Benjamin Waterman 

Benjamin Waterman Timeline 

-Corresondence by Richard Slaney, April 11, 2013

Time Line – Benjamin Waterman – the plane maker

-born April 12, 1719 - in that part of Providence that split off in 1754 to become part of the

newly formed Town of Cranston. He was the son of Nathaniel Waterman III (1695-1790) and

Hannah (Carpenter).

[sources: -#57 in the 1954 Waterman Genealogy (vol. iii) by Donald Lines Jacobus &

Edgar Francis Waterman. This reference provided by Will Steere.

-“LDS Family Search” online and Waterman genealogy sites online.

-1741 – Age 22 – Benjamin Waterman makes a woodworking plane. The plane is marked with

his name and a date of 1741.

[source: This plane is in the collection of Bud and Vera Steere.

[RS note: the name on the plane is spelled BENJAMEN WATERMAN.

-1745– Age 26 – Benjamin Waterman marries Ann Manton (b. c1722)

[sources: “LDS Family Search” online and Waterman genealogy sites online.

-1750 – Age 31 – On April 30, 1750, he is deeded property by his father. The property is “Two

acres and sixty three poles of land and meadow lying on both sides of the brook called

Massapage Brook within the lands of Pawtuxet in the jurisdiction of Providence _ _ _ and is the

most southeasterly part of my home farm”.

[source: Providence Land Deeds. Book 12. Page 350.

[RS note: "The deed reads in part “_ _ know ye that I,

Nathaniel Waterman of Providence _ _ yeoman _ _ to my son Benjamin Waterman of

the same town _ _.”

[RS note: Will Steere collection. The deed came from a collection of Waterman family papers auctioned in 2011/2012

-1750 – Age 31 – On April 30, 1750, Nathaniel Waterman (1695-1790) is deeded property by

his brother Zuriel Waterman. One of the witnesses to this deed is “Benjamin Waterman Jun.”

[source: Providence Land Deeds. Book 12. Page ?.

[RS note: Benjamin Waterman Jun is the son of Nathaniel Waterman (1695-1790). The

“Jun” as part of Benjamin Waterman’s name is puzzling, but he may have used it to

distinguish himself from another Benjamin Waterman (b. 1707, d. 1760), who also lived

in that part of Providence that became Johnston in 1759. They were related. The

grand father of Benjamin Waterman Jun (b. 1719, d. 1799) and the father of Benjamin

Waterman (b. 1707, d. 1760) were brothers. (Editor: A 1759 deed (below) links Benjamin

Waterman Jr, house right of Providence to his father-in-law John Manton, thus verifying

the family unit.) 

-1750 – Age 31 – On May 31, 1750, he buys property in Providence. The deed reads in part:

“_ _ know ye that I, Jofeph Field Jun of Providence, cordwainer, _ _ for the sum of four hundred

pounds, _ _ convey to Benjamin Waterman Jun of the fame town, houfe carpenter, _ _ one

certain lott of land containing forty nine pols situate within the Township of said Providence and

lyeth adjoyning on the north side of the highway that leads over the river by Edward Tripps and

is the lott where on the said Field now dwells, with the dwelling house and shop thereon

standing _ _”

[source: Providence Land Deeds. Book 12. Page 367.

[RS provided the deed information.

-1752 – Age 33 – “Benjamin Waterman Junior of Providence, house carpenter” is owed large

sums of money specified in two obligation bonds. One bond, dated Feb. 24, 1752, obligates

“Thomas Fenner Junior of Providence, yeoman” to pay Waterman “four hundred and fifteen

pounds in currant money of new england _ _. The second bond, also dated Feb. 24, 1752,

obligates “William Fenner of Providence, yeoman” to pay Waterman “three hundred and

two pounds in currant money of new england _ _.”

[source: the Waterman paper collection 2011/2012

[RS note: the Thomas Fenner Junior and William Fenner in these deeds are father

and son.

-1753 – Age 34 – On December 21, 1753, “Benjamin Waterman Jun of Providence, houfe

carpenter,” sells back to “Jofeph Field Jun of Providence, cordwainer” the property he had

purchased from Field on May 31, 1750.

