Mary Waters 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Mary Waters was born in Salem around 1646. Her parents, Richard and Rejoice Plaisse Waters, had migrated from London to Salem, Massachusetts 10 years earlier in 1636. Mary was in a big family with 10 siblings who all stayed in the Salem area, some as neighbors, their whole lives. On August 27, 1667 Mary married Clement English. Clement was a merchant. He and Mary had 6 children.

In 1671 Mary’s dad Richard’s will left lands & money to his kids. “Allso my will is that the rest of my children viz Abigail punchard Mary English Susana Pulsiver and Hanah Striker who neither of them haue had any pt. or portion of my estate already as my fore mentioned Children have had, shall haue the rest of my estate.”

Mary, her married sisters and a brother all had homes on Cat Cove, part of Salem Harbor, about 1 mile northeast of Salem Commons. Mary’s husband Clement built a “dwelling house and a little cowhouse” on the land. The map snapshot shows Water family land, bottom then clockwise, Hannah Waters Striker, Abigail Waters Punchard, Ezekiel Waters 2, Mary Waters English Stephens. The Google map shows the area today. Mary’s house was still there in 1702, gone before 1742.

Mary was a widow in 1682 and married John Stephens, a fisherman, who helped with her with her husband Clement’s estate. The family stayed in Cat Cove, “Historically the Salem Harbor was the site of one of the major international ports in the colonies.”

Sources

• Salem Harbor at Wikipedia
• Cat Cove on Google maps
• Mary [Waters English] Stephens house in Essex Antiquarian at American Ancestors.
• Mary working on Clement’s estate in the American Genealogist at American Ancestors.
• Richard Waters will in The probate records of Essex County at HathiTrust