John Waterbury, of Stamford

Is your surname Waterbury?

Research the Waterbury family

Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love

  • Build your family tree online
  • Share photos and videos
  • Smart Matching™ technology
  • Free!

John Waterbury, Sr.

Birthdate:
Birthplace: Sudbury, Suffolk, England
Death: July 31, 1658
Stamford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America
Place of Burial: Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States of America
Immediate Family:

Son of William Waterbury and Alice ‘Ascha’ Taylor
Husband of Rose Garnsey
Father of Elizabeth Howe; Rachel Parcett Holmes; Sarah Dibble; John Waterbury, Jr.; Jonathan Waterbury and 3 others
Brother of Rachell Waterbury; Mary Waterbury; William Waterbury and Samuel Waterbury

Occupation: innkeeper
Managed by: Kylon Edwin Waterbury
Last Updated:

About John Waterbury, of Stamford

Biography

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Waterbury-109

John Waterbury was baptized on 30 Dec 1621 in All Saints Church. Sudbury, Suffolk, England.

John emigrated to New England in 1630 with his parents William and Alice . They settled in Watertown.

He married Rose about 1638 in Watertown where he was an innkeeper . On 15 October 1646, John and Rose sold their home and eight acres to Robert Pierce of Watertown and left for Wethersfield, Connecticut, but soon thereafter, possibly influenced by a quarrel that developed in the Wethersfield Church they moved on to Stamford where John started another Inn.

He was a landowner in Stamford as early as 1650. He became one of the leading citizens of Stamford Colony and one of its largest land-holders. Existing records show his interest and activity along many lines for the building and improvement of the community. He was prominently identified with the church and the government of that period. John served in the Connecticut Colonial Legislature for several years. From 1656 to 1658 he served as the Magistrate in Stamford by an appointment from the New Haven Colony. On 27 May 1657 the General Court elected him as one of Stamford's three deputies, and re-elected him 26 May 1658.

John was a community leader and sought to have Quakers/Friends arrested in 1657 including the Crab family charged with harboring Quakers. In the History of Stamford, there is an account of the confrontation between one of the local Quakers, Mrs. Richard Crabb, and a posse of prominent citizens led by Daniel Scofield, which included deputy John Waterbury.

John died on 31 Jul 1658 in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 37.

John's estate is described in the book Early Settlement of Stamford, CT. He died intestate, and the inventory was taken in April 1659, and totaled £383 1s. including:

housing and lands, £80
livestock, £183
44 pounds of pewter, £3 06s.
four guns and one pistol, £12 15s.

After John’s death, Rose married 11 May 1659 Joseph Gurnsey, with whom she had a son, Joseph in 1662.

Family

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Porter-21169

Rose arrived with her father, Roger Porter, and three sisters aboard the ship Confidence in April of 1638[1]. She was the last listed sister and probably the youngest. Rose married c. 1641 to John Waterbury.[2] John died on 31 July 1658.[2] In 1854 when Roger Porter died John Waterbury made a claim on it for his wife and children.[3].

Rose married on 11 May 1659 at Stamford, as her 2nd husband, to Joseph Garnsey, and they had one son together.[2][4] Rose died after 12 February 1684 and before 1685.[5]

Children of Rose and John Waterbury:[6][2] The order of their births is uncertain.

  1. Rachel Waterbury, b c. 1641; m John Holmes
  2. Sarah Waterbury, b c. 1643; m 1) Zechariah Dibble and divorced in 1672, 2) Nicholas Webster, 3) Edward Treherne
  3. John Waterbury, b c. 1646, d 1688
  4. Jonathan Waterbury, b c. 1648, d 14 Jan 1702/3
  5. David Waterbury, b c. 1650, d 20 Nov 1706

Child of Rose and Joseph Gurnsey:

  1. Joseph Garnsey, b 30 Jun 1662 Stamford

Notes

John Waterbury was born in Sudbury, England and came to America in 1629. He was an innkeeper in Watertown, MA in 1639. He was in Stamford by 1650. He lived in a house on the south side of North Street, which is now Broad Street, and moved into Thomas Morehouse' home on the east side of South Street, which is now Atlantic Street. He was married to a woman named Rose, whose surname is shown as Lockwood in many sources. Paul Prindle, in his book, "Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie," offers a convincing argument on pages 496-498 that Rose was not a Lockwood, but rather a daughter of Gregory and Achsa Taylor.

Research Notes

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Porter-21169

Birth date c. 1625 is a guess, based on the birth date of her son in 1648.

In his Ye Historie of Ye Town of Greenwich (1911), Spencer P. Mead reports that John Waterbury married Rose Lockwood.[6] Mead offers no evidence for this statement, and to this day none has been found. Unfortunately, Hoppin followed Mead in his Washington Ancestry ..., and others have automatically adopted the idea as fact. The Lockwoods have since been refuted.

