Margaret Waters

Margaret Robins was [said to be] the daughter of Obedience Robins and his [putative] first wife, Margaret. [It is not proven that Obedience Robins had a wife prior to Grace Neale Waters.] Whether she was the same person as the "Margaret, widow of George Clarke" whom William Waters Sr. married is much less certain. The Miles Files (see below), which are reasonably reliable, do not identify the parentage of "widow Clarke". It is rather unusual, though not unknown, for persons of opposite sex raised together (which William Waters and Margaret Robins presumably would have been, due to his mother marrying her father) to regard themselves as anything other than brother and sister.

On the other hand, some (tertiary) sources of doubtful validity claim that William Waters was sent to England to be raised and educated by his uncle John Waters in Yorkshire. If true, William was back in Virginia by c. 1650 or earlier. (It would, though, explain why he might consider marrying a stepsister he had not been raised with.)

MilesFiles entry for Margaret Clarke Waters: Margaret (no name) F, b. circa 1625, d. circa 1663

• Margaret was born circa 1625. She married Dr. George Clarke circa 1645.1 She married Lt. Col. William (2) Waters, son of Lt. Edward (1) Waters and Grace (1) Neale, in 1650 at Northampton Co, VA. They were married between 28 Apr and 28 Aug 1650. Margaret was the widow of Dr. George Clarke..1 Margaret was living on 28 February 1660 at Northampton Co, VA.1 Margaret died circa 1663.1

Family 1 Dr. George Clarke b. c 1595, d. b 28 Apr 1650

Family 2 Lt. Col. William (2) Waters b. 1623, d. 1689

It has not been proven that Obedience Robins had a first wife or any children before he married Grace Neale Waters. It is also not proven that Col. William Waters had any children with his first wife, the widow of Dr. George Clarke. And there is no proof that the widow Clarke was any relation to Obedience Robins. The whole thing rests on a pile of myth intended to give a (spurious) origin to the Philemon Waters line.

https://archive.org/details/agenealogicalhi00socigoog/page/n14

Source not reliable so far back. Author was under the then-common misapprehension that ALL Virginia Waters families MUST have descended from Lt. Edward Waters (they didn't).

"Mary Robbins" is in all probability Fictional, a mis-remembrance of Margaret Waters.

1) Margaret widow Clarke is NOT proven to be a daughter of Col. Obedience Robins by any marriage - it is not even certain that he *had* a first marriage. She would have been her husbands step sister.

2) There is absolutely zero evidence that William Waters and Margaret widow Clarke had any children at all.

Citations

• [S940] John Frederick Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5, p. 475 (Waters Family).
• Reference: WikiTree Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2021, 9:06:41 UTC