Warner, John

John WARNER and the MARVIN family

Both Reginold and Matthew are of comparatively frequent appearance in Gloucestershire, which was probably the home of Matthew’s fellow-passenger Warner. (p. 87)

… immediately following is the name of “Jo: Warner, 20.” I suppose him to be the same who afterwards purchased Reginold's property in Farmington. The vessel probably sailed on or very near the date above given, as this is the last entry of her passengers, and must have arrived about the first of June. (p. 89)

The first settlers were there in 1640, or a little before, and from the date of his leaving Hartford I am inclined to regard Reginold as one of the very earliest; perhaps he was the “first adventurer,” so pleasantly alluded to by Dr. Porter, in his sketch of the town. If not a settler there, we cannot account for him during the interval previous to his appearance in Lyme. Whether a settler in Farmington or not, here he built a house. His home-lot with other lands, and the house, described as “new,” he subsequently sold to John Warner, who also came thither from Hartford,³⁵ and was a fellow-passenger with Matthew and his family in the “Increase.” The transfer is recorded at Farmington. (p. 105-6)

³⁵ As we find John Warner in Hartford with Reginold and Matthew, and later in Farmington, I think there can be no doubt that Savage was not correct in his supposition that he settled elsewhere. He may have been a brother of Andrew Warner of Farmington, and, if so, was the son of John Warner of Gloucestershire, England. Samuel Wyllys, who owned the lot adjoining Reginold's in Farmington, and who was one of the original proprietors of Hartford, was the son of George of Warwickshire. In a previous note I have mentioned that I find allusions to our name in both these counties, and have referred to the fact that in Gloucestershire the names of Reginold and Matthew seem to be of more frequent occurrence than in the other counties where search has been made. Whether the companion ship of Warner with the Marvins affords a clue to their English home, we cannot tell. (p. 106)

[from the will of Reinold Marvin] There is a debt of twenty pounds due from John W [torn] of Farmington … (p. 110)

“John W—,” there can be no doubt, was John Warner, who purchased the Farmington property. (p. 111)

[ES, Vol. 3]

Original settlers of Hartford, CT

“The proprietors of the undivided lands in Hartford, with each of their proportions in one division as followeth, according to which proportions they payd for the purchass of sayd lands:”

[partial list:]

Mr. Thomas Wells, 100,

Andrew Warner, 84,

Mathew Marvill, 30, 28,

Thomas Lord, 28,

Thomas Roote, 8, 6,

Richard Lord, 18,

Thomas Spencer, 15, 14,

John Higginson, 12, not a settler

There was another large class of original settlers, who were not original purchasers. They had shares in some of the undivided lands, by votes of the original proprietors, according to the proportions indicated by the figures annexed to their names. Mr. Allyn's entry is as follows:

“The names of such inhabitants as were granted lotts to have onely at the towne's courtcsie, with liberty to fetch woode and keepe swine or cowes on the Common."

[partial list:]

John Brunson, 10, 3,

John Warner, 6,

Thomas Lord, Jun. 6,

Thomas Gridley, 6,

Thomas Richards, 8,

In addition to the above, the following persons had been owners of lots previous to 1639, and had either sold them, or forfeited them to the town, by not settling or removing, contrary to the conditions of their grant.

[partial list:]

Reynold Marvin

[HNC, Vol. 1, pp. 8-10]

John WARNER was an original settler of Farmington

John Warner, Sen. lived first in Hartford, then in Farmington. Of the latter town he was an original proprietor and settler. He was one of the Pequot soldiers, and for his services had a grant of land, in 1671, from the General Court, fifty acres, which Serg. Thomas Judd and Serg. John Stanley were appointed to lay out to his heirs in Oct. 1689. He was one of the petitioners who asked liberty “to make a small plantation at Mattatuck,” (as were his sons John and Daniel,) and signed the articles of 1674, writing his name John Warner, Sen. He intended to join the new settlement but died before removal, in 1679. His will, dated in March of that year, names as his children, John, Daniel, Thomas, Sarah. The last was baptized March 15, 1656-7, and m. William Higason. [HB, p. 195]

Waterbury 1874 Agreement

The assembly's committee, (called on the town records the Grand Committee,) thus constituted, in pursuance of their duties, drew up the following ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION AND AGREEMENT, which the proposed settlers signed :—

Articles agred vpon and concluded by us whos names are vnder wiiten the Comity for settling a plantation att mattatucke as followeth that

