Robert Cooke Williams ¹

  General Notes:

The eldest son of Stephen and Margaret (Cooke) Williams, of St. Nicholas Parish, Great Yarmouth, England. He was baptized 11 Dec 1608. In 1623, he left his father's house and went to Norwich where he was apprenticed to be a cordwainer. He embarked for Boston on 20 Jun 1637 on the ship "Rose" and after arrival in Roxbury became a freeman on 2 May 1638. From 1647-1653 he was one of the 5 selectmen there. In 1644 he became a member of the Ancient and Honorble Artillery Company. The homestead of Robert Williams (1644), in which five generations of the family lived and died, remained standing until 1794, upon the site now occupied by the large brick dwelling-house on Dearborn Street, near the school-house. He came from Norwich, England, "and is the common ancestor of the divines, civilians, and warriors of this name, who have honored the country of their birth." Among his distinguished descendants are Col. Ephraim Williams, founder of Williams College ; Rev. Elisha, president of Yale College ; William, Governor of Connecticut, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence; Col. Joseph, of Roxbury, and Rev. Eleazer, he " lost Bourbon." Robert was married to Elizabeth Stalham (1597-1674). They had 4 childen, their daughter Elizabeth (1620-62) married Richard
Cutter (1621-93).

  Noted events in his life were:

• Immigration: From Great Yarmouth, Norwich, England on the ship "Rose," 1637, New England, USA.

Robert married Elizabeth Stalham, daughter of John Stalham and Alice Gibson, on 11 Dec 1628 in Norwich, Norfolk, England. (Elizabeth Stalham was born on 11 Sep 1608 in Norwich, Norfolk, England, died on 28 Jul 1674 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA and was buried in Eliot Burying Ground, Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA.)

Robert next married Margaret Hawkes in 1675. (Margaret Hawkes was born in 1617 in England, died on 22 Dec 1690 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA and was buried in Dorchester North Burying Ground, Dorchester, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA.)