Robert is known to have been a resident of Dorchester, in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay (now a part of the city of Boston, Suffolk County Massachusetts) in the year 1634. In the Dorchester Town Records for 1 September 1634, reads: "It is ordered that the lot which was granted formerly to John Rocket shall be transferred to Robert Elwell"

There are several records of transfer of land to him in Dorchester Town Records. He was a freeman on the 13th of May 1640, appears an owner of land in Gloucester on the 2nd of April 1642 when he bought of Mr. Milward two acres of upland lying in the harbor between the lots of John Collins And Zebulon Hill and running from his swamp northerly over the next swamp. In 1651 Robert had a grant of land "Stage Neck", now called "Rock Neck". Robert's will Specifies location of other land he owned. Robert was counted a citizen of Salem until he actually resided at Gloucester. His children were baptized there until the close of 1641, and his name is on the list of members of the church in 1643.

Robert is listed "at the eastward" in 1635. He was a witness against Thomas Wannerton in a property dispute in Portsmouth, Rockingham County New Hampshire.

Robert Elwell owned the point of land in Gloucester known as Stage Point. He first appears in Gloucester in 1635. He lived on Eastern Point. He was a Selectman 1649-1672, 1674-1675 and a Commissioner of "Small Causes" in 1651. He left an estate of 200 Pounds

2nd wife: Alice Leach is the subject of a Probate Court action in which she rescinds her right to her late husband's estate in favor of a fixed pension to be paid until she dies or remarries. The proceeding describes her chi