1 Euery on[e] that is excepted for an inhabitant at matatucke shall have eight acres for a hous lott

2 We agre that the distribution of medow shall be proportioned to each person Acording to estats [propriety] noe person exceding a hundred pound alotment except too or thre alotments which we the Comite shall lay out acording to our best discretion

3 Also wee agree that all taxes and Ratts that shall be leuyed for defraying publick charges shall be payed proportion ably acording to their medow alotments and this article to stand in full fore and vertue fine years next folowing the datt hereof and after the end and expiration of fiue yers all Ratts for defraying publike charges shall be leuyed and raised upon persons and estats acording to the law or custom of the country

4 We determin that every parson that tacks up alotments att mattatucke within four yer after the datt hereof shall build agood substan shall Dwelling house [at least eighteen feet in length and sixteen feet wide and]* nine foot between joynts with a good chimly in the forsaid place.

5 Itt is agred in case any parson shall faile of building as aforsaid: a dweling house upon bis lott as is inioyned within the 4th article within the terme of four yers after the date herof shall forfit all his alotments att mattatucke and lose all his right and title therein buildings only Excepted to be dis posed to such: other meet parsons for im proue ment as shall be excepted by the Comity acording to the conditions of these Articles

6 And itt is also agreed that euery one to whom alotments are granted shall parsonly tack up his resedenc as an in habitant att mattatuck in his own house within the term of four yeres after the date hereof and upon failler or defalte shall forfitt his lands and alottments att mattatuck to be improued as aforsaid by the comite

7 Itt is further concluded that Every parson that shall be posesed of lands att the said mattatock shall inhabit and dwell ther in his own House for the time and term of four yers after he hath built acording to the Tenu^r and true meaning of the fourth Article and untill the said foure yers be ended no parson shall haue pouer to mack any alynation or sale of the afor said lands of what he or they are posesed of

8 Finaly itt is determined that all those parsons to whom alottments Are granted (by vs the comity) shall be ingaged to the forgoing Articles by a subscription of their names or marcks

And for a full confirmation of the forgoing articles wee the comitie haue this thir tyeth of may in the yere one thousand six hundred seuenty and four: subscribed our names

* The clause in brackets is presumed to have been inadvertently left out in the record. I have supplied the omission from other copies.

We whos names are under writen doe Igag afaithful submission to and performance of the

forgoing articles as wittness our hands this sixt of June in the yer 1674

John Talcott

Robert webster

Nicholas Olmsted

Samuel steel

John wadsworth

John Langton 100 Thomas Hankox 100

John Andres 100 William Judd 100

Thomas Juddl Ju^r 100 John warner Jun 90

Edmun Scoot 100 Thomas Richardson 50

John wilton 080 william Higason 70

Abraham Andrus 080 John Carington 060

Isaac Brunson 090 Obadiah Richards 080

John Stanly Ju^r 100 Thomas Newell [for] son 100

Samuell hicok 085 Sargt John Stanly for son 95

Richard Seamor 100 Daniel Warner 60

Abraham Brounson 080 John warner sen 100

Isaac brounson ingageth for him John Judd 100

John Porter 080 Joseph Hecoks 060

Joh Bronson Ju^r 080 Thomas Jud senor for his

Thomas Gridly 080 son Sam^ll 080

Danill Porter for son 090 Samll Gridly 90 th newell*

* Thomas Newell, Jr., was afterwards substituted for Samuel Gridley, and the name is placed here in the original.

[HB, pp. 8-10]

John WARNER's will, 1679

Warner, John, Farmington. Invt. £123-03-00. Taken 1679, by John Norton and John Woodruffe. Will dated 14 March, 1678-9.

