Although my research is focused primarily on Frederick County, the Maryland frontier of the 1700s, a deed from Frederick County led me to research Nathan Waters, a saddler in Annapolis.
Nathan Waters, Saddler
Nathan Waters came to Annapolis from Philadelphia around 1750. His advertisements in the Maryland Gazette promised to supply gentlemen, and others, with saddles, portmanteaus and saddle-bags, and related items, in the neatest, best, and cheapest manner.
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| The Maryland Gazette, 14 Nov 1750, p. 4 From Newspapers.com |
In 1753, Waters relocated to a new shop in Annapolis and advertised the addition of a skilled saddler from Great Britain. He also offered a variety of other types of goods for sale, such as felt hats, sweet oil and pottery.
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| The Maryland Gazette, 2 Aug 1753, p. 3 From Newspapers.com |
Nathan Waters was married to Catherine Wilson, daughter of Jonathan Willson (d. 1751) of Charles County. Catherine's brother, Jonathan Willson (c. 1715-1806), served in various elected offices in Montgomery County from the 1750s through the 1770s (Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al., A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789, Maryland Archives Online, Volume 426, pp. 893-894).
In 1756, Charles Willson Peale, who would later become one of the most famous artists in the U.S., served as witness to Nathan Waters' acquisition of four slaves from someone named Henry Meroney (Frederick County, MD Land Records, liber F, folio 78-79). At the time of the sale witnessed by Peale, the future artist was fifteen, several years into an apprenticeship with Waters.
Digging into the information in the deed unveiled a number of interesting details about Nathan Waters.
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| Witnesses to deed recorded 22 October 1756. Frederick County Land Records, Liber F, folio 79 |
According to the deed, Henry Meroney was a planter in Frederick County, while Nathan Waters was identified as "of the City of Annapolis, Saddler." For the sum of £40 sterling (plus a further five shillings, presumably for county fees), Waters acquired from Meroney "One Negro Woman named Nell, one Negro Woman Named Hester, one Negro Woman named Dinah and one Negro Boy named James with the Increase of the said Negro Women [in other words, Waters also purchased any children the women might someday have]."
Meroney, as I discovered, was the stepfather of Nathan Waters. Nathan's father, William Waters, died in 1743. Nathan's mother, Rachel (Duvall) Waters, then married Henry Meroney in 1749.
Henry Meroney's son, Henry Meroney, Jr., would later open up a saddler's shop in Annapolis.
Charles Willson Peale, Saddler
After completing his apprenticeship with Nathan Waters, Peale opened up his own saddle-making shop on the same street. Unlike Waters, Peale did not aspire to cater to gentlemen. Located next to a blacksmith, Peale also repaired carriages and appealed to his friends to support him, as he was "a young Man, just setting out in Business."
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| The Maryland Gazette, 21 Jan 1762, p. 3 From Newspapers.com |
These early years of Peale's business were dampened by debts that he struggled to pay (C. W. Peale, Charles Willson Peale, Artist-Soldier, 1914, p. 260). In 1764, he added luxury goods to his shop, advertising that he now "Makes, Cleans and Repairs CLOCKS and Cleans and Mends WATCHES," while also continuing the saddlers business (The Maryland Gazette, 5 April 1764, p. 4).
In 1762, Peale establish his legal status as heir entail to Charles Wilson, who died in England in 1724. The midwife who delivered Peale, Priscilla Saunders, testified on September 26, 1762, that he was, to the best of her knowledge, the first child of Charles Peale and his wife (Maryland Provincial Court Records, 1762-1763, Volume 724, p. 245).
The midwife's testimony was given in addition to testimony by Elizabeth Bennett, a longtime friend of Margaret Peale, who had previously testified that Charles and Margaret Peale were legally married in the Church of England prior to the birth of Charles Willson Peale (Maryland Provincial Court Records, 1762-1763, Volume 724, p. 236-238).
In 1765, Peale determined to make his living as a portrait artist and soon found success in this calling. A 1768 article in The Maryland Gazette reported that Peale had recently completed a "masterly" life-size portrait of the Earl of Chatham (The Maryland Gazette, 18 May 1769, p. 3).
Nathan Waters, Real Estate Investor
During the 1760s, Nathan Waters spent less time as a saddler and more time as a real estate investor. His first real estate ventures appear to have occurred just as Charles Willson Peale was concluding his apprenticeship.
In Annapolis, Nathan Waters owned several properties, including a lot facing Church Circle on which the historic Maryland Inn would be built (Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, Annapolis Survey, Inventory No. AA-584, Section 8, Page 1-2). The lot had previously been owned by Henrietta Maria (Lloyd) Chew Dulany, who acquired it as a wedding present in 1748 when she married Daniel Dulany the Elder.
Nathan Waters did not purchase the lot outright; instead, he received a 99-year lease to the property. In 1772, Waters leased a portion of the lot to Thomas Hyde of Severn, who constructed the flat-iron brick building as an inn and house of entertainment, now known as the Maryland Inn.
