Watertown
first settlers 1630
incorporated 1630
first ancestor 1633
last ancestor 1684
# of ancestors 46
# of immigrants 34
# born in town 10
# died in town 27
|-James Cutler
-|
|-Phebe Page
JAMES CUTLER, born in England in 1606, settled in Watertown in 1635 where his first son was born. His home lot was in what is now Belmont, on either side of Washington St. where it intersects Common St, and adjacent to GREGORY STONE's land. He eventually obtained nine parcels of land. In 1651 and 1652 he was Watertown's surveyor of highways. He had eleven children with three wives. His first wife, Ann, came with him from England, but their four children were all born in Watertown. A year after she died, JAMES married Mary, the widow of his next-door neighbor Thomas King (not our ancestor). Mary already had two children, and with JAMES had three more, all born in Watertown. In 1652 JAMES signed a petition for the settlement of Nashaway (Lancaster), probably influenced by the fact that Thomas King had been active in Nashaway. In 1653 the family moved to Cambridge Farms (now Lexington). Mary died within a year, and JAMES then married PHEBE PAGE, who was 21 years younger, never married, but who had a daughter Phebe. They had four children together, all born in Cambridge Farms. PHEBE died first, before JAMES wrote his will in 1684. In the will JAMES explicitly stated that [step-daughter] Phebe was to receive a list of items that were not a part of his estate but which were from Phebe's mother, PHEBE. See the Chapter on Lexington for more about JAMES and PHEBE.
|-Edward Garfield
|-Samuel Garfield-|
Rachel Garfield-|
|-Mary Benfield
EDWARD GARFIELD was baptized in 1583 in Hillmarton, Warwickshire, England. We know nothing of his first wife other than that she had three children, including SAMUEL, and died around 1620. Edward and his children came to Watertown, Massachusetts by 1534 and became a freeman May 6, 1635. He became a respectable member of the community, being chosen to be a Selectman in Dec of 1637, 1654, and 1661, and a Constable in 1660. He married Rebecca, perhaps in England before coming to Watertown since there is no marraige announcement in the Watertown records. They had four children born in Watertown, including Benjamin, before she died in 1661. Five months later Edward married widow Joanna Buckminster. At the age of 85 he was warned before the Selectmen for a serious offence with five others "for not attending their seats in the meetinghouse appointed them by the Town".
| value in pounds | acres | |
| 80 | 6 | "homestall" (his home on the river where Gore St meets Coolidge Ave.) |
| 40 | 16 | in Pond Meadow |
| 21 | 32 | near Pond Meadow |
| 60 | 42 | upland near Sudbury Rd (current Main St.) |
| 10 | 8 | upland |
| 40 | 29 | plus house on farther plain |
| 15 | 10 | Chester's Meadow |
| 10 | 5 | by Stony Brook |
| 30 | 93 | west side of Bear Hill |
| 12 | 100 | farm received by town grant |
|-William Hagar
Abigail Hagar-|
|-Mary Bemis
The first mention of WILLIAM HAGAR in the records of Watertown is his marriage to MARY BEMIS in 1644. However he is listed on the Founders Statue as being one of the founders of Watertown, so he might have arrived much earlier. He is only listed once in the Watertown records concerning land, as having bought an 8 acre lot from J. Coolidge. MARY came to America with her brother, Joseph Bemis, who lived three lots away from WILLIAM's lot. WILLIAM and MARY had 10 children born between 1645 and 1665, with ABIGAIL born in 1662. WILLIAM died in 1684 leaving an estate valued at £353.14, including a homestall of 8 acres with a dwelling house and outhouse and a small orchard. He also had 140 acres in 7 separate lots. He gave "unto my daughter ABIGAIL HAGER eight pounds one halfe to be payd at her marriage and the other half to be paid within one year after in corn and cattle." MARY died "an aged woman" in December, 1695.