I John Warner of Farmington, in the County of Hartford, do think it meet to make this settlement of my Estate. I do give unto my son John Warner ¼ part of my farm at Crane Hall, and the ¼ Part of my Meadow Lott called Moore's Corner; also the fourth part of the Lands on the Forte Hill. I give unto my son Daniel Warner ¼ part of the same Land. I give unto my son Thomas Warner ¼ part, half the house & Homelott with these Considerations, that he shall see meet to come with his family to settle in it within the space of eight years after the date hereof; but if my son Thomas shall not come within the time specified, then he shall sell it to my son-in-law William Higgison at a reasonable price. I give unto my son-in-law William Higgison ¼ part of my Farme at Crane Hall, ¼ part of my Meadow Lott called Moore's Corner, ¼ part of my Land at Forte Hill, as also ½ of my now dwelling house & Homelott & Barne thereon, all which the sd. William Higgison is to enjoy after the departure of the natural life of me John Warner & Margaret my wife; also my Lott called the Great Swamp, also ¼ part of all my Divisions of Land belonging to me in town, with my 4-acre Lott, & also the Grant of that Tract of Land given me by the Country as a Pequott Soldier, to come into the present possession of these Lands. I also give to my daughter Sarah Higgison my best Kettle. I do give unto my wife ¼ part of my Farme called Crane Hall, & the fourth part of my Land called Moore's Corner, and the ½ of the House & Homested, with all the Moveables & Personal Estate that is mine, the use & Improvement of them during the time of her natural life. I give unto my four sons the remainder of my Estate, to be equally divided amongst them, viz, John Warner, Daniel Warner, Thomas Warner and William Higginson, after the decease of the natural life of me John Warner and Margaret Warner my wife. I appoint my four sons Executors, & entreat my loving friends William Lewis sen. & Lt. Steele to be my Overseers. Witness: William Lewis, John X Warner sen. Samuel Steele.

Court Record, Page 18—4 December, 1679: Will proven.

Page 68— (Vol. XIII) 23 June, 1740: Ephraim Warner, son of John Warner & gr. son of John Warner sen., the 1st of the name in Farmington, Deed., in behalf of himself and as he is attorney to the Heirs of Daniel Warner, son of the sd. John Warner sen., of sd. Farmington, deceased, showing that by one Residuary Legacy in the Will of sd. John Warner sen. all the remainder of the Estate was given to his 4 sons, viz, John, Daniel, and Thomas Warner and William Higginson, after his & his wife Margaret's decease, there hath been no division of sd. Legacy, and the Executors being deceased, this Court appoint Capt. Isaac Cowles, Giles Hooker and Gershom Lewis to Dist. sd. Legacy or Estate to the Heirs of the sd. John Warner or their Legal Representatives, viz, John, Daniel and Thomas Warner and William Higginson.

[CPR, VOl. I, pp. 375-6]

Thomas and Mary RICHASON in Waterbury

On Thomas Richason's two-acre lot we find no house in 1681, for he is living with his wife, Mary, and their seven children, in a cellar. The language of the complaint is that he “hires a cellar to live in.” The children are:

Mary, age 14 years, Israel,

Sarah, age 12 years, Rebecca, born in Waterbury, April

John, age 9 years, 27th, 1679,

Thomas, age 7 years, Ruth, age 6 months.

We have here the record of the birth of the first English child of Mattatuck. It is difficult to understand why Thomas Richason is living in a cellar in 1681, when we learn, by the record of the birth of his daughter Rebecca, that he has been living in Mattatuck at least two and one-half years. The construction of the early houses was such that many of them were easily burned; but, had disaster by fire fallen upon this proprietor—the man who held the least interest in the township, his right being but fifty pounds—the committee would surely have forborne to take away his allotments.

[WC, p. 165]

Thomas WARNER's house

Occupying the next lot to the southward, on which is the name “John Warner, Sr.” with “Thomas Warner” beneath it, we find the son, Thomas Warner. This is the land it will be remembered upon which a cellar had been made in 1679, the cellar which the Assembly’s Committee permitted to stand. Thomas Warner has failed to build his house in time. It is not finished, but that fact does not necessarily prevent our finding that his family is living in it, and as our records tell us that a son was born to Thomas Warner in Mattatuck, March 6, 1680, and the family continued here, we may expect to find him here with his wife Elizabeth, and their children,

Elizabeth, age unknown, John, age 20 months.

Benjamin, age unknown

[WC, p. 175]

Thomas Warner, whose father, John Warner, the old “Pequot warrior,” had his cellar in readiness when he died, had failed to comply with the building regulations. The house was still unfinished.

[WC, pp. 179-80]

Thomas WARNER's cellar

Thomas Warner was a subscriber to Mr. Peck's settlement. He held some unimportant town offices—was hayward, chimney viewer, surveyor. His house was on the eastern side of Bank street, where the Baptist Church now stands. The committee voted in Nov. 1679, that his “siller” [cellar] might stand “without molestation according to an agreement made with Left. Samuel Steel.” His lot contained, March 21, 1698-9, two acres and three quarters, and was bounded north on John Hopkins' house lot, east (before the above date) on John Richards' house lot, “south on a lot which formerly belonged to the parsonage,” west on highway. He conveyed the place, at the above date, to John Richards, and received in exchange a house and three acres of land on the southwest side of the “mill path,” where he afterwards lived.

[HB, pp. 198-9]