Notes:
Notes for Richard Warren:
ANCESTRAL SUMMARY:
More erroneous information has been published about Richard Warren than any other Mayflower passenger, probably because he has so many descendants (note that all seven of his children grew up and married). It is time here to debunk many of the mistakes that have been published over the past hundred years.
Common mistake #1. Richard Warren`s wife is not Elizabeth (Jewett/Jonatt/Juett) Marsh. This is easily disproven. Elizabeth (Jewett) Marsh was born in 1614, which makes her not only younger than Richard Warren`s two oldest children, but also makes her only fourteen years old when Richard Warren died. [Mayflower Descendant 2:63].
Common mistake #2. Richard Warren is not a proven descendant of any royalty, whether it be Sir John de Warrene or Charlemagne. Richard Warren`s parents have not even been identified, despite extensive searches in the records of England (see the Mayflower Quarterly, 51:109-112 for a summary of one such search).
The only concrete things we know about Richard Warren`s ancestry are that he was a merchant of London--whether he was born there or not is an entirely different question. We also know that his wife was named Elizabeth. He had five daughters baptized in England somewhere, and perhaps the true records will some day be brought to light.
There is a Richard Warren who married an Elizabeth Evans on 1 January 1592/3 in St. Leonards, and a Richard Warren who married an Elizabeth Doucke on 1 November 1596 in Sidmouth, Devon. However, since Richard`s first child was born about 1610, a marriage in 1592 or 1596 seems most unlikely.
The I.G.I. lists the following baptisms of Richard Warrens from its parish register abstractions (1570-1588):
1 January 1570, St. Columb Minor, Cornwall (son of Lawrence)
25 March 1571, St. Matthew Friday Street, London
20 January 1572, Bishops Nympton, Devon (son of Baldwine)
18 January 1573, Burbage, Leicester (son of John)
2 October 1576, Phillack, Cornwall (son of John)
9 August 1580, Sandy, Bedford (son of William)
24 January 1580, St. Peter Cornhill, London (son of John)
12 June 1580, St. Giles Cripplegate, London (son of John)
1 October 1581, Harrow on the Hill, London
26 January 1583, Haughley, Suffolk (son of George)
11 August 1583, Darford, Kent (son of William)
28 August 1585, Redruth, Cornwall (son of Benet)
12 April 1585, Abbey, St. Albans, Hertford (son of William)
2 March 1586, St. Mary, Stoke Newington, London (son of Robert)
25 December 1587, Shillington, Bedford (son of Robert)
3 September 1587, St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, London
As should be plainly obvious, there were many Richard Warrens in England. If the true Richard Warren is ever identified, it will almost certainly be because the baptisms of his five daughters which should be somewhere in England. There are a few other small clues which may aid researchers looking for records. First, early Charlestown settler Ralph Spague married Joanna Warren, daughter of a Richard Warren from Fordington St. George, Dorset. This Richard Warren died in Fordington, Dorset before 1638. And early Watertown settler John Warren was baptized in Nayland, Suffolk, England in 1585, and he apparently had an uncle named Richard Warren.
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY:
Richard Warren appears to have been a merchant, who resided in London, and became associated with the Pilgrims and the Mayflower through the Merchant Adventurers. Richard Warren participated in several of the early explorations made by the Pilgrims in 1620, while looking for a place to settle. He appears by land records to have been fairly well-to-do.
When he came over on the Mayflower, he left behind his wife and five daughters, planning to have them sent over after things were more settled in the Colony. His wife and daughters arrived in America in 1623, on the ship Anne.
Nathaniel Morton wrote in his book New England`s Memorial, first published in 1669, the following about Richard Warren:
This year [1628] died Mr. Richard Warren, who was an useful instrument and during his life bare a deep share in the difficulties and troubles of the first settlement of the Plantation of New Plymouth.
Richard Warren is an ancestor to many famous Americans. Among them are Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Franklin D. Roosevelt; and Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first American in space and fifth man to walk on the moon. A published lineage showing Winston Churchill as a descendant of Richard Warren has a questionable generation and is most likely in error. However, Winston Churchill does appear to be a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland`s brother Arthur.
SOURCES:
Robert S. Wakefield, Mayflower Families in Progress: Richard Warren for Four Generations (Plymouth: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1991).
Ruth Berg Walsh, "The Search for Pilgrim Richard Warren`s Parentage," Mayflower Quarterly, 51:109-112.
