This is Patriot #10 I have written about for this series on my Revolutionary War ancestors.
Robert Wilson is my 5th great grandfather. He was born in Salem Village (after 1775 it was known as the town of Danvers), Massachusetts around 1746, the son of Robert Wilson (1724 - 1782) and Elizabeth Southwick of Danvers.
Robert Wilson's father was a potter, and so was his grandfather, Isaac Wilson, and so were his sons. According to the book Early New England Potters and Their Wares, by Lura Woodside Watkins, pages 65 - 66 "The Wilsons also were a prominent family of artisans. Their homestead included the land near 141 Andover Street and eastward where Route 128 now crosses it. The first two potting Wilsons were sons of Robert, a farmer. They were Robert, known as Robert Jr., who remained in Danvers, and Joseph, who went to Dedham and thence to Providence, Rhode Island. When Robert, Jr. died in 1782, he left property worth 627 pounds, including six lots of land, his house, barn, potter's shop, and corn house, a riding chair, and a large personal estate. He seems to have done well in his trade. His son Robert, known as Robert 3d, and a younger son Job were potters. By an order of the court, Robert 3d, as administrator of his father's estate, was obliged to sell a large part of the elder Robert's property to pay certain debts. This was not done until April 9, 1793, when two-thirds of the land and buildings, and an interest in the business was aquired by Isaac Wilson 3d. He, too, was a craftsman in clay. The threee Wilsons ran the shop together for a time, but Robert 3d. and Job both passed away before 1800, while Robert's son Robert, who had worked but a short time as a potter, died three years later at the age of twenty-seven. Upon Isaac's decease in 1809, this early pottery must have come to an end."
Robert Wilson married Sarah Felton on 23 March 1775 in Danvers. She was the daughter of Malachi Felton and Abigail Jacobs (the great granddaughter of the George Jacobs hanged as a witch during the 1692 witch hysteria). She was probably the first child born in the Nathaniel Felton, Jr. house, which is still standing in the town of Peabody, Massachusetts. Robert and Sarah had nine children, of whom seven grew up to adulthood and married. I descend from the eldest child, Robert Wilson (1776 - 1803), mentioned above, who married Mary Southwick, his second cousin. This Robert died at age 27, leaving his widow with two babies. She never remarried.
The Wilsons produced an unsual kind of black pottery, which had an almost black glaze. There was a large clay deposit near Andover Street (now Route 114). Some of this black pottery is on display inside the Nathaniel Felton houses (one is mentioned above) which are still standing on Felton Hill, owned by the Peabody Historical Society. The Wilsons and their relatives lived on what is now the Danvers/Peabody line, near Route 114 and the Northshore Mall. Nearby is Wilson Square. Several Wilsons were buried under the parking lot near Macy's at the Mall, but their graves were relocated. Across from the Mall, behind the Kappy's liquor store, there is a Wilson Family Burial Ground.
At the start of the Revolutionary War there were over 50 small potteries in Danvers, all in the same neighborhood near the clay deposit. The Wilsons lived and worked at the pottery business, along with other local families such as the Osborns, Paiges, Porters, and Southwicks. The last pottery in Peabody (which broke off from Danvers in 1855) closed due to a fire in the 1950s. At one time some of these families also produced bricks.
Robert Wilson served in the Revolutionary War as a Private in Captain Samuel Epe's Company under Colonel Pickering's Regiment of Danvers. He marched on the alarm of 19 April 1775 for two days of service and is listed in the DAR Patriot's Index. There were six Wilsons from the area of Danvers and Peabody who marched on the Lexington Alarm.
Robert Wilson died on 4 June 1797 in Danvers, and his son, my 4th great grandfather, Robert Wilson, was the administrator of his father's estate in 1782. His will (Essex County Probate #30142) mentions his widow Sarah and all the children except for Mercy and Samuel in 1796. He was buried in the Wilson Family Burial Ground, and when Sarah died on 20 November 1836 she was buried nearby in the Felton Family Burial Ground. I cannot find a record of her applying for a widow's pension, and she never remarried.
I'm curious to find out if the black and redware pottery produced in Danvers and Peabody contained a lead glaze. Both Robert Wilsons mentioned above (the Revolutionary War veteran and his son) died very young. Perhaps it was lead poisoning? Perhaps we will never know?
For the truly curious:
Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution
Essex County, Massachusetts Probate
Early New England Potters and Their Wares, by Lura Woodside Watkins, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1950, pages 65-66.
Sophia Richter, "Peabody: Pottery City, 1730 - 1940", Peabody Historical Society and Museum, posted 1 August 2025, ( https://peabodyhistorical.org/2025/08/peabody-pottery-city-1730-1940/: accessed 22 March 2026).
#1 in this series, Colonel Joshua Burnham of Milford, New Hampshire: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/02/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-colonel.html
#2 in this series, Andrew Munroe of Lexington, Massachusetts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-major.html
#3 Jonathan Flint of Reading, Massachusetts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-jonathan.html
#4 Daniel Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-daniel.html
#5 Levi Younger of Gloucester, Massachusetts: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-levi.html
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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Revolutionary War Patriots - Robert Wilson of Danvers, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 2, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/06/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-robert.html: accessed [access date]).
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