I worked on the history of the Waterbury family for weeks for a program for Polo Historical Society and it was quite a story. I had worked on that family several years ago and Kathryn Shaw, a Waterbury descendent, had been here several times. We had worked to get all the history and pictures in files and labeled.

Then we got it all back out again when we started working with the application for the Underground Railroad. John Waterbury led the Delaware County group to Ogle County in 1836 to run the UGRR. Many Waterburys were part of that history.

As I put together information for the application, I had strung out at the museum all the Waterbury material again. Also when Ivan Livingston died a few years ago, his family brought us more pictures. The Waterbury family was the largest family that came to this area many years ago.

After I had finished writing for the application, I piled it all back into a box and I knew it would all have to be sorted again. After the program, Kathryn stayed an extra day and we got it all organized again. She was a lifesaver for me.

When I started researching Waterbury history, I contacted my daughter, Krista, for the latest update and the history of Watertown, Massachusetts, Stamford, Connecticut and Andes, New York, where the Waterburys had lived. She had worked with the Waterbury history before and I needed the background of the towns they settled.

What we found out is that for 175 years some of this Waterbury history has not been correct. Wayne J. Domes in January of 2025 dug a little deeper and maybe even went to Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. He has straightened it all out and now it makes a little more sense. Kathryn had thought something was not quite correct a number of years ago.

We had 33 people at the Wednesday night program and many of them were part of the Waterbury family. They were most interested and kept asking questions. It was a great time and I was quite tired after I had talked for over an hour.

I am now starting to put all this information and pictures into a book. It is the story of how William and Alice brought their oldest son, who was 9 years old, to a new country. They left other children behind. They were of Puritan faith and they were being persecuted because of their religion. Somehow they must have felt it necessary to get the oldest son to a new country for a better chance at life. Maybe it was to keep the family line going.

Governor Winthrop, a neighbor in England, set sail with a boat loaded with Puritans for a new life in America. It was not an easy trip but they were a sturdy group and 9-year-old John survived to keep the Waterburys going. They eventually made it to Ogle County and a number of them stood Wednesday night in Polo at the museum when we asked all the Waterburys to stand.

Our next program will be June 3 and we have some neat things planned.

Betty Obendorf is a historian for the Polo Historical Society.