Eugene Aubrey Stratton, Plymouth Colony, Its History and Its People, 1620-1691 (Salt Lake City: Ancestor Publishers, 1986).
Nathaniel Morton, New England`s Memorial (Cambridge, 1669).
William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, ed. Samuel Morison (New York: Random House, 1952).
(1) Richard Warren, born about 1580 in Hertfordshire, England, died in 1628 in Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts; married on 14 April 1610 at Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, England, Elizabeth Walker, baptized September 1583 at Baldock, Hertfordshire, "aged above ninety" at her death in October 1673.
Elizabeth was a daughter of Augustine Walker. The will of Augustine Walker, of "much" Amwell, written in April 1613, states: "I give & bequeath unto my daughter Elizabeth Warren wife of Richard Warren Sixteene pounds of lawefull money of England, and unto her three Children Marey, Ann and Sarey Warren Fower pounds..."
Richard immigrated to Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower in 1620. His wife Elizabeth and their children came on the ship Anne in 1623.
Richard Warren was one of ten (out of forty-one) signers of the Mayflower Compact who were distinguished by the title "Mister." Elizabeth, was usually called "Mistress," a title not at all common then.
Richard`s death was recorded in Nathaniel Morton`s New England`s Memorial (1669): "This year [1628] died Mr. Richard Warren, who was an useful instrument and during his life bare a deep share in the difficulties and troubles of the first settlement of the Plantation of New Plymouth."
Children:
Elizabeth, born 20 January 1617 in England, died 9 March 1670 in Hingham, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts; married 4 October 1632 in Massachusetts, Richard Church, born 6 February 1610 in London, England.
Sarah, born about 1614 in England, died after 15 July 1696 in Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts; married 28 March 1634 in Plymouth, Plymouth Co., Massachusetts, John Cooke, born about March 1607 in Leiden, Holland, died 23 November 1695 in Dartmouth, Bristol Co., Massachusetts.
Child of Richard Warren and Elizabeth is:
71 i. Elizabeth Warren, born 20 Jan 1617 in England; died 09 Mar 1669 in Hingham, Suffolk, MA; married Richard Church Bef. 14 Mar 1635 in Plymouth, Plymouth, MA.
RICHARD WARREN
ORIGIN: London
MIGRATION: 1620 on Mayflower
FIRST RESIDENCE: Plymouth
ESTATE: In the 1623 Plymouth division of land Richard Warren received an uncertain number of acres (perhaps two) as a passenger on the Mayflower, and five acres as a passenger on the Anne (presumably for his wife and children) [ PCR 12:4-6]. In the 1627 Plymouth division of cattle Richard Warren, his wife Elizabeth Warren, Nathaniel Warren, Joseph Warren, Mary Warren, Anna Warren, Sarah Warren, Elizabeth Warren and Abigail Warren were the first nine persons in the ninth company [ PCR 12:12]. He was one of the purchasers [ PCR 2:177].
In the 25 March 1633 Plymouth tax list Widow Warren was assessed 12s., and in the list of 27 March 1634, 9s. [ PCR 1:10, 27].
On 1 July 1633 "Mrs. Warren and Robt. Bartlet" were allowed to mow where they did the previous year, and again 14 March 1635/6 [ PCR 1:15, 41].
On 28 October 1633, a grant of Richard Warren`s land on which he was required to erect a dwelling, returned to the court "for want of building" and it was regranted to Mr. Ralph Fogg, provided he pay Widow Warren sufficiently for her fence remaining there [ PCR 1:18].
On 7 March 1636/7 "it is agreed upon, by the consent of the whole Court, that Elizabeth Warren, widow, the relict of Mr. Richard Warren, deceased, shall be entered, and stand, and be purchaser instead of her said husband, as well because that (he dying before he had performed the said bargain) the said Elizabeth performed the same after his decease, as also for the establishing of the lots of lands given formerly by her unto her sons-in-law Richard Church, Robert Bartlett and Thomas Little, in marriage with their wives, her daughters" [ PCR 1:54, 2:177].
On 5 May 1640 "Richard Church, Rob[er]te Bartlett, Thomas Little, & Mrs. Elizabeth Warren are granted enlargements at the heads of their lots to the foot of the Pyne Hills, leaving a way betwixt them and the Pyne Hills, for cattle and carts to pass" [ PCR 1:152].
