Lawrence Waters (bef. 1609 - 1687)

Born before 1609 in England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 9 Dec 1687 after age 78 in Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Lawrence Waters migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Great Migration (Series 2), by R. C. Anderson, vol. 7, p. 250) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Origins

According to Robert Charles Anderson in The Great Migration, the names of Lawrence Waters' parents and his origins are unknown. He was likely born in England before 1609 (estimate based on marriage/date of birth of his first child). However, a record for Lawrence's 1687 death gives his age as "near 85", so he may have been born as early as 1602.^[1]

Marriage

Lawrence married Anne Linton, daughter of Richard Linton, by about 1634. Lawrence was called Richard Linton's son-in-law in a 1646 deposition.^[1] They may have married in England or in Massachusetts; no marriage record is found for the couple. They had several children in Massachusetts (see list, below).

Life in New England

Lawrence and Anne Waters are first recorded in Watertown, Massachusetts in February 1635, when their son Lawrence was born.^[1][2] The dates of their arrival in New England and the ship[s] on which they sailed are not known.

Lawrence Waters was a carpenter by trade. He received a grant of 25 acres in the Great Dividend at Watertown on 25 July 1635. He received other grants on 28 February 1636/7 (4 acres), 26 June 1637 (4 acres), and 10 May 1642 (105 acres). In Watertown's first Inventory of Grants and the later Composite Inventory, Lawrence held six parcels of land, including the 4 grants, a homestall of eight acres and 12 acres of upland.^[1] In 1638, Lawrence's wife was "enjoined for dancing" in Watertown; she was fined 18d.^[1][3]

Lawrence and his family removed to Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1645, when Lawrence was one of three sent there by the grantees of the Nashaway Plantation to "make suitable preparation for their own coming". The Waters home was likely the second building built by the settlers of the town.^[4] His wife's family also removed to Lancaster as, on 13 March 1659[/60?], Richard Linton "of Lanchaster", deeded to "my daughter Ann Waters the wife of Laurance Waters of the same town" 15 acres of land in Lancaster.^[1] On 1 June 1655, Lawrence Waters of Lancester sold his Watertown lands (129 acres) "with all my town right due me in Watertown" to Robert Harrington. The deed was signed 17 January 1668/9^[5] and recorded 19 March 1668/9.^[1]

In 1662, Lawrence was released from ordinary training by paying five shillings per anum to the military company^[1] and, in 1663, he was a freeman.^[4] On 15 July 1662, Lawrence gave to his son Adam several parcels of land in Lancaster and, on 11 August 1666, Lawrence deeded land to his son Stephen.^[1]

The family removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts when the town of Lancaster was attacked during King Philip's War. Lawrence, Anne, their son Samuel and his family sought shelter there and their names are included in a 20 March 1675/6 list of people who had taken refuge in Charlestown. It is noted that they had arrived from Lancaster are were living in Charlestown with their son, Stephen.^[1]

On 12 October 1676, the court answered Lawrence's request for payment of his accounts. The court, noting that Lawrence was "aged and blind", ordered the Treasurer to pay him. In 1679, Lawrence's son Joseph returned to Lancaster and occupied part of his father's and grandfather's lands.^[4]

Death

Lawrence died 9 December 1687 in Charlestown, Massachusetts,^[6] "near 85" years of age.^[1][7] His wife, Anne, predeceased him, dying at Charlestown on 6 February 1680[/1?].^[1][6]

On 4 May 1688, "Laurence Waters of Boston ... son and heir of Laurence Waters, sometime resident of Lancaster ... deceased" deeded to Stephen Waters of Charlestown and John Sketh of Boston all of his father's remaining lands in Lancaster. The land included seven acres of upland and nine acres of interval land (formerly Lawrence's house lot), 13 acres of upland, 71 acres of upland in the second division, and fifty acres of second division swamp, 11 acres formerly owned by Richard Linton and more.^[1] This deed was most likely in settlement of Lawrence's estate.

Children

Children of Lawrence and Anne:

1. Lawrence, born in Watertown 14 February 1635;^[8] married Hannah _______^[1]
2. Sarah, born in Watertown 7 December 1636;^[8] married John Skeath (Scate)^[1]
3. Mary, born in Watertown 27 January 1637/8;^[8] married Samuel Davis^[1]
4. Rebecca, born in Watertown February 1639/40;^[8] died there 1 March 1640^[1]
5. Daniel, born in Watertown 6 February 1641/2;^[8] no further record (this may be the birth record for Adam, below)^[1]
6. Stephen, born in Watertown 24 January 1642/3;^[8] married Sarah Carter^[1]
7. Adam, born about 1643-1645 (possibly the same person as Daniel, above); died in Charlestown 15 September 1670, unmarried.^[1] He was perhaps the first child of English parents born in Lancaster,^[4] although no record for his birth is found^[6]
8. Rebecca, second of name, born about 1645; married Josiah Whitcomb;^[1] no birth record found
9. Joseph, born in Lancaster 29 April 1647;^[6] married Hannah _____^[1]
10. Jacob (twin), born in Lancaster 1 March 1649;^[6] married first Sarah Hudson, married second Abigail Hudson (NOTE: his wives were not sisters)^[1]
11. Rachel (twin), born in Lancaster 1 March 1649; died there 31 March 1649,^[1] the first death recorded in Lancaster^[6]
12. Samuel, born in Lancaster 14 February 1651;^[6] married Mary Hudson^[1]
13. Joanna, born in Lancaster 26 March 1653;^[6] died there 21 April 1654^[1]
14. Ephriam, born in Lancaster 27 February 1655;^[6] died there 17 June 1659^[1]

