Nathaniel Treadway

Born about 1615 in England. He married about 1639 in Watertown, Massachusetts. He died July 20, 1689, in Watertown, Massachusetts.

A Watertown Selectman

Nathaniel Treadway was born around 1615 in England and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts, after an early stint as one of the original proprietors of Sudbury, working as a weaver. In 1644 he received a substantial inheritance from his uncle, Elder Edward Howe of Watertown, though settling the estate's debts proved difficult enough to require a court proceeding two years later. Nathaniel went on to serve as a Watertown selectman for more than a decade beginning in 1652, and the town's meetings were held at his home on several recorded occasions in the 1660s; he also served as a surveyor of highways and, with a neighbor, as the town's hog-and-fence inspector, once confiscating six of Jonathan Browne's hogs for lacking the required yokes and nose rings.

A Divided Inheritance

In his June 1687 will, Nathaniel divided his estate into eight shares among his children and their spouses, leaving his houses and lands to his sons Jonathan and Josiah and his son-in-law Josiah Jones, on condition that they compensate the other heirs to preserve everyone's agreed share. He died in 1689; his estate was inventoried at nearly 278 pounds, including several parcels of farmland, livestock, and household goods, along with more than 144 pounds owed to him by others at the time of his death.