Generation 1

LAWRENCE WATERS (abt 1602 - 1687) of Lancaster and Charlestown Parents: Unknown

Lawrence Waters was born about 1602. He died in Charlestown on 9 Dec 1687. [Ref][Ref at age about 85]. He married Anne Linton. [Ref]

He was a carpenter in Watertown. [Ref]

Lawrence sold his first houselot in Lancaster of about 17 acres to John Hall. He later testified for Elizabeth Hall in 1651 when she accused George Waley of Cambridge of slander. [Ref, p. 19]

Lawrence was an early inhabitant of Lancaster, signing the town covenant on 15 (1) 1653. [Ref, pp. 30-31] He was one of the 13 inhabitants of Lancaster who signed an agreement with John Prescott for the building of the first corn mill in Lancaster. [Ref] He was one of 11 Lancaster men who petitioned the General Court in (probably) 1654 for Lancaster to have a similar governance to other towns and requested that the Court appoint a man or men to lay out town boundaries. [Ref] After the original division of land in Lancaster, further divisions were contingent on estate size. In 1654 estates were valued and Lawrence's - at about £277 - was the sixth largest of the 30 eligible inhabitants. [Ref] He was given about 11 acres of meadow in 1654. [Ref] At a town meeting on 1 (9) 1654 it was agreed to limit the town to 35 families and 25 men were listed as townsman, one of whom was Lawrence's. [Ref] At a 25 Apr 1656 town meeting Lawrence was given four additional acres of meadow. [Ref] He received the 31st lot in the second division of meadow on 5 Feb 1659. [Ref] In Oct 1662 the Middlesex Court released Lawrence from all ordinary military training; he was to pay 5 shillings a year. [Ref] He was a freeman in 1662. [Ref] After the massacre of 1675, he, his wife Anne, son Samuel and Samuel's wife and two children took refuge in Charlestown. A Lawrence Waters is on a 28 May 1684 Lancaster tax list. [Ref] His son Stephen was responsible to the authorities for them in 1676; Lawrence was then blind. A Lawrence Waters is on a 28 May 1684 Lancaster tax list. [Ref] A Lawrence Waters is on a 28 May 1684 Lancaster tax list. [Ref]

Children of Lawrence Waters and Anne Linton:

1. Lawrence Waters was born on 14 (12) 1635 in Watertown. [Ref]
2. Sarah Waters was born on 7 (10) 1636 in Watertown. [Ref] She married John Skeath, a cordwainer of Boston. [Ref] On 27 (11) 1656 Sarah, age 20, testified against Mary, the daughter of Stephen Gates, who was charged with behaving improperly toward Master Rowlandson in the assembly on the Lord's day. [Ref] Her son Samuel was probably killed by Indians in 1704. [Ref]
3. Mary Waters was born on 27 (11) 1637 in Watertown. [Ref] She married Samuel Davis in 1656. [Ref] She had a daughter in Lancaster on 26 (11) 1657. [Ref]
   some descendants of Mary Waters
4. Rebecca Waters was born in (12) 1639 and buried on 1 (1) 1640 in Watertown. [Ref]
5. Rebecca Waters was born in Feb 1640 in Watertown. She died in 1726. She married Josiah Whitcomb.
6. Daniel Waters was born on 6 (12) 1641 in Watertown. [Ref]
7. Stephen Waters was born on 24 Jan 1643 in Watertown. [Ref][Ref]
8. Adam Waters was born in 1645 [?] in Lancaster; he was perhaps the first white child born there. [Ref] He died in 1670. [Ref] He bought John Smith's dwelling house in Lancaster on 18 Mar 1670. [Ref]
9. Joseph Waters was born on 29 (2) 1647 in Lancaster. [Ref, p. 10, s. Lawrence and Anne] He married Elizabeth Unknown. [Ref]
   Joseph returned to Lancaster in 1679. [Ref] On 7 Apr 1683 he was on a jury of inquest investigating the untimely death of John, son of John Whitcomb. [Ref]
   some descendants of Joseph Waters
10. Jacob Waters (twin) was born on 1 (1) 1649 in Lancaster. [Ref, p. 10, s. Lawrence and Anne] According to his tombstone in the Old Burying Field in Lancaster, Jacob Waters of Charlestown died on 15 Dec 1714 at Lancaster, age 65 years and 7 months. [Ref, p. 399]
11. Rachel Waters (twin) was born on 1 (1) 1649 in Lancaster. [Ref, p. 10, d. Lawrence and Anne] She died there on 31 (1) 1649. [Ref, p. 12, d. Lawrence and Anne]
12. Samuel Waters was born on 4 (11) 1651 in Lancaster. [Ref, p. 10, s. Lawrence and Anne] He married Mary Unknown on 21 (1) 1672 in Lancaster. [Ref][Ref, p. 14] Samuel and Mary had the following children recorded in Lancaster: Samuel (b. 23 (1) 1672). [Ref, p. 14]
    He is in the Woburn section of the 7 May 1684 list of freemen. [Ref]
    some descendants of Samuel Waters
13. Joanna Waters was born on 21 (1) 1653 in Lancaster. [Ref, p. 10, d. Lawrence and Anne] She died there on 21 (2) 1654. [Ref, p. 12, d. Lawrence and Anne]
14. Ephraim Waters was born on 27 (11) 1655 in Lancaster. [Ref, p. 10, s. Lawrence and Anne] He died there on 17 (4) 1659. [Ref, p. 12, s. Lawrence and Anne]

Generation 2

REBECCA WATERS (1640 - 1726)

Parents: Lawrence Waters and Anne Linton [Ref, p. 396]

Rebecca Waters was born in Feb 1640 in Watertown. [Ref][Ref, p. 396] She died in 1726. [Ref, p. 397] She married Josiah Whitcomb on 4 (11) 1664 in Lancaster. [Ref][Ref, p. 11]

Rebecca Whitcomb Mary was a the First Church of Lancaster on 20 Feb1714/5. [Ref, p. 271]

References

Editors, "Marriages, Births and Deaths in Dorchester, Mass. 1648-83," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 16, 1862, 78-81, 152-158.

Nourse, Henry S., The Birth, Marriage, and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs of Lancaster, Massachusetts: 1643-1850, Lancaster, unknown, 1890.

Nourse, Henry S., Early Records of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1643-1725, Clinton, W. J. Coulter, 1884.

Pulsifer, David, trans., "Records of Boston," New England Historical and Genealogical Register, various issues.

Ward, Andrew, "Lancaster Records," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 16, 1862, 352-359; 17, 1863, 70-.

Whitcomb, Charlotte, The Whitcomb Family in America: A biographical genealogy with a chapter on our English forbears "by the name of Whetcombe", Minneapolis, C. Whitcomb?, c1904.