In 1760, Waters purchased the lease to property on School Street from Nicholas Minskie and William and Mary (Chew) Paca in 1765. Waters subdivided his property, selling a portion to Elizabeth McClelan in 1774, a portion to his daughter, Elizabeth (Waters) Chisholm in 1780, and another portion to his son-in-law, Archibald Chisholm, in 1790. Dr. Wilson Waters, son of Nathan Waters, opened his practice in 1784 in the building on School Street owned by Elizabeth Chisholm. (Esther Doyle Read, Archaeological Excavation of State Circle, Annapolis, Maryland, 1990, p. 318-320)
In 1760, Waters advertised the sale of a tract of land on the Seneca River in Frederick County. Consisting of 160 acres, the property appears to have been under development for use in raising livestock. Waters also advertised his store's supply of goods including rum, sugar, rice, chocolate, tea, and other items, in addition to his traditional saddler's business (The Maryland Gazette, 9 October 1760, p. 2).
Further advertisements included a plantation on the Severn River, about six miles from Annapolis, which featured good soil for crops, fine fishing, and "a proper place for making of bricks" (The Maryland Gazette, 16 June 1785, p. 3); and Wrighton Farm on the Rhode River, "abounding with wild fowl, fine oysters, and other fish," conveniently located between two creeks, consisting of a two-story house, a dairy with a well, and a brick barn (The Maryland Gazette, 28 December 1786, p. 3).
Nathan Waters had a brother, William Waters, who was a mariner in Baltimore. In 1772, Nathan purchased from William a building lot (No. 34) at Georgetown in Frederick county. In 1785, Nathan sold the lot to William Wilkins. (Maryland Provincial Court Land Records, Volume 726, pp. 317-318 and Volume 728, pp. 378-379). Wilkins and Nathan Waters had known each other for decades: Wilkins opened a dry goods store on Church Street in Annapolis in 1764 (The Maryland Gazette, 13 September 1764, p. 3).
Successors to Nathan Waters, Saddler
Waters leased his shop on Church Street to Henry Caton in 1765, although Waters continued his saddle-making business, as well as making carriage wheels, for some years (The Maryland Gazette, 5 September 1765, p. 2 and 17 July 1770, p. 4).
In 1767, Henry Meroney, Jr. (Waters' stepbrother) set up a saddle-making business catering to gentlemen and ladies in Annapolis. The advertisement announcing his business stated that he had previously been in Charleston, South Carolina and was now "near the Town-Gate, Annapolis."
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Tenth months later, Meroney, Jr., now in partnership with Joseph Selby, announced that he was taking over Nathan Waters' shop on Church Street, advertising that he would "now carry on that Business, in all its Branches, at the Place where Nathan Waters formerly lived."
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| The Maryland Gazette, 24 Sep 1767, p. 3 From Newspapers.com |
Maroney and Selby severed their partnership a year later, with Selby continuing the saddlers business on Church Street (The Maryland Gazette, 6 October 1768, p. 2). Selby died in 1781, leaving his business to his widow, Anne, and their infant daughter (The Maryland Gazette, 28 June 1781, p. 2).
Nathan Waters, Slave Owner
The previously mentioned Frederick County document from 1756 lists four people acquired by Nathan Waters: Nell, Hester, Dinah, and James. I have not found any records indicating what happened to them after that.
The 1776 Colonial Census for Maryland lists twelve people enslaved in the Waters household: three black men, two black women, and seven black children (June Kinard, ed., Maryland, Colonial Census, 1776 [database online]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000).
On June 2, 1790, Nathan Waters freed his slaves. Documentation of this was recorded in the Anne Arundel County Court Manumission Records on April 14, 1806, when three of his former slaves swore before the Justice of the Peace that they had been freed in 1790 (Anne Arundel County Court, Manumission Record, 1797-1807, Volume 825, p. 358-359).
The names and descriptions of the former slaves were as follows:
- Peggy, who would have been a teenager in 1790, was about 30 years old in 1806. She was described as being about 5'4" with a yellow complexion.
- Jack, who would have been a toddler in 1790, was about 18 years old in 1806. He was described as being about 5'6" with a yellow complexion.
- Lydia, who would have been about 39 years old in 1790, was about 55 in 1806. The court records do not specify whether or not she was related to Peggy or Jack. Lydia was described as being about 5'2.5" with a black complexion.
All three stated that they had been raised on the Rhode River, presumably at Wrighton Farm.
A fourth person, named Tom, was to be given his freedom on December 25, 1797, at which time he was about 30 years old. Documentation of this, as sworn to by Jonathan Waters, Nathan's son, was recorded in the Anne Arundel County Court Manumission Records on June 20, 1809 (Volume 830, p. 388). Tom was described being 5'7" with a dark complexion and a scar on his left thumb.
Although Nathan Waters freed his slaves, his family continued to be slave owners. In 1804, Jonathan Waters posted an advertisement for two runaways, Harry Dumps and a man named Tom (not the same Tom that was freed by his father).
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| The Maryland Gazette, 22 March 1804, p. 4 From Newspapers.com |
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