|-Richard Holden
Justinian Holden-|
|-Martha Fosdick
RICHARD HOLDEN, aged 25, left Ipswich, England on the ship "Francis" April 30, 1634, along with his younger brother Justinian. A family manuscript stated that the local sheriff had arrested them for attending "a dissenting meeting", and that their uncle, James Holden, one of the lords of England, had secured their release on condition that they would do so no more "in that country". The two brothers settled in Watertown next to each other by the corner of the current Belmont St. and Grove St. RICHARD married MARTHA FOSDICK of Charlestown by 1642 when their first child was born in Watertown. JUSTINIAN was born next in 1644. Brother Justinian lived in Watertown and neighboring Cambridge all his life (his property eventually straddled the border), but RICHARD moved to Woburn by 1649, and sold his Watertown home in 1655. His father-in-law left him a 40 acre lot of land in Woburn. In 1657 the family moved to Groton, where he had 975 acres of land. His land extended on the west bank of the Nashua river from a point near Beaver Pond to the northward, along the present northern border of the town of Shirley. He was constable in Groton in 1672, and surveyor in 1673. However when Groton was burned during King Philips War, the family moved back to Watertown from 1676 to 1684. MARTHA died in Watertown in 1681, while RICHARD spent his last years with his son Stephen, to whom he gave his Groton real estate March 23, 1691. He died in Groton by 1694.
|-Henry Kemball
Susanna Kemball-|
|-Susanna (Stone) Cutting
The extended KEMBALL family of 13 people left Ipswich, England on April 30, 1634 on the "Elizabeth". HENRY was 44, nine years older than his wife SUSANNA. Their two daughters were with them, daughter SUSANNA just 1 1/2 years old. They also had 11-year-old Richard Cutting, wife SUSANNA's son from her previous marriage. Also HENRY's younger brother Richard Kemball came with his wife and six children. Both families came to Watertown, although Richard moved in 1637 to Ipswich. (The Founders Monument in Watertown recognizes Richard Kemball as a founder, but not Henry!) SUSANNA's father, Henry Stone, was first cousin of our ancestor GREGORY STONE, who came to Watertown with his brother Simon in 1635. HENRY's home was by the intersection of Common St and Belmont St, adjacent to JOHN RANDALL, who married his daughter SUSANNA. By the time he died in 1648 he held eight parcels of land worth about £43. His son John, born in Watertown in 1637, chose John Shearman of Watertown for his guardian. Wife SUSANNA married for the third time Thomas Low. She died a widow in Watertown in 1684, aged about 86.
|-George Hubbard
John Hubbard-|
|-Mary Bishop
GEORGE HUBBARD and his wife MARY BISHOP arrived in 1633 with their two children Mary and JOHN and their friends the Merriams. The Hubbards left JOHN with the Merriams (not sure where the Merriams lived; they ended up in Concord, but Concord was not founded until 1635) while they lived in Watertown. However in October of 1635 they joined about 60 other setlers in Watertown who migrated to the Connecticut River and settled in Wethersfield. There were three groups from Massachusetts that went to Connecticut at this time: one from Dorchester, that ended up in Windsor; one from Cambridge (Thomas Hooker's party) that ended up in Hartford, and the one from Watertown, which ended up in Wethersfield. Since the Hubbards had no more connection with Watertown, their story is best told elsewhere along with the other ancestors in Connecticut. There is no official record of them in Watertown so I assume they did not own any property there.
|-John Page
Phoebe Page-|
|-Phebe Paine
The first of our ancestors to come to Watertown was JOHN PAGE, his wife PHEBE, and their two children PHEBE and John. They were in the first group of settlers of Watertown, and suffered through the initial hardships of no buildings and little food. He wrote a letter back home to vicar John Rogers of Dedham, England, in which he "certifies that unless God stirring some friends to send hime some provision he is like to starve". Rogers sent 20s to buy meal for the family. JOHN obtained a 3 acre houselot, but it is unclear where it was situated; most of the original settlers of Watertown lived near the Cambridge line. To add to his initial woes, his house burned on April 21, 1631, "by carrying a few coals from one house to another; a coal fell by the way and kindled in the leaves." JOHN was appointed the first constable of Watertown in September 1630, and admitted a freeman May 18, 1631. JOHN owned as much as 175 acres of land through a combination of grants and sales. His finally settled on the first lot in the second Great Dividend, which he bought of E. How, and which had been granted to John Eaton. It was on or near Beaver Brook. JOHN seemed to have considerable wealth in cattle. He did not participate much in the affairs of the town as he got older. The family seemed contentious; when JOHN died, son John fought son Samuel and son-in-law James Cutler over the estate; the court ruled the estate belonged to John. Also in 1650, when she was about 22, daughter PHEBE sued John Flemming and his wife "for slanderously saying that she was with child". Depositions were taken from over twenty neighbors about PHEBE's conduct, including testimony that "Phebe Page said my mother I can love and respect, but my father I cannot love." One neighbor testified that "old Page said if she knew as much as he, Phebe deserved to be hanged." Another testimony said PHEBE confessed to having sex with a man at Long Island [in Boston Harbor]. The case ended when PHEBE withdrew her complaint, and the Court charged her costs of £2 4s 6d which her father paid. Perhaps because of her reputation, PHEBE did not marry until she was 35, the third wife of JAMES CUTLER.
