Nathan Waters

Nathan Waters was a very interesting member of the Waters Family and, fortunately, a lot of information exists about him. He was born on May 24th, 1799, the same year that George Washington died and passed away himself in 1878. His father was John Waters (1764-1847) and his mother was Hannah Putnam, John’s second wife. He had a sister Betsey, half-sisters Anna, Lucy, Lydia and Huldah, and brothers Stephen and Richard. With his father John, Nathan was responsible for a lot of building at the farm: the north ell with John in 1830; the old mill near the pond with his father in 1831; the new barn in 1848-1850. Along with his father he had orchards consisting of 1000 apple trees and shipped the apples as far away as Europe. Nathan went to school mostly in the winter when there were fewer chores. His favorite subject was math. Boys of Nathan’s age had plenty of hard work to do-barn chores, chopping and stacking wood, stone wall laying, working at the charcoal pits, the sawmill and cider mill, and peddling produce to the neighboring towns. He was married at age 32 to Ulva Putnam, daughter of Captain Cornelius Putnam of Oxford who was a blacksmith and captain in the Oxford Militia. Together they had 6 children, although one son, a twin, died in infancy. Nathan often worked in the charcoal pits and took the charcoal to Worcester to sell. He also peddled fruits and vegetables, conducted singing schools, and made and repaired violins. He made an agreement that his brother Richard would do his evening chores so that Nathan could drive his horse and wagon to Northbridge, Sutton, and other towns and conduct singing schools. In return, he would do extra chores for Richard on the weekends. Nathan was a large man who liked to wrestle.