Lancaster was first settled as "Nashaway" in 1643. It was officially incorporated as "Lancaster on the Nashua" in 1653. It originally included many current towns in central Massachusetts. It was the home of Mary Rowlandson. During King Philip's War the town suffered several massacres. It was abandoned in 1680 and resettled several years later.
Joseph Waters was born on April 29, 1647 in Lancaster, Worcester County, Massachusetts. His birth was the earliest recorded in Lancaster. His parents were Lawrence Waters and Ann Linton.
He returned to Lancaster in 1679 in the resettlement and occupied part of his father's and grandfather's lands.
He married Elizabeth and their children included:
Elizabeth Waters (1679),
Joseph Waters (1681), and
Martha Waters (1683).
In 1704 he was assigned to the military post at Stillwater Farm in the west part of Harvard. The residents of the area were afraid of attacks by Native Americans.
He later sold his Harvard lands to Isaac Hunt and moved to Groton where he died in 1720.
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
Groton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts was settled and incorporated in 1655. During King Philip's War, indigenous warriors burned all but four of Groton's garrisons. Survivors fled, but returned two years later to rebuild the town. Groton was again threated during Queen Anne's War.
European and indiginous American fought fierce battles as the Europeans expanded their territory.
Early European settlers in the American colonies were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They had to work hard to provide daily neccesities for themselves.
In 1688, during the Glorious Revolution, the Protestant king and queen,William and Mary, took the English throne from Catholic King James II. The bloodless revolution profoundly impacted the American colonies.
History of the Town of Harvard, Massachusetts, 1732-1893: 1732-1893, by Henry Stedman Nourse, published by W. Hapgood, 1894, p.31-33
Still Water - Harvard
. . . in
August, 1688, going through Groton and Lancaster, found the the inhabitants "very much afraid." And the following summer in an address to the
Council they describe themselves as "being under some fears of being
surprised by ye Indians."
In 1692 and 1695 bold bands of savages
committed murders in Lancaster and escaped unscathed. But the bloody
incursion of September 11, 1697 - when nineteen persons were slain, among
them Rev. John Whiting, the beloved minister of the town - emphasized the
lesson of previous raids in regard to the weakness of the garrisons upon
the west side of the river. . .The official assignment of the
people of Lancaster to their several military posts, dated April 20, 1704
shows that besides the old garrison at the Still River Farm, Harvard,
another had been established east of Bare Hill, Harvard.
Of the former
were:
Simon Willard
Benjamin Bellows
John Willard
Henry Willard
Joshua Atherton
James Houghton
Joseph Hutchins Joseph Waters
Hezekiah Willard
James Smith
men of military age in ten households.
. . .The birth of Joseph Waters is the earliest recorded in Lancaster, dating April 29, 1647. He had a wife Elizabeth, and a son Joseph, born April 2, 1682, who is the one named as belonging to the Still River garrison. He sold his Harvard lands to Isaac Hunt, a blacksmith from Cambridge, whose wife was Mary, daughter of Henry Willard. Waters removed to Groton, where he died in 1720.
American colonists continued to use British monetary units, namely the pound, shilling and pence for which £1 (orli) equalled 20s and 1s equalled 12d. In 1792 the dollar was established as the basic unit of currency.
