Surname Saturday ~ MASTERS of Watertown and Cambridge, Massachusetts

MASTERS / MARSTERS / MASTERSON

My 11^th great grandfather, John Masters (about 1581 – 1639) was a tavern keeper.  He is of unknown origins, but he used a Lady Barrington as a reference in a letter written on 14 March 1630/1.  In his book The Great Migration Begins, Volume 2, page 1236, the author Robert Charles Anderson states that this is a clue to his origins being in Essex, England as a servant with one of the Puritan gentry families.

John Masters, his wife Joan, and children arrived in New England with the Winthrop Fleet in 1631.  He first lived in Watertown where he was a freeman on 18 July 1631.  He then removed to Newtowne (now Cambridge) in 1633.  He was licensed to keep a tavern in Cambridge on 3 September 1635.  The History of Cambridge, by Lucius R. Paige, 1877, page 609, states that his house was located on what is now Ash Street, near Brattle Street, near the current Harvard Divinity School campus.  He died on 21 December 1639, two days after making his last will and testament.  His wife died five days later. He named his three daughters in his will, and the grandsons (Abraham and Nathaniel) by a son who had predeceased him. 

John Masters must have had a rebellious streak.  Winthrop wrote of him on 5 July 1632 “The strife at Watertown congregation continued still; but at length they gave the separatists a day to come in, or else to be proceeded against.  At that day, all came in and submitted, except John Masters, who, though he were advised by diverse ministers and others, that he had offended in turning his back upon the sacrament, and departing out of the assembly, etc., because they had then admitted a member whom he judged unfit, etc.; yet he persisted.  So the congregation (being loath to proceed against him) gave him a further day, 8, at which time he continuing obstinate, they excommunicated him; but, about a fortnight later, he submitted himself, and was received in again.” [The History of New England from 1630 to 1649, by John Winthrop, Volume 1, page 97] 

I descend from John Masters’ unknown son through his grandson, Nathaniel.  I also descend from his daughter Elizabeth who married first to Edmund Lockwood, and second to Cary Latham. 

Nathaniel Masters has an interesting story.  He lived for some reason in Plymouth, Massachusetts where he probably married about 1631.   He is mentioned in a letter by Governor Bradford of Plymouth in February 1632.  Then he was mentioned in a New London, Connecticut record in 1651 for “fornication” before his marriage with Ruth Pickford (his wife).   This brings up a number of questions such as– Why was Nathaniel in Plymouth? Why did the fornication take place in New London (Pequott Harbor)?

Besides connections to Plymouth, Massachusetts and New London, Connecticut, Nathaniel received a land grant in York, Maine in 1666.  He became a freeman in Wells, Maine in 1670, and then was back in Manchester, Massachusetts in 1702.  He had seven children, and I descend from his daughter Lydia who married Josiah Littlefield.  She was killed by Indians on 10 August 1707 on her way home from Boston, along with her son Josiah, Jr.  Josiah, her husband, was killed by Indians in Wells, Maine in 1712 just a few years after spending two years in captivity in Canada. His second wife, Elizabeth Hilton, was killed by Indians in 1738. 

Some MASTERS resources:

The Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume II, pages 1234 – 1236 for a sketch of John Masters.

Essex Institute Historical Collections, Volume 36, page 157

Surname Saturday post for PICKWORTH - https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/12/surname-saturday-pickworth-of-plymouth.html 

Surname Saturday post for LOCKWOOD -  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/12/surname-saturday-lockwood-of-cambridge.html  

My MASTERS genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Masters, born about 1581 in England, died 21 December 1639 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; married to Joan Unknown about 1606. Four children.

Lineage A

Generation 2: Elizabeth Masters, born about 1612 in England, died 14 April 1712 in New London, Connecticut; married first to Edmund Lockwood; married second to Cary Latham about 1685.  Eight children.

Generation 3: Jane Latham m. Hugh Hubbard

Generation 4:  Lydia Hubbard m.  John Burrows

Generation 5:  Desire Burris m. Moses Gore

Generation 6:  Desire Gore m. Thomas Ratchford

Generation 7: Elizabeth Ratchford m. David Lyons

Generation 8:  Thomas Ratchford Lyons m. Ann Skinner

Generation 9:  Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 10:  Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 11:  Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 12:  Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Lineage B:

Generation 2:  Unknown Masters.  Two sons named in John Masters’ will (Nathaniel and Abraham)

Generation 3:  Nathaniel Masters, died 1 July 1708 in Manchester, Massachusetts; married about 1653 to Ruth Pickworth, daughter of John Pickworth and Anna Unknown. Seven children.

Generation 4:  Lydia Masters, born about 1661 in Wells, Maine; died 10 August 1707 in Wells; married before 1688 to Josiah Littlefield, son of John Littlefield and Patience Unknown.  He was born about 1662 in Wells and died 26 April 1712 in Wells.  Seven children.

Generation 5: Anna Littlefield m. Jacob Perkins

Generation 6:  Stephen Perkins m. Comfort Chesley

Generation 7:  Mary Perkins m. Nathaniel Batchelder

Generation 8:  Jonathan Batchelder m. Nancy Thompson

Generation 9:  George E. Batchelder m. Abigail M. Locke

Generation 10:  George E. Batchelder m. Mary Katharine Emerson

Generation 11:  Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

Generation 12:  Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ MASTERS of Watertown and Cambridge, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 29, 2018, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/12/surname-saturday-masters-of-watertown.html: accessed [access date]).