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An American Family History

Nathan and Susanna Fiske
 
Watertown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
  
Watertown was settled in 1630 by English Puritans in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. In 1632 Watertown residents protested against paying taxes for a fort at Cambridge. The town hosted a horse and cattle market. About 1632 a grist mill was built and in 1662 a woolen mill was built.

Nathan Fiske and his wife Susanna married in England. They were in Watertown by 1642.

Nathan bought land there in Watertown on October 7, 1643. In the third inventory of estates taken in Watertown about 1644, Nathan Fiske was the proprietor of a lot of nine acres of upland.

Their children were listed in Pioneers of Massachusetts. Nathan Fiske, Jr. was born on August 17, 1642. David Fiske was born on February 29, 1652. Nathaniel Fiske was born on May 12, 1653 or July 12, 1653. Sarah Fiske Gale was born in 1656. 

Nathan, Sr. died in 1676.
Lady Day Before 1752 the year began on March 25th. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year, not the beginning.
 

Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity, by Ellery Bicknell Crane, published by The Lewis Publishing Company, 1907

Lieutenant Nathan Fiske, son of Nathan Fiske, the immigrant, and grandson of Nathaniel and Dorothy (Symonds) Fiske, was born in Watertown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, October 17, 1642.

He married Elizabeth Fry. He purchased from Thomas and Magdalen Underwood, lands allotted to or purchased by his uncle and aunt, Martin and Martha (Fiske) Underwood, and inherited by Thomas Underwood, to the extent of two hundred and twenty acres, paying therefor the sum of £10.

He was selectman of Watertown 1684, 1688 and 1691. He died October 11, 1694, and his widow Elizabeth was administrator of his estate, being appointed by the general court December 10, 1694, and the estate was divided November 23, 1696, his widow having died May 15, 1696.

The children of Lieutenant Nathan and Elizabeth (Fry) Fiske were:
Nathan, born February 9, 1665, died in 1668:
Elizabeth, born January 19, 1667, married James Ball (1670-1729) Weaver, January 16, 1693;
Martha, born January 12, 1670, married, March 13, 1694, Edward Park (1661);
Nathan, born January 3, 1672;
Susanna, born April 7, 1674, died unmarried, 1752;
Abigail, born February 18, 1675, married John Mixer, August 15, 1695;
William, born December 5, 1677, died same year;
William, born November 10, 1678, married Eunace Jennings;
Anna, died young.
When the colonists arrived in America they continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. The form lb is actually an abbreviation of the Latin word libra. li and £ were also used as abbreviations. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.

 

     

©Roberta Tuller 2012
tuller.roberta@gmail.com