Fanciful Genealogy

I only offer an alternate and possible path. My birthdate for John Waters of Bermuda is only circa, and not far off of the supposed death date of their father. It’s important that people know that it’s purely fanciful in itself to claim without evidence that John Waters of AACounty was born in Northampton County, VA.

Actually, there *is* evidence, but it's all circumstantial and follows the migrations of the Edward Waters family up the Eastern Shore. We know for sure that *they* turned Quaker and did that along with the Annemessex settlers. We also know for sure that *some* Annemessex/Somerset County settler families moved across the Bay to Anne Arundel County. We know that the Anne Arundel Waters started out as Quakers. And we know that the Somerset County Waters considered the Anne Arundel Waters to be "cousins".

One other little bit of telltale evidence: the John Waters who arrived in 1635 was met and sponsored by Capt. Adam Thorowgood - who had been a servant of Lt. Edward Waters and was still associated with his family.

Altogether there's WAY more evidence tying the Anne Arundel Waters to the Eastern Shore than to Bermuda.

“ way” more evidence? Hmm... The fact that there was a John Waters BC1600 living in Bermuda in 1628 is quite important. If Edward Waters’ brother John was living in Yorkshire in 1630, and “Bermuda John” was not then Edward’s brother, then there was another John Waters, and this John was very closely related to Edward, for obvious reasons. So then, was he a 1st cousin? Nephew? Who knows; but it could be that “Bermuda John” was the father of John Waters (1648) who ultimately removed to AACounty and married Susannah Parsons. There is no way to really know, but there are alternative paths. Either way, clearly John Waters (1648) was a member of the same family Edward Waters came from.

Actually there is no necessity for them to be related at all. Robert Waters, who was stranded in Bermuda because he committed murder, was NO known relation.

(Meaning "Bermuda John" and any other Waters family.)

Contrarily, there’s no reason whatsoever to think Robert & Edward weren’t related. I’ve seen none. Same with Bermuda John. Why wouldn’t they be related to Edward? Waters is not that common a name. My name’s Joe Smith...I know what a common name is! The truth is, we do not know who 1648 John Waters of AA County was... Edward’s brother? Nephew? 1st cousin? All we know is that he was related to Edward’s family somehow.

"Waters is not that common a name"?, Sorry, but that's just flat wrong. They're almost as common as Lees, and we've had all kinds of trouble with *them*.

For generations the Philemon Waters family (and genealogists studying them) believed they were descendants of Lt. Edward Waters, but the link was always questionable. On the other hand, despite various un-connected John Waters on *their* (west) side of the Chesapeake Bay, they could not find any other path.

Finally, with DNA studies, comes a piece of evidence that indicates they *aren't* and *never were* related. Descendants of Philemon Waters tested into Y-haplogroup R. One descendant of John Waters of Anne Arundel tested haplogroup I. That's "no way Jose" back to at least the Neolithic, if not farther. If it holds up....

(By the same means it has been found that Loyalist Colonel Thomas Waters, he of the Vann Cherokee connection, was not related to the Philemon Waters line - the chronology there has always been highly suspect.)

If it holds up... key when it comes to dna tests. I’ve never looked hard at Philemon or Thomas Waters, though I have run across them in my travels. I think the ease at which supposedly familial connections enumerated on various genealogy sites can be blown out of the water only illustrates my feeling about 1648 John Waters. For those of us descended from him, we “know” he was somehow connected to Edward, but we really don’t know how. Personally, I believe it’s very possible that he was Edward’s brother John’s grandson. However, he could have been grandson of a cousin of Edward’s. We don’t know. Since we know that brother John administered Edward’s estate in Virginia, we assume that either John himself or his son John came to Virginia in 1635. Very possibly, but perhaps 1635 John was a cousin. We don’t know. Then we have Bermuda John. Because of the early Waters presence in Bermuda, and because Bermuda John was in Bermuda early (1620s at least) we have to assume he was related. Was he 1635 John? Another John? At some we have to accept that there are at least a couple of differing narratives of 1648 John. I should be able to put out there my theories on 1648 John’s “possible” narrative without being clipped out and discarded. That I object to. If Geni allows that without my consent, which seems to be the case, then I’m out.

What we need is to track down and persuade a direct male line descendant of Lt. Edward Waters...if one exists.

We don't "have to assume" that "Bermuda John" was related at all. ROBERT Waters wasn't. (And no, despite lumpifying researchers, Robert and Edward were NOT the same person. Robert was left behind in Bermuda, because he fled to the woods and nobody wanted to bother going after him. Edward made it to Virginia on the Patience with other Sea Venture survivors - this was explicitly stated in the 1624/5 Muster, which was a contemporary, primary document and they would have remembered the facts.)