Edmund Lockwood and his wife, Unknown (Unknown) Lockwood have been removed as parents.

Another proposal is that Rose was a daughter of Gregory Taylor .[7] Paul Prindle makes an excellent circumstantial case in his Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie ... including record of the estate inventory for Gregory Taylor. In 1657, John "Waterberry" and his wife were asked to attest to the accuracy of the inventory (which they apparently refused to do). It seems this was not the only barrier to settlement. In 1669, when John Waterbury's estate was settled, the court mentioned the Taylor estate amount as included in John's, but with a caveat, "if ther apears a better proprieter ..." as if someone else might come forward to claim the Taylor portion. The CtGenWeb.org site has transcribed this Exceprt from Paul Prindle’s Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie, pages 496-498 which includes both statements, "there must remain some doubt of her being Gregory's daughter" and "there seems to be a strong possibility they were Rose's parents, or perhaps Rose was their adopted daughter."[7]

The Gregory Taylor family and the John Waterbury family were two of the eight families which removed from Watertown to Stamford in the mid-1640s.[8] The others were: Nicholas Theale, William Potter, Nicholas Knapp, Robert Lockwood, John Ellet, and Richard Ambler.

However, it is known that Gregory Taylor was John Waterbury's stepfather, having married his mother, Alice. This would explain John's role in Gregory Taylors estate as well as the fact that the court seemed to think it possible that some one with a better claim might appear. John testified on 21 October 1657 that “his father in law and mother are both dead lately at Stamford,”, seemingly referring to Gregory and Alice Taylor. However, this can be explained by the fact that at that time the word "in-law" was also used to indicate step parentage. He calls Gregory his "father in law" and Alice his mother. The profiles for Gregory Taylor and Alice (Unknown) Taylor have been detached as parents of Rose.

Based on the ship's manifest and estate papers it seems much more likely that Rose is the daughter of Roger Porter.


(f/g) John Waterbury Birth: Jan. 30, 1621 Sudbury Suffolk, England Death: Jul. 31, 1658 Stamford Fairfield County Connecticut, USA

John Waterbury is said to have imm 1630 w his parents William and Alice, on the "Eagle." The Winthrop Fleet passenger list is incomplete and does not organize names by individual ships, but both William and Alice are on the list-- John was 10 at the time, so the inference that he accompanied them is solid, if not conclusive.

Family links:

  • Spouse: Rose Lockwood Waterbury (1616 - 1684)

Children:

  • Jonathan Waterbury (1653 - 1702)
  • David Waterbury (1655 - 1706)

Burial: Titicus Cemetery Ridgefield Fairfield County Connecticut, USA Created by: Bill Velde Record added: May 27, 2011 Find A Grave Memorial# 70463308 -tcd


John Waterbury is said to have imm 1630 w his parents William and Alice, on the "Eagle." The Winthrop Fleet passenger list is incomplete and does not organize names by individual ships, but both William and Alice are on the list-- John was 10 at the time, so the inference that he accompanied them is solid, if not conclusive.


References

  1. Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9049/images/007627...). Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 [database on-line], Fairfield, Probate Records, Vol 1-5, 1648-1750, image 86. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.Original data:Connecticut County, District and Probate Courts. (Free Ancestry.com image: https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/26238765?h=562ab1&utm_campaign=ban...)
  2. Ancestry of Elizabeth Barrett Gillespie, compiled by Paul W. Prindle, F.A.S.G., Polyanthos Press, New Orleans, 1976
  3. Barbara Kaye. Colonial Families of Fairfield County, Connecticut, USGenWeb Project, Rootsweb.com
  4. Source: #S67
  5. Descendants of John Waterbury
  6. Stamford Vital Records (Barbour Index)
  7. Grace A. Waterbury and Edwin M. Waterbury, Jonathan Waterbury Genealogy
  8. Notes of Edith Wicks
  9. Reverend Elijah B. Huntington, Stamford Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages
  10. Meredith Colket, Jr., Founders of Early American Families
  11. A. J. Judd Northrop, The Northrup-Northrop Genealogy
view all 17

John Waterbury, of Stamford's Timeline

1621
January 30, 1621
Sudbury, Suffolk, England
December 30, 1621
Sudbury,Suffolk,England
December 30, 1621
All Saint's Church, Sudbury, England
December 30, 1621
Sudbury, Suffolk, England
1632
1632
Lynn, Massachusetts Bay Colony
1639
1639
Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony
1646
September 2, 1646
Watertown, Litchfield County, Connecticut
1650
1650
Watertown, (Present Hartford County), Connecticut Colony
1652
1652
Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA