/butternuts. Dairy was an important part of their diet, as well as waterfowl, fish, and shellfish. [Harper] What a gift this work is to family historians!
The airport, located at 93 Old Colony Lane, has an exhibit featuring images of the artifacts called “8000 Years of Life on the Green Harbor River.” The actual artifacts are not on display.
Robert died at Marshfield on 10 December 1652. [Marshfield VRs 1:2] He was about 44 years old. His widow Elizabeth was appointed administratrix on 1 March 1652/53. [PCR 3:22]
His inventory was taken 13 January 1652/53 by Mr. Anthony Eames, Mr. Edmond Hinksman, Marke Eames, and Anthony Snow and was presented at court 6 June 1653 on the oath of Elizabeth Waterman. [Plymouth Colony Wills etc. Vol 1, folio 118]
The total of the inventory was £78; £30 of that was in land. It is a lengthy list of personal estate that includes half of a shallop; farm animals including cows, calves, a steer, heifer, 5 hens, 3 small swine; 12 books and some small pamphlets; household items such as 3 brass kettles, 2 brass candlesticks, brass mortar and pestle, a chamberpot, looking glass, candlesticks, a sucking bottle, kneading trough, a churn, 6 napkins, 2 tablecloths, 3 coverlets; a fowling piece [gun], sword and bandolier; old compass, cod line and 6 cod hooks; foodstuff including 18 bushels of wheat, 4.5 bushels Indian Corn, 1.5 bushels barley, bacon; Cooper’s beading stuff, farm tools. I find it interesting his wearing apparel is valued at £20 10s, roughly two thirds the value of his real estate, so he must have been a well dressed man! The estate was also due £5 3s 6p.
Robert had debts amounting to £114 and £87 of those debts were paid, necessitating selling some real estate to pay the remainder.
At the 2 August 1653 Court, John Phillips complained against Joseph Roes, for non-payment of £6 debt. The said goods of the said Roes may be equally divided betwixt the widow Waterman and the said Joseph Roes, and a part to be delivered to John Phillips. [PCR 3:39]
The Judge ordered that between 6 October 1659 and the next court in March that any claims of debt from Robert Waterman’s estate, satisfaction shall be made proportionable to the estate. A quietus (a final settlement of a debt) will then be granted unto Elizabeth, sometimes the wife of Robert Waterman, until 7 June 1660. On the latter date, the estate was finally settled. [PCR 3:174]
Elizabeth, late wife of Robert Waterman, deceased, sold land, meadow and house adjacent to the late ferry between Marshfield and Scituate, that her husband had purchased from Thomas Howell’s estate which Howell had purchased it from Mr Jonathan Brewster. The sale was to satisfy the creditors of her land husband’s estate. The deed was recorded 7 July 1670. Interestingly she sold this land for £30 to Thomas Tilden whom she was to marry—it would seem Thomas purchased the land to keep in Elizabeth’s family. The date of the sale is not provided but it is noted Elizabeth sold the land before her circa 1653 marriage to Thomas. [Plymouth Colony Deeds 3:169]
Elizabeth married, second, Thomas Tilden around 1653. He was baptized at Tenterden, Kent, 19 January 1618/19, the son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Huckstep) Tilden. [French]
Thomas Tilden had 10 children by Elizabeth and his second wife Mary Holmes. It is difficult to determine the mother of each child, but Elizabeth is the mother of at least these three children:
- Unnamed son born 25 June 1654; buried 29 June 1654 [Marshfield VR in MD 2:5]
- Unnamed son born 4 Oct 1655 and buried following day [Marshfield VR in MD 2:5]
- Lydia born 26 April 1658 [Marshfield VR 1:5]; of Plymouth on 14 June 1680 when she married Samuel Ryder/Rider at Taunton [Plymouth Colony Records in NEHGS Register, hereafter NEHGR, 9:316]; she died Plymouth 17 Sept 1740 [Plymouth VR 2:7] in her 83d yr [gravestone]
I also descend from Lydia (Tilden) Ryder whom I wrote about here.
“Elizabeth ye wife of Thomas Tilden dyed & was buried ye 12 of December 1663.” [Marshfield VR 1:10]
Mr Josias Winslow and Anthony Snow were approved to be guardians to Robert Waterman’s two younger sons, Joseph and Robert, on 6 February 1665/6. Robert is referred to as under age. [PCR 4:113] This was more than two years after their mother Elizabeth’s death, so perhaps it was to offer some sort of financial protection to the boys rather than a physical guardianship. Anthony Snow’s daughter Sarah later married Joseph Waterman.
At the 6 March 1676/7 Court, John Waterman of Marshfield, eldest son of Robert, deceased, complaineth against John Mendall and John Phillips, both of Marshfield, in action of trespass, to the damage of £100, for entering and detaining unlawfully the land of the said John Waterman, a parcel of land of about 25 acres lying at or near the mouth of the North River, in Marshfield, whereon the said Robert Waterman lived and died seized and possessed, whereby the said land descended unto his said heir. The jury found for the defendant the cost of the suit. [PCR 7:199]
There is a monument dedicated to the first settlers at the Winslow Cemetery, Green Harbor, Marshfield that is inscribed with the names of early settlers including “Robert Waterman and wife Elizabeth.” The cemetery is the site of Marshfield’s first meeting house.
 |
| Monument at Winslow Cemetery honoring the early settlers of Green Harbor |
Sources:
Elizabeth French (transcribed by) and communicated by Committee of English Research, NEHGS Register, “Genealogical Research in England,” Reg 65:322-333 (Oct 1911)
Davis' Genealogical Register of Plymouth Families
Leon Clark Hills, Mayflower Planters and First Comers to Ye Olde Colonie, Vol. II, 1941
Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1986
Louis Effingham DeForest, Moore and Allied Families; the Ancestry of William Henry Moore, 1938
Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds., Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England, 12 vols. (New York: AMS Press, 1968)
Donald Lines Jacobus, ”The Waterman Family, Volume I: Descendants of Robert Waterman of Marshfield, Massachusetts, through Seventh Generations" volume 1, 1939
George Ernest Bowman, The Mayflower Descendant, “The Settlement of Robert Waterman’s Estate,” 11:100-104 (1909)
Ross K. Harper, The ca 1638 Waterman Site, Marshfield, Massachusetts: The Anatomy of a Pilgrim House, accepted 23 October 2019, published online 13 January 2021, Society for Historical Archaeology
Cynthia Hagar Krusell & Betty Magoun Bates, Marshfield: A Town of Villages 1640-1990, 1990
