Do you have WATERMAN Ancestry?

You might have Mayflower connections!

Robert Waterman born c. 1608 came from Norwich, England with this brothers Thomas and Richard. The brothers landed in Salem, 1636. Richard was sent to New England by the Massachusetts Bay Company to kill venison.  Thomas settled in Roxbury but Richard was a Hutchinson sympathizer and banished to Rhode Island by 1638.

Robert, our immigrant ancestor, migrated from Salem to be found in Plymouth 1638.  Removing to Marshfield, he settled near Green Harbor later in 1638.  He was the 5^th and final original founder of that town.  In Marshfield, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Bourne of Marshfield.  He built a house near his brother-in-law Josiah Winslow and father-in-law, Thomas Bourne.  Robert and Elizabeth raised their 4 surviving children there.  Their oldest son Joseph, died young.  Their surviving children, John, Thomas, a second Joseph and Robert were all born in Marshfield, living through to adulthood. 

When Robert died in 1662, he willed his son Joseph, our ancestor, his house and land. As they were underage, Joseph and Robert were assigned neighbor Anthony Snow and their uncle, Josiah Winslow as guardians.  When he became of age, Joseph married Sarah Snow, the daughter Anthony Snow his guardian and Abigail Warren. Both Joseph and Sarah are buried in the Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield.  They brought up their children in this house and it remained in the family for over 6 generations.

Many of Joseph and Sarah’s children were married into Mayflower families. Of his children, Sarah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Anthony, Abigail, Bethiah, Lydia and Robert you will find the other lines of Richard Warren, descendants of John Alden and William Brewster and William Bradford.   See Mayflower Families through Five Generations Vol 18, Part One - Richard Warren for details.

My line of descent is as follows.

Robert Waterman  m Elizabeth Bourne

Joseph Waterman  m Sarah Snow *descent of Richard Warren
Sarah Waterman   m Solomon Hewitt
Joseph Hewett      m Sarah Dingley
Tabitha Hewet       m Kenelm Baker  *descent of Edward Doty
Kenelm Baker       m Susannah Bonney
*Hewet Baker       m Martha C. Stoddard
Rachel Baker         m George W. Gerrish, Jr
Chester Gerrish     m Ida Ratliff
Bertram Gerrish Sr. m Elinor Emery

*Hewet Baker has the largest number of Mayflower passengers of all my Emery / Gerrish lines.  He has through all his paternal and maternal lines – Bradford, Brewster, Doty, Howland and 3 Warren lines! 

Sources: The Pioneers of Masachusetts; GSMD certification; The Compendium of American Genealogy; New England Families Genealogical and Memorial Vol II (Cutter); various sources in "Whose Family it it Anyway? owned by Irene Clough Hahn on Rootsweb.com.