[source: Providence Land Deeds. Book 13. Page 327.

[RS note: in this deed the words “that leads over the river by Edward Tripps shop” are

used in place of the earlier phrasing in the May 31, 1750 deed, “that leads over the

river by Edward Tripps.”

-1756 – Age 37 – his signature on a 1756 petition to the Rhode Island General Assembly shows

that he was living in Providence on the west side of the Woonasquatucket River.

[source: Petitions to the R. I. General Assembly. Vol. 9. Petition #141. At the R. I.

State Archives.

​

-1757 – Age 38 – On June 13, 1757, he is deeded property in Providence. The deed reads in

part: “I, John Manton of the Town of Providence _ _ given unto my son in law Benjamin

Waterman and my daughter Anne Waterman his wife a parcel of land about one acre and a

hundred and sixteen poles of land being part orchard and part meadow land and situated about

three miles westerly of the Town of Providence, beginning _ _ on the south side of the rhode that

leadeth to Killingley _ _, bounded north on the highway and south with land granted unto my

brother Edward Manton deceased by my honored father Edward Manton deceased _ _. ”

[source: Providence Land Deeds. Book 19. Page 84.

[RS note: Ann Manton was born c1722 and married Benjamin Waterman c1745. [sources:

“LDS Family Search” online and Waterman genealogy sites online.

-1759 – Age 40 - Benjamin Waterman Jun is now living in the Town of Johnston, R. I. Not

because he moved, but because the Town of Johnston was incorporated March 6, 1759 from

Providence, taking from Providence the land west of the Woonasquatucket River. Tripptown,

the small hamlet where Waterman lived, was on the west bank of the river.

-1759 – Age 40 – On April 18, 1759, he is made a “freeman” of the Town of Johnston and

the Colony of Rhode Island.

[source: Johnston Town Meeting records, 1759-1795. The entry for the April 18, 1759

town meeting reads: “Benjamin Waterman Junr and Samuel Smith were both sworn

and admitted free of sd Town in order to be returned free of sd Collony.”

-1759 – Age 40 – On June 2, 1759, “Benjamin Waterman Juner of Providence, house right”

buys property in Johnston, R. I. from his father-in-law, John Manton “yeoman.” The deed reads

in part: “one certain tract or parcel of land lying or being in the township of Johnfton, being

part of the lands my brother Shadrack Manton died feized of which said land is called and

known by the name of the Shadrack farm.” The price is the “sum of five thousand one hundred

and fifty three pounds money of the old tenor.”

[source: Johnston, R. I. Land Deeds. Book 1. Pages 12, 13.

-1759 – Age 40 – On June 2, 1759, he sells property in Cranston, R.I. The deed reads in part:

“I Benjamin Waterman Jun of Johnfton in the County of Providence _ _ houfe Right. For the

consideration of eight hundred and two pounds currant money received to full satisfaction of

Daniel Abbot of Providence _ _ Esquire_ _ a certain peace or tract of land lying and being in

the town of Cranfton _ _ containing about twenty acres and bounded as followeth _ _ this

land being the twenty acres I formerly purchased of Thomas Fenner Jun _ _ ”.

[source: Cranston, R. I. Land Deeds. Book 1. Page 219.

-1767 – Age 48 – On June 6, 1767, Benjamin Waterman “yeoman” and Joshua Greene

“yeoman” sign an Indenture agreement that binds them to the terms under which much of the

property of John Manton, deceased, is to be divided between them. The property is in Johnston,

R. I., at a hamlet called “Tripptown,” three miles west of downtown Providence. Each man

receives substantial land holdings and the Manton house is to be held in common by them.

[source: Johnston, R. I. Land Deeds. Book 1. Pages 336-8

​

-1776 – Age 57 – Benjamin Waterman buys a “Nigrowomen named Phillis” for “Thirty

Pounds” from a William Latham of Johnson, R.I.

[source: an original “receipt” that was among the trove of Waterman documents that was sold at ..... the RI auction in 2011.

