Thomas WATERMAN
Biography

Waterman.

Thomas Waterman was nephew to the wife of John Bradford. Robert Waterman and Elizabeth Bourn of Marshfleld were married Dec. 9, 1638. Thomas, their second son, was born in 1644, and probably came to Norwich with his uncle Bradford. In November, 1668, he was joined in wedlock with Miriam, only daughter of Thomas Tracy. The Water man house-lot was next to that of Major Mason, and the dwelling-house was built at a slight turn of the town street, opposite the residence of the late Dr. Turner. It projected awkwardly into the highway, which now passes over a part of the site. The old well that stood by the house, is under the street.

A granite stone records in rude capitals the decease of this proprietor.

The inventory of Thomas Waterman amounted to £855.11.4. He had ten oxen, ten cows, and abundant household goods, showing a condition of thrift, comfort, and independence. He left three sons and five daughters. Elizabeth, the oldest daughter, married John Fitch, one of the sons of the reverend minister of the town, and settled in Windham.

Martha, the second daughter, went to Lyme, as the second wife of "Lyme's Captain, Reinold Marvin."

Miriam died unmarried, Sept. 22, 1760, aged 82.

Lydia married Eleazer Burnham, a new inhabitant of the Nine-miles- square, that came in from Ipswich after 1700.

Ann, the youngest daughter, became the partner of Josiah DeWolfe of Lyme.

The sons of the proprietor were Thomas and John.

Thomas, the first-born of Norwich Watermans, not waiting to be quite twenty-one years of age, married, June 29, 1691, Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Allyn. Their union was prolonged to a term of sixty-four years, and the memorial stones at their graves show that they had both attained their 86th year, and died within a few months of each other in the year 1755. They had seven sons and two daughters.

Lieut. Elisha Waterman, their fifth son, died in Havana, a victim of the fatal expedition undertaken against the Spanish in 1762. He left a large family.

Asa Waterman, the sixth son, was the father of Arunah Waterman, who was born at Norwich in 1749, and after taking an active part in the various scenes of the Revolutionary war, both as a soldier and assistant commissary, emigrated with his family, about the year 1800, to Johnson, Vt., assisting greatly in the growth and prosperity of that town. At Johnson, Capt. Waterman lived to old age, adhering to ancient principles, simple manners, and old customs, grandfather to the whole village, and wearing to the last the long waistcoat, small clothes and shoe-buckles of a former generation. He died in 1838.

Nehemiah Waterman, seventh son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Allyn,) was the first of the Bozrah line of Watermans. He died Oct. 27, 1796, in the 88th year of his age. His son Nehemiah was an officer of the Revolutionary army, and the representative of Bozrah for ten sessions, from 1787 to 1797. He died in 1802, aged 66.

Rev. Elijah Waterman, distinguished as a successful teacher of the classics, and an able and fearless preacher, was a son of the second Nehemiah Waterman, and born in Bozrah, Nov. 28, 1769. He graduated at Yale College in 1791, and was ten years pastor of the church at Wind ham. He was afterward engaged in the ministry at Bridgeport, where he died Oct. 1 1, 1825, aged 56. He was a man of large information and an able writer. It is said that he had read the Paradise Lost several times through before he was nine years of age. He published sermons and treatises ; was fond of poetry, and often composed small poems on fugitive occasions.

John Waterman, the second son of the proprietor Thomas, born in March, 1672, married in 1701, Elizabeth, daughter of the second Samuel Lothrop. They had a family of six or seven sons and two daughters, the youngest of whom, Hannah, was the mother of Benedict Arnold.

A branch of the Waterman family settled in Lebanon, N. H. Col. Thomas Waterman, born July 11, 1766, is said to have been the first white child born in that town. His parents, Silas and Silence Waterman, were from Norwich.

History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession by the Indians to the Year 1866 Author Frances Manwaring Caulkins Publisher By H.P. Haven, 1874

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