Edward Sanderson of Watertown, Massachusetts

Silversmith Robert Sanderson's brother
Immigrant pioneer ancestor of many Sanderson families and their descendants

By Kevin Sanderson
Farmington Hills, Michigan USA

Latest update October 4, 2017 - still being updated

New/old info:

***Unfortunately, Jeanie Roberts has found proof that Edward Sanderson was the poor Edward Sanders. It's a deed of the Shattuck's from 1708 that placed a previous property on King's Common. The Shattuck estate included his land. The Shattuck family knew the Sanderson family well since they were neighbors and a later marriage before this deed was recorded. Details to come updating this page.


***Edmund L. Sanderson's great niece has joined the Sanderson Genealogy group on facebook! Lisa Sanderson Campbell has many of Edmund's genealogy files that he gave to her father. In those files, we found he corresponded with several people and mentioned he had hired a professional genealogist to dig into the Sanderson family. J.G. Bartlett was the genealogist hired and he passed away in 1919 so that means they determined these things around the turn of the last century. Bartlett's research confirmed our later research that Higham Ferrers was the only Higham out of several Highams in England that had a Sanderson family - actually two at one point and several nearby. Bartlett believed that's where we come from, and he thought that Robert was likely the older brother of the Edward born to Edward Saundersonne in 1611. J.G. Bartlett was involved in some updates to the published Watertown Records, and he was highly regarded in his day.

***Edmund Sanderson as we know maintained Edward Sanderson was alive in 1693, he said in an aricle at one point that he may have passed around 1694 or 1695. Edmund said the earlier death dates people post were wrong. We found in our research below he was mentioned in a will in 1696 and Jonathan Sanderson's status seemed to have changed in September of 1696 when he finally was noted by the clerk with his proper last name and called Mr. So it looks like 1696 for the death year. Edmund also said Edward never lived in Cambridge. People may have thought Edward moved to Cambridge because Jonathan raised his family there until he moved to western Watertown in the 1680s, but Edward moved to western Watertown earlier in 1664.

***I ordered a reprint of Edmund L. Sanderson's book on Waltham from 1935/36 and found more info where he had located Edward Sanderson's later home in western Watertown which became Waltham. Edmund said Edward had purchased 12 acres of land just south of Fisk Pinnacle in 1664. It's very hard to find with today's maps, but it is where the water tower is located on the north campus of Brandeis University. It's the highest point of land on the Brandeis campus. So Edward's land was just south of there. Richard Beers owned the land at one point and sold it to blacksmith Stephen White in 1735. The deed mentions a 41 acre farm with a Mansion house commonly called or known as Sanderson's Place, which is unusual since another man had owned it and Edward had been gone probably since around 1696. Here's the link to the deed: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-36161-14759-81?cc=2106411 Jonathan and his family lived a couple miles northeast of there and did for the rest of his life. Edmund Sanderson thought Beers may have built the Mansion house.

***Hester may have been one of the two younger daughters apprenticed out. Abigail may have been the other. Hannah was young William's daughter born in Groton. Edward may have had a son named John in England by Elizabeth Brightman.

***Ali Sanderson Stocker, a retired professional genealogist, posted Robert Sanderson's will on the Sanderson Genealogy facebook group and it proves Robert and Edward were brothers, with Edward mentioned 2 times.

I continue to update and rewrite the