John Peach - Alice (Unknown Surname) Family Group

What We Know About This Family

An Overview of Their Lives

Hannah Peach and her brother William were both our direct ancestors. Hannah's first husband was john Bradstreet, a seaman, who was born in 1631 in Ipswich, England.  He came with his parents to America when he was three years old. He received in 1655 from his father: "all my farme at Mudde River, now in the occupation of Richard Camball of Ipswich, with one halfe of my commons from Ipswich soe long as he keeps the farme unsold, but in case he sell it, the commons are to returne (and belong) to the farm given to my wife." John probably suffered from mental illness. Governor John Winthrop mentioned in his journal that John Bradstreet was accused of bewitching a dog. The dog was hanged as a witch, and John was whipped. When he was 21, on July 28,1652, he was tried in Ipswich on a charge of "familiarity with the devil." John said that he had read a magic book and heard a voice telling him

Go make a bridge of sand over the sea; go make a ladder of sand up to heaven, and go to God and come down no more.

The court found that he had told a lie. This was his second conviction. He was sentenced to be whipped or to pay a fine of twenty schillings.

In 1657, he moved to Marblehead and married Hannah. He died, childless, in 1660 when he was only 29 years old.

Shortly after his death, Hannah married William Waters. William's origins are a mystery. Richard and Rejoice Plaise Waters had a son named William, but Richard's will left his brother adequate money to maintain him, and he was unmarried. I believe he was not fully competent. While there is reason to believe that William was an early settler in Marblehead, his name does not appear on the Marblehead petitions and lists of 1637, 1648, 1668, or 1673, but does on the list of householders in 1674. On the petition dated 1668 against imposts, beginning "Free trade hath been the chief motive that drew us hither," we should expect to find his name as it has one hundred and fifty signatures, but it is not there.

In Salem Deeds we find a record of a "William Waters sen. husbandman" and "William Waters, Jr., mariner," both of Boston, who, 13th (l0th mo.) 1661, together borrowed ;"ioo of John Croade of Salem, agreeing to pay in fish. It may be that our William Waters was the mariner and lived in Boston as well as Marblehead. This would explain why his name does not appear on the Marblehead lists. The fact that our William's son Thomas was a mariner, suggests that he succeeded his father.

William Waters died probably at Marblehead, about 1684, as an inventory of his estate was taken November 19 of that year. His eldest son William Waters, Jr., filed the inventory in which he mentions his brother Thomas, and his sisters Hannah and Mary, "being all the children of the late deceased." In the division, William, as the eldest son, had a double portion in the house and lands in Marblehead. Hannah predeceased her father, who died in 1687/88, and possibly predeceased her second husband as well.

About the Children

• William Waters was probably born in Marblehead and passed his early life there. He was a cordwainer, i. e. shoemaker, in Marblehead. In 1690, he and his wife, Elizabeth Latimer, gave a receipt for property to Nathaniel Norden, in which they call him "our brother-in-law." (Norden was in fact the husband of Elizabeth's sister, Mary.) The property so conveyed was described as that of "our father-in-law Christopher Latimer." Elizabeth Latimer Waters died at Marblehead, February 10, 1698/9, aged thirty-five, and her gravestone is still standing in the "Pond street burial ground on the hill." A few months later, William married (2) July (or August) 17, 1699, Mary (Doliber, widow of Peter Doliber) of Marblehead. Mary had at least two children by her first husband, and William Waters was her minor son's guardian. William and Mary together had one child, Hannah. (Mary was the daughter of Samuel Ward. Jr. and Abigail Maverick. Samuel in turn was the brother of our direct ancestor, Mary Ward Gale). William Waters died at Marblehead about 1704. His will, dated March 16, 1702, mentions his two children by his first wife, Latimer and Mary, and bequeaths to them what was left them in their grandfather Latimer's will. The other children were, probably, not then living. He also mentions his wife Mary and her daughter Hannah. His estate was administered by the widow, May 15, 1705. Mary (Ward Doliber) Waters died December 11, 1728.


• Mary Waters married Robert Gifford. All ten of their offspring survived childhood and married into various Marblehead families, some related to us. (See the list below). Mary Gifford married Nicholas Merritt, who was kidnapped by pirates along with his cousins Philip Ashton and Joseph Libby. Mary Gifford's brother, Robert, married Nicholas's sister, Rebecca Merritt, sister of Nicholas and our own direct ancestor, Jean. William Gifford married Miriam Pederick. the sister of our direct ancestors Richard and Joseph Pederick.


• Thomas Waters our direct ancestor, was a mariner in Marblehead, where he married his first wife, Alice Bartoll, a granddaughter of our ancestors John Bartoll and Parnell Hodder, and had his oldest son. He sold out in Marblehead and removed to Salem, where he married Mary Roundee, with whom he had six more children. He died in Marblehead.


• Hannah Waters married a man named Elias Stratton. Elias and Hannah had a total of eleven children, at least six of whom had families of their own. By their marriages, four of them had children who share ancestry with us. Hannah married Elias Henly, the son of Margaret Greenfield. John and Thomas married Deborah and Sarah Gale respectively, the granddaughters of Ambrose Gale. Mary married Samuel Gale, the son of Benjamin Gale and also a grandson of Ambrose.

What Else We Need to Learn

The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information of each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line.

The research on this family is basically complete. Further research may reveal some of the missing vital records.