If you have ever taken a tour of Historic Sugartown, you might remember hearing the name “Waterman”.  While Sugartown is named after Eli Schugart, who rented the tavern at the edge of the village in the first decades of the 19th century, it was Phineas Waterman who owned much of the land around Sugartown during that same time. So, whatever happened to the Watermans?

Phineas Waterman moved to Willistown Township, Chester County in 1787.  He purchased the 8 acres of land that would form Sugartown in 1790 from the estate of Jesse Jones along with another 122 acres that formed part of Jesse Jones estate. His first wife, Mary, died in 1793 and he remarried in 1802 to Rebecca Worrall, the widow of John Worrall.  In 1804, Phineas sold 8 acres of his estate, the part of land that stretches along Sugartown Road from Dutton Mill to Boot Road, to his son, Joseph.  Phineas sold off the remaining 122 acres of his property in 1807 and he moved to Abington, Montgomery County with his wife and sons, Isaac and John, and he died there in 1809.  Phineas’s other son, Charles, would also eventually return to the Abington area.

For a few short years Joseph and Hannah Waterman occupied the saddler’s shop and house that is attached to the General Store in Historic Sugartown.  At some point, they may have also constructed the first generation of the store.  But Joseph died in 1813 at a young age, leaving behind three minor boys, Issac S., Phineas, and Eber Joseph.  Eber Joseph was the youngest, at only 2 years old.  In his will, Joseph gave his estate to his wife, but ordered that it would be distributed equally amongst the three boys and his wife once Eber Joseph turned 16 years old.

Hannah and the boys occupied and rented out the stores and by 1822 the general store was fully stocked and advertised in the Village Record and was run by John Moore.  In 1835, Hannah sold off the 3 acres that would form the store, dwelling, and saddle shop to her son Isaac.  Isaac didn’t run the shop, but his brother, Eber Joseph (who would go by Joseph for most of his adult life), would partner with Isaac Powell and they would run the store for a few years. Phineas would construct a house and cabinetmaking shop at the corner of Dutton Mill Rd and Sugartown Road.

So, whatever happened to the Watermans?  Joseph’s three sons and his wife had inherited the property.  In the mid-1830s, Isaac owned the store, Joseph ran the store, Phineas built and operated a cabinet making shop next door, and Hannah appears to be still involved at some level in the life of the village.  Where did they go?

One point of historical context that might be important to remember is the financial panic of 1837.  For several reasons, after years of a booming economy, the American economy experienced a deep recession in 1837 that lasted until 1842.  All three brothers appear to leave the area about that time.  

Joseph sold off his share of his estate to Phineas and his mother, Hannah, and moved to Philadelphia sometime around 1838.  From 1843 to 1856 he was the proprietor of the Western Exchange Hotel.  Afterwards,  and until his death in 1865, Joseph worked as a well-known wine and liquor merchant.

from The Jeffersonian, December 12, 1865

Isaac, who owned the general store property, announced the sale of the store and saddlery shop in 1837.  He claimed in his advertisement that he was interested in moving west.  He may have tried to go west, but he ended up in Philadelphia with his brother, Joseph, shortly afterwards.  Isaac, like his brother Joseph, runs a liquor and wine business for a number of years, but he earns his biggest fame by being the manufacturer of Waterman’s Tonic Bitters, a “medicinal” beverage that could cure an upset stomach.  This tonic was so popular it continued to be manufactured even after Isaac’s death in 1878.

Phineas closes his cabinet making shop in Willistown and sells his part of the property to his mother and also ends up in Philadelphia with Joseph in the early 1840s.  Phineas never marries, tries a few other occupations over the years, but mostly centers his work around the furniture making business.  After Joseph died in 1865, he moved his shop into the same building as Joseph’s former liquor store alongside Isaac’s bitter manufacturing business.  He files a will in 1875 in which he leaves his estate to Isaac and dies shortly afterwards.

Hannah continued to own the remaining 5 acres until 1852, but it is clear that she also moved to Philadelphia in the 1840s.

It isn’t entirely clear why the Watermans all ended up moving into Philadelphia, but I suspect that the national economic conditions did make it hard for all three brothers to find success in the little village.