On 11 June 1653, as the result of a disagreement between Mrs. Elizabeth Warren and her son, Nathaniel, and a petition offered in court by Mrs. Jane Collier on behalf of her grandchild, Sarah, wife of Nathaniel Warren, the court chose four indifferent men to settle the matter of access to lands [ MD 2:64, citing PCLR 2:73].
On 4 March 1673/4 Mary Bartlett, wife of Robert Bartlett, came into this court and owned "that she hath received full satisfaction for whatsoever she might claim as due from the estate of Mistris Elizabeth Warren, deceased, and John Cooke, in the behalf of all her sisters, testified the same before the court; and the court doth hereby settle the remainder of the said estate on Joseph Warren" [ PCR 5:139-40].
BIRTH: By about 1578 based on estimated date of marriage.
DEATH: Plymouth 1628. ("This year died Mr. Richard Warren, who hath been mentioned before in this book, and was an useful instrument; and during his life bore a deep share in the difficulties and troubles of the first settlement of the plantation of New-Plymouth" [ Morton 85].
MARRIAGE: By about 1609 Elizabeth _____; she died at Plymouth on 2 October 1673, aged about 90 (probably an exaggeration) [ PCR 8:35]. (Elizabeth`s maiden name has been given as "March" in many sources, without documentation).
CHILDREN:
i MARY, b. say 1609; m. say 1629 ROBERT BARTLETT (date based on estimated age of children at their marriages).
ii ANN, b. say 1613; m. Plymouth 19 April 1633 THOMAS LITTLE [ PCR 1:13].
iii SARAH, b. say 1614; m. Plymouth 28 March 1634 John Cooke Junior [ PCR 1:29], son of FRANCIS COOKE .
iv ELIZABETH, b. say 1615; m. by 1635/6 RICHARD CHURCH (he shared mowing land with Mrs. Warren 14 March 1635/6 [ PCR 1:41]).
v ABIGAIL, b. say 1619; m. Plymouth 8 (or 9) November 1639 Anthony Snow [ PCR 1:134].
vi NATHANIEL, b. Plymouth say 1624 (Bradford says he was born here, and his mother was a passenger on the Anne in 1623); m. Plymouth 19 November 1645 Sarah Walker [ PCR 2:94]. (See WILLIAM COLLIER for discussion of her possible ancestry.)
vii JOSEPH, b. Plymouth by 1627; m. about 1653 Priscilla Faunce, daughter of JOHN FAUNCE (eldest child b. Plymouth 23 September 1653 [ PCR 8:33]).
COMMENTS: In his accounting of the passengers on the Mayflower Bradford included "Mr. Richard Warren, but his wife and children were left behind and came afterwards" [ Bradford 442]. As of 1651, Bradford reported that "Mr. Richard Warren lived some four or five years and had his wife come over to him, by whom he had two sons before [he] died, and one of them is married and hath two children. So his increase is four. But he had five daughters more came over with his wife, who are all married and living, and have many children [ Bradford 445-46].
Banks argued that Bradford`s language in the sentence above meant that Richard Warren had two wives, with the first of whom he had five daughters and with the second of whom, Elizabeth, he had two sons [ English Homes 92-93], and deForest agreed with him [ Moore Anc 562].
Many attempts, all fruitless, have been made to discover the English origin of Richard Warren and the identity of his wife [ MQ 51:109-12].
Richard Warren was in the party that explored the outer cape in early December 1620; he was described as being of London [ Mourt 32].
On 5 July 1635, Thomas Williams, servant of widow Warren, confessed that "there being some dissention between him and his dame, she, after other things, exhorted him to fear God & do his duty, he answered, he neither feared God, nor the devil" [ PCR 1:35]. He was reproved and released [ PCR 1:35].
On 5 January 1635/6 widow Warren paid 30s. to Thomas Clarke for borrowing his boat, and although returning it to a place of usual safety, an extraordinary storm wrecked it [ PCR 1:36]. On 3 June 1639 "Mr. Andrew Hellot" was ordered to pay Mrs. Warren 10s. to settle an account between them [ PCR 7:12].
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: In 1938 L. Effingham deForest published a thorough study of Richard Warren [ Moore Anc 561-70]. Robert S. Wakefield, Janice A. Beebe and others have prepared the Richard Warren volume in the General Society of Mayflower Descendants` series of "pink books," the fifth edition of which was published in 1995 [ MFIP Warren].
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