(III) Joseph Wait, son of Reuben (q. v.) and Tabitha (Lounders) Wait, was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, June 24, 1693. He sold his interest in a portion of his father's estate to his brother Benjamin in 1704, bought land in Dartmouth, October 15, 1722, gave power of attorney to his son Samuel, which he revoked November 14, 1763, and conveyed his homestead, including the land purchased in 1722, to his son Stephen, April 26, 1674. [1774?] He married, in Dartmouth, November 30, 1715, Elizabeth Wolf. Children: Samuel, Mary and Stephen.
(IV) Stephen, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Wolf) Wait, was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. His will was dated April 15, and proved October 6, 1778. He married (first) in Dartmouth, Mary Lupp, May, 1764. He married (second) Lillis Church, March 10, 1776. Children:
- Shadrack, born March 17, 1765, died April 25, 1850; married Susannah Tripp and had fifteen children;
- Gideon, see forward.
By his second wife he had a daughter Mary.
(V) Gideon, son of Stephen and Mary (Lupp) Wait, was born in Dartmouth, July 22, 1766, died January 13, 1858. With his wife and two children he left Massachusetts and journeyed to Galway, Saratoga county, New York, where he settled on a farm which he cultivated until his death. He married, in Westport, Desire, born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, April 18, 1765, died 1845, daughter of Daniel Tripp. Children:
- William Tillinghast, see forward;
- Rhoda, born July 10, 1791, died June 26, 1835; married, in 1811, Philip Hart.
(VI) William Tillinghast, son of Gideon and Desire (Tripp) Wait, was born in Westport, June 13, 1789, died in the town of Galway, New York, March 24, 1841. He married, in Barkerville, New York, July 14, 1811, Pamela, born April 21, 1792, died in Sandy Hill, New York, January 28, 1872, daughter of Samuel Shove Barker. Children:
- Nelson William, see forward.
- Samuel Barker, born September 30, 1814; married, January 17, 1852, Mary E. Pratt, born December 25, 1830, died May 8, 1879; children:
- William Nelson, died in childhood;
- Catherine Saline, born May 30, 1857, married October 27, 1881, George A. Griffin, and has
- Mamie Elizabeth Griffin, born May 18, 1884, and
- Eliza Griffin, born March 31, 1888.
- Lydia Elmira, born June 25, 1817; married, September 2, 1843, Dr. Darius Mathewson; children:
- James Wilson, died in childhood;
- Phoebe Pamela, died in infancy;
- Frank Nelson, died in infancy;
- Emma Louisa, died in childhood;
- Hettie, died in childhood.
- Philip Hart, born July 28, 1819, married, December 28, 1842, Lydia Ann Merihew, born May 25, 1825.
- Rhoda Desire, born March 14, 1826, died July 5, 1856; she married, December 12, 1850, William S. Taylor; children:
- Pamela Jane, born January, 1851, died January 11, 1873;
- Isabella Frances, died in childhood.
(VII) Nelson William, eldest son of William Tillinghast and Pamela (Barker) Wait, was born in the town of Galway, Saratoga county, New York, December 27, 1812, died January, 1897. In 1850 he located in Sandy Hill, Washington county, New York, and there began the manufacture of paper, continuing all his life in that business and becoming the largest manufacturer of paper in that section. The firm was originally Wait & Allen, later Wait & Son, then Wait & Richards and N. W. Wait & Son. He did a great deal to improve and develop the village, and was one of the founders and principal stockholders of the Sandy Hill National Bank, of which he was the president for over twenty years. He married, in Glenville, Schenectady county, New York, October 26, 1836, Betsey, born in Glenville, October 8, 1815, daughter of John Potter Green. Children:
- John William, see forward.
- Mary Ann, born July 17, 1844; married, October 26, 1869, Thomas Lloyd Dalton; child:
- Nelson Wait, born October 28, 1873, in Sandy Hill.
- Lydia Pamela, born February 15, 1846; married, October 26, 1871, Charles Edward Noble; children:
- Mary Riggs, horn in Sandy Hill, October 1, 1872;
- Harvey Fisk, born March 9, 1875, in Sandy Hill;
- Bessie Wait, born August 5, 1878, in Colorado Springs, died October 15, 1878.
(VIII) John William, only son and eldest child of Nelson William and Betsey (Green) Wait, was born in the town of Galway, Saratoga county, New York, August 25, 1839. He met his death by accidental drowning in March, 1903. He settled in Sandy Hill, New York, in 1850, going there with his parents. He entered Union College, where he was graduated in class of 1860. He at once entered on an active business life, becoming a partner with his father in paper manufacturing as N. W. Wait & Son, their mill being located at Baker's Falls. Upon the retirement of his father, Eber Richards was admitted as Wait & Richards, and continued until 1891 when the mills were sold to the Howland Paper Company. From 1891 until his retirement in 1899 he was vice-president of the Sandy Hill National Bank. He was a prominent member of the Masonic order, and received high honors at the hands of his brethren. He was worshipful master of Sandy Hill Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, in 1865-69-77-79, high priest of Sandy Hill Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in 1866-70, and a member of Washington Commandery, Knights Templar, of Saratoga. He was distice [district?] deputy grand master in 1866-67-70-72. He was also an officer of the Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, of New York state. He wrote and published a small volume entitled, History of Freemasonry in Kingsbury. He served the village of Sandy Hill as trustee, but never desired public office or political honor. He was a member of Zion Episcopal Church, and for many years was a member of the vestry. He was a quiet, courtly gentleman, generous in his charities and devout in his religion. After his death at a meeting of the board of directors of the National Bank of Sandy Hill resolutions of appreciation and regret were adopted from which extracts follow:
"John William Wait was for seventeen years a member of this board, and for eight years its vice-president. He was regular in his attendance upon the meetings of the hoard, attentive to every detail of its proceedings, punctilious in the recognition of the fundamental rules and principles, insistent upon the observance of the spirit as well as the letter of the law, painstaking in the investigation of every matter referred to him for inquiry and report, and urgent in the advocacy of policies which he considered right. As a presiding officer he was always prompt, affable and courteous; a close student of parliamentary usages he was always ready for any emergency; yet so fair in his rulings and so clear in his explanations that no adverse criticism was ever aroused. A man of profound convictions he was gifted with a keen incisive logic, ably enforced with a discriminating knowledge of the exact meaning of words and phrases. He mastered whatever he undertook, whether it was the meaning of a word or an intricate business proposition."
John William Wait married, in Amsterdam, New York, December 12, 1866, Mary Antoinette, daughter of George and Catherine Eliza (Keyes) Warnick, and granddaughter of Zachariah and Lydia (Stanton) Keyes. Children:
- Nelson William, born November 5, 1867; married, June 14, 1890, Antoinette Page, daughter of Judge Samuel Jackson, child:
- William Winslow Wait, born May, 1891.
- George Warnick, born September 12, 1869; married, November 10, 1896, Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Monty.
- Mary Franklin, born July 22, 1876; married Archibald Stewart Derby, son of John Derby; children:
- Mary Hamilton, born September 1, 1901;
- Margaret Wait, born August 8, 1906.