ROBERT WILLIAMS [#590], bap. Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England 11 Dec 1608, d. Roxbury, MA 1 Sep 1693, aged 86, m(1) England ELIZABETH STALHAM, d. Roxbury 28 Jul 1674, m(2) 3 Nov 1675 Margaret, widow of John Fearing of Hingham, m(3) possibly Martha Story (or Strong?), d. 22 Dec 1704, aged 91.
Robert emmigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 as evidenced by the passenger lists of the John and Dorothy and the Rose. "April 8th 1637. The examination of Robert Williams of Norwich in Norff. cordwayner,aged 28 years, and Elizabeth, his wife, aged _ years with 4 children, Samuel, John, Elizabeth, and Debra and two servants Mary Williams aged 18 yeres and Anne Williams, aged 15 yeres are desirous to passe to Boston in New England to Inhabit." They apparently sailed from Yarmouth.[4/7] Robert settled in Roxbury, was admitted freeman May 2, 1638, and died Sept. 1, 1693 at the age of 86.
Robert Williams served as town clerk in Roxbury and also as a selectman in 1647 and 1653.[4/12] His lands, as described in the town books in 1654, consisted of 135 acres.[4/1112] Robert's will was dated Nov. 26, 1685 and proved Sept. 29, 1693. In it he mentions his three sons Samuel, Isaac, and Stephen, his grandson Isaac, his grand child Elizabeth Robinson, and his brother Nicholas Williams.
Robert was a cordwainer's apprentice in Norwich from 1623 to 1630, when he became a freeman. In 1635 he was warden of the Guild of Cordwainers and Sealer of Leather for the City of Norwich.[3/19] Robert's brother Nicholas was apprenticed to Robert in England as a cordwainer, i.e. leather worker.[3/17] No record of the marriage between Robert Williams and Elizabeth Stalham can be found, nor does there appear any proof that Robert's wife's surname was Stalham. Elizabeth was born abt. 15957 and was probably the daughter of John Stalham, mason of Norwich and his wife Alicia (Gibson) Stalham. According to family tradition, Robert's wife "was of a good family and had been delicately reared; and when her husband desired to come to America, though a truly religious woman, she dreaded the undertaking and shrank from the hardships to be encountered. While the subject was still under discussion, she had a dream fore-shadowing that if she went to America, she would become the mother of a long line of worthy ministers of the Gospel. The dream so impressed her that she rose up cheerfully and began to prepare to leave her home and kindred for the new and distant land". This tradition was related and believed by one of her descendants, Mrs. Emily Williams of Wethersfield in the early part of the nineteenth century.[3/1819] While family traditions are usually interesting, they may not be a very strong reflection of the actual truth, so take it for what it's worth.
Refer to the overseas ancestor section for the likely ancestry of Robert Williams.
REF: [1] The Robinson Family - Jane Bancroft Robinson, 1903 (pgs.17-20)
[2] The Ancestry of Daniel James Seeley and Charlotte Louisa
Vail - Colonel William Plumb Bacon, 1912
[3] Robert Williams of Roxbury 1607-1693 - Harrison Williams,
1934 (pgs.13-46)
[4] Robert Williams of Roxbury, Massachusetts and Some of His
Descendants - Frederick Lewis Weiss, 1945
Children:
1. Elizabeth, b. abt. 1626, d. Cambridge, MA 5 Mar 1661-2, m. 1644 Richard Cutter, b. abt. 1620, d. Cambridge 16 Jun 1693 2. Deborah, d. Medfield, MA 1676, m. 1648 John Turner 3. Samuel, b. abt. 1633, d. Roxbury 28 Sep 1698, m. Roxbury 2 Mar 1653-4 Theoda Parke, b. Roxbury 26 Jul 1637, d. Roxbury 26 Aug 1718 4. John, bap. Norwich, Eng. 26 Aug 1635, d. Roxbury, MA 6 Oct 1658 5. Isaac (Capt.), b. Roxbury 1 Sep 1638, d. Newton, MA 9 Feb 1707-8, m(1) 1660 Martha Parke, b. Roxbury 2 Mar 1641-2, d. Newton 24 Oct 1675, m(2) 13 Nov 1677 Judith (Hunt) Cooper, b. Rehoboth, MA 21 Apr 1648, d. Newton 7 Apr 1724 Chil.: 1) Isaac, b. Cambridge 11 Dec 1661, d. Roxbury 27 Jun 1739, m. 1685 Elizabeth Hyde, b. 4 Sep 1659, d. Cambridge 26 Jun 1699 6. Stephen, b. Roxbury 8 Nov 1640, d. Roxbury 15 Feb 171920, m. Roxbury 1666 Sarah Wise, b. Roxbury 19 Dec 1647, d. Roxbury 1728 7. Mary, m. Nicholas Wood 8. Thomas?, d. young
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