One Waters Family: Descendants of James Waters of London

A journey of over ten generations and 400 years is followed of one branch of the Waters family from England to Massachusetts to California. Richard Waters of London 1603-1676, immigrated to Salem, Massachusetts in 1636 with his family of five. They came in a sailing ship much like the Mayflower their Puritan friends had sailed in 16 years previously. The book describes what life was like back in the early Colonial days of the founding fathers. The book begins with James Waters, father of Richard, who was a prosperous ironmonger, a seller of iron goods in London back in Shakespeare’s day. Richard’s son John 1640-1706, who signed his name with an “X” and yet, oddly enough, his 5th great-grandson, William Howard Taft, was the 27th President of the United States. His sister Susana 1649-1726, was the great-grandmother of another U.S. President, Calvin Coolidge. Brother John had a minor involvement in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692, having testified against a man who was executed.