John Wetherbee is the first of the Wetherbee's known to have arrived in America and he first appears in Marlborough, MA in 1672, the year in which he married. In 1675, he was assigned to a garrison there at William Kerley's house to protect the settlement from Indian problems. In March, 1676, Marlborough was set upon by the Indians and burned. In 1677, pleading impoverishment, John Wetherbee and others petitioned the General Court for Indian lands but, apparently their request going unheeded, obtains a 50 acre grant in 1681 at the new settlement at Stow, lot #3. In 1683, he is granted another 20 acres, located at Beaver Brook near what is now Boxborough Centre, but he did not actually leave Marlborough; in1684, his wife Mary departed for Stow ,where she died not long after arrival. On June 27, 1684, he sold his 20 acres at Marlborough to Thomas Ward and departed for Stow, where he married Lydia Moore in Sept. of that year. In 1687 & 1688 he was named Selectman.

His will is dated 13 October 1707, a codicil was added 1 April 1709 and the will was admitted to probate 2 April, 1711. His
estate, inventoried 21 March 1711 and totaled 318 pounds, 3 & 8.

Ref: "Early Generations of the Wetherby-Witherby-Wetherbee-Witherbee Family in New England," W. Wetherbee, 1946

"Gen. Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England," James Savage, 1860-1862.

History of the Town of Marlborough, MA
AUTHOR: Charles Hudson
PUBLICATION: Boston: 1862
PAGE: pg. 381

Vital Records of Marlborough, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts to the end of the year 1849
AUTHOR: Franklin P. Rice & Trustees of the Systematic History Fund
PUBLICATION: Worcester, MA: 1908; reproduced on CD by Search & ReSearch Publishing Corporation, Wheat Ridge, CO 1998
PAGE: pg. 269

Early Massachusetts Marriages Prior to 1800, Third Book
AUTHOR: Rev. Frederic W. Bailey
PUBLICATION: New Haven, CT: 1897 & Worcester, MA: 1914; repr. by Genealogical Publ. Co., Baltimore, 1968
PAGE: pg. 62

Vital Records of Stow, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts to the Year 1850
AUTHOR: The New England Historic Genealogical Society
PUBLICATION: Boston: 1911; reproduced on CD by Search & ReSearch Publishing Corporation, Wheat Ridge, CO 1998
PAGE: pg. 220