Sources: A Genealogical History of the Waters and Kindred Families in Two Parts-Part First Compiled by Philemon Berry Waters; Part Second Compiled by Herbert M. Milam-Complete in One Volume-Atlanta, Georgia - Foote & Davies Company - 1903 Chapter IX, p. 79-84. Library call No. South Carolina 929.2-W31.w, c.2.
Hotten's list of emigrants to America between 1600 and 1700 gives a census or gist of names of those living in Virginia February 16, 1623" (1624) ; also contains "The muster of the inhabitants of the Colledge land in Virginia taken the 23d of January, 1624" (1625). "Edward Waters his muster" contains names of "Edward Waters, aged 40, in ship Patience, 1608; Grace Waters, aged 21, in the Diana, 1618; William Waters; Margaret Waters, born in Virginia." Among the land patents issued in the corporation of "James Cittie" at its incorporation, one hundred acres were patented to Edward Waters. These are the only Waters found until 1635. In that year John Waters came over in the ship Transport, of London, Edward Walker, master. John Waters was then twenty-nine years old. His name is not mentioned elsewhere in the record; whether he remained in the colony is not known. These are all of the name Waters as shown by the index to Hotten's list.
name, age, position, date, ship
Browne, Niccolas, 18, Servant of Edward Waters, 1621, Charles
Hampton, William & Joane, 40 &25, Edward Waters Muster, 1620 & 1621, Bona Nova & Abigaile
Lane, Thomas & Alice, 30 & 24, Edward Waters' muster, 1613 & 1620, Treasuror & Bona Nova
Reede, Read, Stephen, 17, Servant of Edward Waters, 1618, George
Penrise, Robart, 12, Servant of Edward Waters, 1620, Bona Nova
Harwood, Paule, 20, Servant of Edward Waters, 1622, Bona Nova
Francisco, Mathias, 18, Servant of Edward Waters, 1624, Jacob
EDWARD WATERS, as appears from Hotten's list of emigrants, came over in the ship Patience, in 1608, and returned to England. On a subsequent voyage to America we have an account of his being shipwrecked. His life was an eventful and romantic one. It seems that he came out with Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers to make a settlement in Virginia and, in July, 1609, with others of the passengers and crew of the Sea Venture, was wrecked on "the still vexed Bermoother" at the same time that the vessel on which Gates and Somers were embarked stranded. During their enforced stay upon one of these islands he is said to have killed a man in a quarrel named Edward Samuel, a sailor, and was arrested and bound to a tree, but one of his friends cutting the rope in the night, he escaped to another part of the island. When the shipwrecked set sail in May, 1610, in two small vessels which they had built during the winter, called the "Patience" and the "Deliverance," Waters and a man named Christopher Carter were left behind to hold possession of the island. In the latter part of the summer, Sir George Somers returned for a supply of wild hogs, and died there. His kinsman, Mathew Somers, taking command, set sail for England instaad of Virginia leaving one of his crew, named Edward Chard, behind.
These three then, Waters, Carter and Chard, were the sole inhabitants of the Somers islet and "monarchs of all they surveyed," until the arrival of Moore and his colony in 1612. An old chronicler alleges that Chard sand Waters were about to fight on one occasion, when Christopher Carter, who disliked both, pacified them by threatening to turn against the man who struck first. After this they became friendly, and industriously and profitably worked together. In their exploration of the island they discovered a large lump of ambergris, and soon after the ship Plough arrived with some colonists, of which Mr. Moore was the. governor. Both Waters and Carter became members of the governor's council, but about 1618 went to Virginia, where the former settled on the south bank of the James River. At the taking of the census in 1624 he was thirty-nine years of age, and his wife, Grace, who came in 1618 in the ship Diana, was only twenty years old, and at the time they had a son William. At the time of the massacre in 1622, Waters lived on the south side of the James, and he and his family were taken prisoners by the Nansemond Indians, but were rescued by a boat's crew and carried to Recaughton, or Elizabeth City, now called Hampton. In February, 1625, his wife had a daughter named Margaret. A creek in Upper Elizabeth once bore his name. Governor Pott, in March, 1628-29, made him a commissioner for the district between Southampton River and Fox Hill, and he was a member of the county court and member of House of Burgesses from Elizabeth City County. [New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. XXXI, p. 393, and authorities there referred to.]
There are discrepancies as to dates in the authorities which may be partially reconciled by the difference between the old style and the present manner of computing time. Edward Waters, Gentleman and Armiger, was born in England in 1568 and died at Great Hornmead, Hertsfordshire, England. [Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. I., pp. 92, 93] His will, of which a meager abstract is given in H. F. Waters's "Gleanings from the English Records," Part I., p. 129, a copy of which may also be found in Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. II, p. 179, was signed August 20, 1630, proved September 18, 1630, in which he leaves his only son, William Waters, his lands in Virginia, and directs that all, property in England, Virginia, Ireland and elsewhere be sold by advice of his brother, John Waters, of Middleham, Yorkshire, and provision made for his only other heirs, his wife Grace Waters, and daughter Margaret. He was registered as living at Blount Point, Elizabeth City, Virginia. He was a member of the London Company organized for the purpose of colonizing Virginia; a lieutenant, then a captain of Virginia militia, and commissioner and commander of Elizabeth City County, Virginia, for which he was also burgess. He married Grace O'Neal (also spelled O'Neil). The name of Grace's family is not given in Hotten's list. [Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. II, pp. 69, 309]
Grace O'Neal (or O'Neil) could not have been one of those young women who were bought by their husbands. She was called "Lady Grace" and was first cousin of Admiral James O'Neil, famous in the naval service of Charles I., with whom he was a favorite officer. The wife of James O'Neil was a maid of honor 'to the queen. Admiral O Neil settled in Maryland in Oliver Cromwell's reign, and his descendants write their name Neal. The widow of Edward Waters married Colonel Obedience Robins and had numerous offspring.
William Waters, the son of Edward Waters the emigrant, was born at Blount Point, Virginia, probably in 1623, and died in 1687. He was educated in England, returned to Virginia, was appointed by the governor and council a major of militia in Northampton County, Virginia. Northampton was one of the original shires of Virginia out of which have been carved a number of others. In such cases it happens that a member of the family may have been born' at an early period in one county and be referred to as living in another without change of residence. Major William Waters was also high sheriff, justice of the peace, and member of the quorum court. He also was a member from Northampton County of the House of Burgesses in 1654, 1659 and 1660. Major William Waters married Mrs. George Clark (nee Margaret Robins) in 1652. Of his children the names of six sons are known: Richard, John, Edward, Thomas, Obedience and William. The names of the daughters have not been ascertained. Two of these sons, John Waters, who married Mary Maddox, and Richard, who married Elizabeth Lyttleton, settled in Maryland.
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