Following is a quote from The Great Migration about the Water's children's births: "There is a gap in the record of births for this family between 24 January 1642, when Stephen was born at Watertown, and 29 April 1647, when Joseph was born at Lancaster. ...If we interpret the record for Stephen as being 24 January 1642/3, then we have just over four years between Stephen and Joseph. At the usual two-year interval between births, this would suggest that there was room for one more child in this gap, born about 1645. We have, though, two children born about this time for whom there is no record of birth, son Adam and the second daughter Rebecca. There might, of course, have been twins, as did happen in the family in 1649. Another possibility is that the birth record for Daniel on 6 February 1641 was actually the birth of Adam. At some point the "dam" of Adam might have been interpreted as the "Dan" of Daniel. This would accord well with the 15 July 1662 deed of gift from the immigrant Lawrence Waters to his son Adam, for Adam would have been close to twenty-one years old on that date. This would leave the second daughter Rebecca as the child born about 1645."^[1]

Research Notes

Disputed Origins

There is no known source that indicates that Lawrence's parents were James Waters and Phebe Manning as reported in some online trees. James and Phebe's children are clearly documented in a 2006 article in The American Genealogist, which includes a transcribed parish register for St. Botolph Aldgate, London, of the baptisms for all of their children. James and Phebe did not have a son named Lawrence included in the list of baptisms.^[9]

The St. Botolph Aldgate parish registers also include the marriage of Symon Waters and Margaret Ott in 1580 with the births of the following children: son Henry born 1581, daughters Jeane/Joane, Mary, and Alyce born 1583-1588, son Lawrence 1589, son George 1592 (died 1592) and son George (2nd) 1597.^[9] However, the Lawrence Waters, son of Symon and Margaret, was buried at St. Botolph Aldgate in August 1593,^[10] so Symon and Margaret can be excluded as the parents of the Lawrence of this profile.

Disputed Son

There is no evidence that Lawrence and Anne had a son named Sampson. No birth record for Sampson Waters is found and Anderson does not mention him in Lawrence Water's profile. Sampson's WikiTree profile has been detached as a son of the couple.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27} Robert Charles Anderson. The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VII, T-Y. Boston MA: NEHGS, 2011, pp. 250-257. AmericanAncestors.org($)
2. ↑ "Early Records of Boston" in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: NEHGS, 1853, vol. 7, p. 159. AmericanAncestors.org($).
3. ↑ Holman, Mary Lovering. Ancestry of Colonel John Harrington Stevens and his wife Frances Helen Miller, Vol. 1. Concord, NH: privately printed at the Rumford Press, 1948, pp. 94-97. Archive.org.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Nourse, Henry S. Early Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts. Lancaster: W. J. Coulter, 1884, pp. 260-261; 74, 118. Archive.org: also includes details of various Lancaster land transfers.
5. ↑ Bond, Henry. Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, vol. 1. Boston: NEHGS, 1860, p. 626 (Waters). Archive.org.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8} Nourse, Henry S. The Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1850. Lancaster, MA: W.J. Coulter, 1890, p. 4, 10, 20. Archive.org.
7. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850. Charlestown Vol. 1, part 1, p. 139. NEHGS. AmericanAncestors.org($)
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5} Watertown Records. Watertown, MA: 1894, pp. 4-10 (children's births); multiple land records. Archive.org.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Fiske, William Wyman. "The London Origin of Richard Waters of Salem, Massachusetts (Revisited)" in The American Genealogist, Vol. 81. New Haven, CT: 2006, pp. 172-182. AmericanAncestors.org($)
10. ↑ "England Deaths & Burials 1538-1991", database, FindMyPast Transcription ($): Lawrence Waters, birth 1590; age at death 3y 6m; burial date 01 Aug 1593 at St. Botolph Aldgate, London, England; Father's name Symon Waters.

See also:

• Pope, Charles Henry. Pioneers of Massachusetts. Boston: C.H. Pope, 1900, p. 481 (Waters), p. 287 (Linton). Archive.org.
• New England Marriages Prior to 1700. Boston, MA: NEHGS, 2015, p. 1606. AmericanAncestors.org($).
• White, Almira Larkin. White Genealogy of the Ancestors and Descendants of John White, Vol. 1. Chase Brothers, 1900, p. 751. Google Books.