|-John Prescott
-|
|-Mary Platts
JOHN PRESCOTT and his wife MARY PLATTS sailed first from England to Barbadoes in 1638. Two years later in 1640 they migrated to Massachusetts and became the holder of 6 parcels of land totaling 126 acres in Watertown. Their home was on a 3 acre parcel of land on the southeast corner of what is now Mt. Auburn St. and Arlington St., across Arlington St. from the Old Burying Ground. One daughter was born in Watertown. In 1643 he joined a partnership which purchased Nashaway Plantation from the Showanon Indians. He built a crude house in Nashaway, sold his Watertown property, and moved his family to the wilderness. All of the other members of the partnership left Nashaway within a year, and the PRESCOTTs became the first permanent residents in the new town, which eventually was named Lancaster [for a year it went by the name "Prescott", but the Colony overruled this name since no other town in Mass. had ever been named after a person]. We shall learn much more about the Prescott family when we look at the Welch ancestors in Lancaster. [John's great-great-grandson was the patriot Dr. Samuel Prescott who rode with Paul Revere to warn the British on April 19, 1775.]
|-John Randall-|
Susannah Randall-| |-Elizabeth
|-Susanna Kemball
We do not know when the RANDALL family arrived in Watertown. Widow ELIZABETH RANDALL was living in Watertown in 1653 with her two sons, JOHN and Stephen, and died in Watertown December 24, 1672, aged 80 years. JOHN bought his six acre homestall from JAMES CUTLER, who had acquired it after 1646 from Nicholas Thele. The land was on the south side of Belmont St, to the west of HENRY KEMBALL's home. JOHN married his neighbor SUSANNA KEMBALL, and their first child, SUSANNAH, was born around 1656. JOHN was said to have served in King Philip's War and was sometimes called Serjeant JOHN RANDALL. He was chosen along with RICHARD SAWTELL to oversee swine, cattle, and fences for the year 1667. His daughter SUSANNAH married RICHARD's son ENOCH SAWTELL. In 1671 JOHN was chosen as one of the Surveyors. His wife SUSANNA died May 14, 1673, just one year after their sixth child was born, and JOHN died June 16, 1680.
|-Richard Sawtell
|-Enoch Sawtell-|
|-Richard Sawtell-| |-Elizabeth Pople
Abigail Sawtell-| |-Susannah Randall
|-Abigail Whitney
Four generations of the SAWTELL family lived in Watertown, with an extended interlude in Groton. RICHARD SAWTELL, born April 7, 1611 in Aller, Somerset, England, married ELIZABETH POPLE on February 5, 1627. They arrived in Watertown by 1636, when he is listed as a proprietor. His five acre home was near Fresh Pond, on the northwest corner of what is now Lexington Ave. and Huron Ave. He was granted at least five other lots in town. The records show that he was chosen to oversee swine, cattle, and fences for the year 1667 along with JOHN RANDALL. He was also paid several times for foxes. His ten children were all born in Watertown. In 1662 he became one of the first proprietors and settlers of Groton, and served as Groton's first town clerk, from 1662 to 1664. His houselot in Groton was on the west side of James's Brook, just below the monument marking the birth-place of Colonel Prescott. Groton was burned by the Indians during King Philip's War in 1676. RICHARD served in Major Appleton's company during the War. He and his family must have returned to Watertown at that time. The Watertown Records state that he was chosen as selectman in 1689, and that "RICHARD SAWTLE an aged man deceased August 21st, 1694 and ELIZABETH SAWTLE his wife deceased October 18th, 1694."