​

-1777– Age 58 – On June 19, 1777, he buys property in Johnston, R.I. The deed reads in part

“Benjamin Waterman of Johnfton, yeoman,” pays “Thomas Clifford of Cranston, husbandman

alias yeoman _ _ “thirty pound lawfull money” _ _ for _ _“one certain lot of land with a

dwelling house thereon standing” _ _ “butted and bounded as follows viz. northerly on the

highway that leads over the river at a place commonly called and known by the name of Tripp

Town” _ _ .

[source: Johnston, R. I. Land Deeds. Book 2. Page 133

-1792 – Age 73 – “Benjamin Waterman of Johnfton, houfewright” files a complaint resulting in

a March 6, 1792 arrest warrant for a “James Parker of Scituate, hufbandman alias yeoman.”

Waterman’s complaint is that Parker “hath not kept & performed his several promifes and

afsumptions _ _ made.” The damages sought by Waterman are “four hundred pounds, lawful

money.”

[source: this original “Arrest Warrant” was among the trove of Waterman documents that was sold at ... the RI auction in 2011. Will Steere collection.

-1799 – Age 80 – Benjamin Waterman died on Sept. 4, 1799. His probate Inventory, dated Nov.

23, 1799, values his real estate (“farm and buildings”) at $3000 and his personal estate at $710.

A probate Account document that relates to the division of Benjamin Waterman’s real estate

shows that he had a substantial house and substantial land holdings that included crop land,

meadow land, and a wood lot. His probate Inventory lists a “chest with old tools, in the

garret,” and these may be his woodworking tools, but Waterman was an old man when he died

and most of the tools listed in the inventory are farm tools.

[source: Benjamin Waterman’s probate file (#A1887) is at the Providence City Hall

Archives.

[RS note: both Benj. Waterman and his second wife, Catherine Latham (b. 1740), are

buried in the “Benjamin Waterman Lot, “ known as the “Rhode Island Historical

Cemetery - Cranston - #584.” The location of the cemetery is on Pontiac Ave in

Cranston, a short distance south of the junction of Pontiac and Resevoir avenues.

Overview

Benjamin Waterman is called either a house carpenter or a housewright in seven public

deeds that span the years 1750 through 1792. Carpentry was his life’s work. It is not known

where or from whom he learned the carpenter trade, but his father’s farm was in the southern

part of Providence, near Resevoir and Pontiac Avenues in today’s Cranston. In 1741, at the

age of 22, he made a wooden molding plane that is stamped with his full name and the 1741

date. This plane is evidence of both his woodworking skill and his interest in architectural

detail. And there exist two other skillfully made wooden molding planes, also marked with

the BENJAMIN WATERMAN name, but not dated. If he made these three planes for his

own use, they indicate both the refined nature of the carpentry work he was doing and the

seriousness with which he approached his craft.

From 1750 through 1753, Benjamin Waterman is involved in three deed transactions that

involve property in the Providence hamlet of Tripptown, 3 miles west of Providence harbor.

In 1745, he had married Anne Manton, the daughter of John Manton a large landowner at

Tripptown, and they may have settled in Tripptown by 1750. Tripptown (later called Manton

Village) was located on the “Killingly Road,” one of three principal roads before 1800 that

led out from the center of Providence west to Connecticut. The hamlet also bordered on the

west bank of the Woonasquatucket River, which formed the new boundary line when the

Town of Johnston was carved out of Providence in 1759.

All of the deed evidence from 1750 through 1799 has Benjamin Waterman living at

Tripptown. A 1792 deed calls him a “housewright,” so he must have continued his carpentry

work while living at Tripptown, but the deed evidence is that his years at Tripptown were

prosperous ones, with the acquisition of considerable land in and around Tripptown, much of

it coming from his father-in-law John Manton. After 1767, when his father-in-law died,

Waterman lived the life of a prosperous “yeoman” or farmer at Tripptown. When Waterman

died in 1799, the probate Inventory shows that his “chest with old tools” had long since been

put away in the garret of his substantial house.

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