Samuel Watrous 1809-1881
2010
Samuel Watrous was born in Connecticut to Timothy Watrous and his first wife Mabel Rowley. About 1816, Mabel Rowley Watrous died, leaving two sons. They were Samuel and William. After the death of Mabel, Samuel’s father Timothy married their deceased mother’s sister Mary. She was known as Polly. Together with many other families, Timothy, Mary, Samuel and William migrated from Connecticut to Monroe Township in Muskingum County, Ohio. There, Timothy bought land and prepared to settle down. It was not to be. In 1818, Timothy Watrous died. He was the first person buried in the newly formed township. Estate documents were filed and survive. They include the choice of a guardian by Samuel and William Watrous and the disposition of their father’s property when they are of age. Two months after Timothy’s death, his widow Mary gave birth to a son. She named him Jerome Timothy Watrous and he is our direct ancestor.
We assume that Samuel lived with his aunt and step-mother Mary but we don’t know. Perhaps he lived with his guardian Jared Cone. Money had been set aside in the estate documents for the educations of both Samuel and William. The executor of their father’s estate was Rufus Richardson. In 1820, Rufus Richardson married the widow Mary Rowley Watrous, Samuel’s aunt and step-mother. Rufus had migrated with his parents and siblings in the same group as Timothy and his family.
About 1831, Samuel Watrous married Julia Ann Palmer. He sold his inherited Ohio land and migrated with his brother William Watrous to Peoria County, Illinois. Their they both bought land near each other. Samuel and Julia became the parents of eight children. Samuel was listed in the history of the county as a trustee of the first church in Mapleton, Peoria County, Illinois. Various censuses place Samuel’s children around him as adults with their own families. Before his death, he was living with his daughter Philancy in her home.
We don’t know whether Samuel and William Watrous had a relationship with their much younger brother Jerome. We have not found any indication that they did. When our ancestor Jerome grew to adulthood, he and other families, including that of his step-father Rufus Richardson migrated from Ohio to Henderson and Hancock counties in Illinois. Thus, the three sons of Timothy Watrous died in Illinois.
Samuel and Julia are buried in the Maple Ridge Cemetery, Mapleton, Peoria County, Illinois. This photograph shows their central surname stone. On either side are individual stones. One is for Samuel and one for Julia. They have posterity to the present day.
The migration of Samuel Watrous
Connecticut to Ohio to Illinois