Richard Warren of the Mayflower, 13th Great-grandfather

November 26, 2014 — 9 Comments

Mayflower Compact

Richard Warren, among 10 passengers in the landing party, when the Mayflower arrived at Cape Cod, November 11, 1620
On November 21, 1620, Richard Warren cosigned the Mayflower Compact, covenant of equal laws for the Colony
Richard Warren (c. 1580 – 1628) a passenger on the Mayflower (old “May Floure”) in 1620, settled in Plymouth Colony and was among ten passengers of the Mayflower landing party with Myles Standish at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. Warren co-signed the Mayflower Compact and was one of nineteen (among forty-one) signers who survived the first winter.
Although most sources agree that his wife’s name was Elizabeth, there is some dispute as to what her maiden surname was. One reference indicates her maiden name was Elizabeth Walker, and that she was baptised 1583 in Baldock, Hertfordshire, England, died October 2, 1673. She and his first five children, all daughters, came to America in the ship Anne in 1623. Once in America, they then had two sons before Richard’s untimely death in 1628.
Although the details are limited, Richard Warren and wife, Elizabeth, and children were mentioned in official records or books of the time period. All seven of their children survived and had families, with thousands of descendants, including: President Ulysses S. Grant, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, astronaut Alan Shepard, author Laura Ingalls Wilder (Little House on the Prairie series), actor Richard Gere, and the Wright brothers

His life
Warren is among the less documented of the Mayflower pioneers. Clearly a man of rank, Warren was accorded by Governor William Bradford the prefix “Mr.”, pronounced Master, used in those times to distinguish someone because of birth or achievement. From his widow’s subsequent land transactions, we can assume that he was among the wealthier of the original Plymouth Settlers.” And yet, Bradford did not mention him in his History of the Plimouth Plantation except in the List of Passengers.
In Mourt’s Relation, published in 1622, we learn that Warren was chosen, when the Mayflower stopped at Cape Cod before reaching Plymouth, to be a member of the exploring party among 10 passengers (and 8 crew), and he was described as being “of London” among 3 men. Charles Edward Banks, in Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers writes: “Richard Warren came from London and was called a merchand of that city (by Mourt) Extensive research in every available source of information — registers, chancery, and probate, in the London courts, proved fruitless in an attempt to identify him.”
He was not of the Leiden, Holland, Pilgrims, but joined them in Southampton, England to sail on the Mayflower.
Richard Warren received his acres in the Division of Land in 1623. In the 1627 Division of Lands and Cattle, in May of 1627, “RICHARD WARREN of the Mayflower” was given “one of the black heifers, 2 she-goats, and a grant of 400 acres (1.6 km2) of land” at the Eel River (Plymouth, Massachusetts). The Warren house built in that year (1627) stood at the same location as the present house; it was re-built about 1700, at the head of Clifford Road, with its back to the sea, and later owned by Charles Strickland (in 1976).
Warren died a year after the division, in 1628, the only record of his death being found as a brief note in Nathaniel Morton’s 1669 book New England’s Memorial, in which Morton writes:
“This year [1628] died Mr. Richard Warren, who hath been mentioned before in this book, and was a useful instrument; and during his life bore a deep share in the difficulties and troubles of the first settlement of the plantation of New Plimouth.” -Nathaniel Morton, New England’s Memorial (Boston : John Usher, 1669)
Research into the life of Richard Warren is still ongoing.
Descendants
Elizabeth and Richard Warren’s seven children, with their spouses, were:
Mary (c1610- 27 March 1683) married Robert Bartlett;
Anna (c1612- aft 19 February 1676) married Thomas Little;
Sarah (c1613- 15 July 1696) married John Cooke, who, along with his father, Francis Cooke were Mayflower passengers;
Elizabeth (c1616- 9 March 1670) married Richard Church;
Abigail (c1618- 3 January 1693) married Anthony Snow;
Nathaniel (c1625-1667) married Sarah Walker; and
Joseph (1627 – 4 May 1689) married Priscilla Faunce (1634- 15 May 1707).[4]
All of Richard Warren’s children survived to adulthood, married, and also had large families. It is claimed that Warren has the largest posterity of any pilgrim, numbering 14 million, the Mayflower passenger with more descendants than any other passenger.
Among his descendants are: Civil War general and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, astronaut Alan Shepard, author Laura Ingalls Wilder, actor Richard Gere, actress Joanne Woodward, writers Henry David Thoreau and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Lavinia Warren (the wife of “General Tom Thumb”), aviator Amelia Earhart, actor Orson Welles, United States Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, the Wright Brothers, Tonight Show host Johnny Carson, chef Julia Child, Irish President Erskine Hamilton Childers, inventor Lee DeForest, and many more.
Ancestral Summary
More 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). Warren’s ancestry is unknown, despite some published sources suggesting that he was a descendant of royalty. There is also dispute over his wife’s maiden surname, but in 2002, Edward Davies located the will of Augustine Walker, who seems likely to have been her father.
Relatively little has been uncovered about Richard Warren’s life in America. He came alone on the Mayflower in 1620, leaving behind his wife and five daughters. His family travelled on the ship “Anne” to join him in 1623, and Richard and Elizabeth subsequently had two sons, Nathaniel and Joseph, at Plymouth.

Mayflower

Richard Warren (1580 – 1628)
is my 13th great grandfather
Nathaniel Warren (1624 – 1667)
son of Richard Warren
Sarah Warren (1649 – 1692)
daughter of Nathaniel Warren
Elizabeth Blackwell (1662 – 1691)
daughter of Sarah Warren
Thomas Baynard (1678 – 1732)
son of Elizabeth Blackwell
Deborah Baynard (1720 – 1791)
daughter of Thomas Baynard
Mary Horney (1741 – 1775)
daughter of Deborah Baynard
Esther Harris (1764 – 1838)
daughter of Mary Horney
John H Wright (1803 – 1850)
son of Esther Harris
Mary Wright (1816 – 1873)
daughter of John H Wright
Emiline P Nicholls (1837 – )
daughter of Mary Wright
Harriet Peterson (1856 – 1933)
daughter of Emiline P Nicholls
Sarah Helena Byrne (1878 – 1962)
daughter of Harriet Peterson
Olga Fern Scott (1897 – 1968)
daughter of Sarah Helena Byrne
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Olga Fern Scott
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

His house in Plymouth was very near other ancestors’ homes, Stephen Hopkins and John Howland.  I have a high concentration of first Thanksgiving ancestors.  I am thankful I can find information about them and their lives.  I am also very thankful they survived the first winter in the colony in order to become my ancestors.  I give thanks to all my relations, on both sides of that feast table, for the contributions they made to me and to the history of the nation.

Plymouth land plots