|-Gregory Stone
Sarah Stone-|
|-Lydia (Cooper)
GREGORY STONE came with his family to Watertown in 1635. He had four children with his first wife, Margaret Garrad, three children with his second wife, LYDIA, and another two children she had with her first husband. The youngest child, SARAH, was only two years old when they arrived. GREGORY's brother Simon Stone also came to Watertown that year; Simon owned 50 acres of land in what is now Mt. Auburn cemetery, and lived in Watertown all of his life. GREGORY bought the 16 acre homelot of Thurston Rayner, adjacent to JAMES CUTLER's home, situated south of what is now Washington St. between School St. and Oakley Rd. including the current Chenery Middle School. This land is now in Belmont, less than 1/4 mile from my home. In the next three years he was granted 40 acres in the First Division, 10 acres in the Beaverbrook Plowlands, 10 acres in the Remote Meadow, 2 acres in Rock Meadow, and 3 acres of upland near Fresh Pond. GREGORY became a freeman in Watertown on May 25, 1636. His stay was short-lived, though: in 1637 he sold all of his Watertown land to Thomas Boylston and moved to Cambridge. The rest of his story will be told in the Cambridge chapter.
|-John Whitney
|-John Whitney-|
|-Benjamin Whitney-| |-Elanor
Abigail Whitney-| |-Ruth Reynolds
|-Abigail Hager
On April 13, 1635, JOHN and ELANOR WHITNEY boarded the "Elizabeth & Ann" in London along with their five children. JOHN was listed as 35 (although he was born in 1589 and should have been 45), ELANOR was 30, and son JOHN was 11. Within a year he became a freeman (March 3, 1635/6) and active in the town: Selectman in 1637, 1647, 1650, and 1654; Constable in 1641 and 1656; and Assessor in 1648, 1654, 1657, 1659, 1660, 1661, and 1663. He was granted eight parcels of land comprising almost 100 acres of land. His homestall of 16 acres was originally granted to John Strickland, who departed for Wethersfield in 1635 and sold the land to JOHN. This land was on Common St. just north of Mt. Auburn St. JOHN was a tailor; according to an Apprentice Book, "John Whitney, son of Thomas Whitney of the city of Westminster, yeoman, was apprenticed to William Pring of the Old Bailey" of the Company of Merchant Tailors. He was freed seven years later. That he kept to his trade in Watertown is shown by a 1641 entry where he was allowed 83 1/2 yard of cloth valued at 12d. per yard. JOHN and ELANOR had ten children, eight of them sons. ELANOR died in 1659 and JOHN married Judah Clement four months later. In 1670 JOHN gave his home and 16 acres to his youngest son Benjamin on the condition that Benjamin would leave his accommodations at York and live with (and probably take care of) JOHN. JOHN wrote his will April 3, 1673 and died June 1, 1673.
|-Richard Woodward
|-George Woodward-|
Sarah Woodward-| |-Rose Stewart
|-Mary Gibson
RICHARD WOODWARD was born Jan 20, 1585/1586 in Childwell Parish, Ipswitch, Suffolk, England. He married ROSE STEWART and had two children, GEORGE and John, born around 1620 and 1621. The family of four embarked at Ipswich, England on April 10, 1634 in the ship "Elizabeth". The founder of Watertown, Sir Richard Saltonstall, had a servant named James Woodward - perhaps a relative of RICHARD, and the reason he chose to live in Watertown. RICHARD became a freeman Sept 2, 1635 while his son GEORGE became a freeman May 6, 1646. His homestead in 1642 amounted to 12 acres, but he acquired additional land of over 310 acres. His house was to the west of Common St near Marion St. On Sept 8, 1648, he bought a mill in Boston which he sold Dec 26, 1648. He was said to reside in Cambridge in 1660. When his wife died in 1662, he married ANN GATES, wife of STEPHEN GATES, and died in 1665.
Old property map of Watertown. Dots indicate which properties had their homes. Woodward property in green Red dot is my home: 22 Locust St, Belmont. Garfield property in light blue Purple dot is the Burying Ground. Whitney property in dark blue Hagar property in medium blue ["J.Coolidge" on map] Prescott property in orange Brigham property in yellow Stone property in purple Randall property in brown Holden property in light brown Kemball property in pink Sawtell property in light green Cutler property in light orangeClick on the map or any of the aerial photos below to enlarge it.
