Mays Family Tree - Person Sheet
NameWaters DeWEES 
3773
3773Birth Date1776
Death Date1858
OccupationIron Works Owner, Hotel Owner
FatherColonel William DeWEES Jr. (>1700-)
MotherSarah WATERS
Misc. Notes
Waters devoted his life to the development of the iron industry in Pennsylvania. He owned the Oley iron works and also the Catawissa iron furnaces, in Northumberland County.
About 1840 he removed to Chester county, where he owned and resided at the Marsh Hotel property in East Nantmeal township.
About 1840 he removed to Chester county, where he owned and resided at the Marsh Hotel property in East Nantmeal township.
Spouses
Misc. Notes
Place of marriage identified by source 321 as “St. James;’ P. K. Church, Perkiomen”.
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St. James has a rich heritage, dating from its first worship service conducted in 1700 by the Reverend Evan Evans, pastor of Christ Church, Philadelphia. Since then the parish has seen many changes in the surrounding countryside and grown along with the area as it progressed from a rural to a suburban economy. Throughout its three hundred year history, St. James has been committed to faithful worship, Christian education, outreach and service.
The Colonial Church
Edward Lane, the actual founder of St. James, acquired his extensive lands along the Perkiomen and Skippack creeks before 1700, after emigrating from Bristol, in the west of England. Other Church of England families from Bristol, and nearby Wales, came to settle on his land in the late 1600's and early 1700's. They built a log church on land, presumably donated by Mr. Lane, soon after 1700. This first St. James Church burned a few years later in a fire that destroyed all of the church records of the day.
The "Old Stone Church" of 1721
To replace the original log structure, a new stone church was erected in 1721, under the direction of the Reverend Robert Weyman, of St. David's Radnor, who was also in charge of the St. James parish, at the time. This stone church building stood across the road from the present church in the center of the current cemetery, which was then the churchyard.
Severel artifacts from the 1721 church, including its cornerstone which can be seen in the front wall of the present church, remain today. A Vestry book, used to record minutes of Vestry meetings from 1737 to 1859, is preserved in Philadelphia by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The communion table in use today is the table crafted by a colonial cabinet-maker for the same use in the stone building. This table was restored in 1912 at the behest of ex-governor Samuel Pennypacker, a member of the congregation at the time, after being discovered under a coat of blue paint in the church kitchen. Other items include a wooden cross and candlesticks made from the window shutters of the 1721 building, as well as a Sheffield ware cummunion service.
Unfortunately, for our time, the 1721 building was demolished to allow for cemetery expansion and to provide stone for use in the walls of St. James current building.
The Church Building
The construction of St. James current church was begun under the direction of the Reverend George Mintzer, who began his rectorship in 1842. Ground was broken in 1843 and the completed building was dedicated in 1845.
3768 Germantown Pike
Collegeville, PA 19426
Phone: (610)489-75643776
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St. James has a rich heritage, dating from its first worship service conducted in 1700 by the Reverend Evan Evans, pastor of Christ Church, Philadelphia. Since then the parish has seen many changes in the surrounding countryside and grown along with the area as it progressed from a rural to a suburban economy. Throughout its three hundred year history, St. James has been committed to faithful worship, Christian education, outreach and service.
The Colonial Church
Edward Lane, the actual founder of St. James, acquired his extensive lands along the Perkiomen and Skippack creeks before 1700, after emigrating from Bristol, in the west of England. Other Church of England families from Bristol, and nearby Wales, came to settle on his land in the late 1600's and early 1700's. They built a log church on land, presumably donated by Mr. Lane, soon after 1700. This first St. James Church burned a few years later in a fire that destroyed all of the church records of the day.
The "Old Stone Church" of 1721
To replace the original log structure, a new stone church was erected in 1721, under the direction of the Reverend Robert Weyman, of St. David's Radnor, who was also in charge of the St. James parish, at the time. This stone church building stood across the road from the present church in the center of the current cemetery, which was then the churchyard.
Severel artifacts from the 1721 church, including its cornerstone which can be seen in the front wall of the present church, remain today. A Vestry book, used to record minutes of Vestry meetings from 1737 to 1859, is preserved in Philadelphia by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The communion table in use today is the table crafted by a colonial cabinet-maker for the same use in the stone building. This table was restored in 1912 at the behest of ex-governor Samuel Pennypacker, a member of the congregation at the time, after being discovered under a coat of blue paint in the church kitchen. Other items include a wooden cross and candlesticks made from the window shutters of the 1721 building, as well as a Sheffield ware cummunion service.
Unfortunately, for our time, the 1721 building was demolished to allow for cemetery expansion and to provide stone for use in the walls of St. James current building.
The Church Building
The construction of St. James current church was begun under the direction of the Reverend George Mintzer, who began his rectorship in 1842. Ground was broken in 1843 and the completed building was dedicated in 1845.
3768 Germantown Pike
Collegeville, PA 19426
Phone: (610)489-75643776