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Richard Warren (b. about 1580 - 1628) was one of the passengers on the Mayflower in 1620, settling in Plymouth Colony, one of the signatories of the Mayflower Compact, and one of the 19 (of 41) signers that survived the first winter.
His wife Elizabeth (nee Walker) (b. about 1583 in England. died October 12, 1673) and his first five children, all daughters, came to America on the "Anne" in 1623. Once in America, they had two more children, both sons, before Richard's untimely death in 1628.
His life
Richard Warren is among the most inscrutable of the Mayflower pioneers. Clearly a man of rank, he 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 Mort'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 a ten-man exploring party, and he was described as being "of London." 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 Leyden, Holland, Pilgrims, but joined them in Southampton, England to sail on the Mayflower.
He received his acres in the Division of Land in 1623, and his family shared in the 1627 Division of Cattle. But he died a year later in 1628, the only record of his death being found in Nathaniel Morton's 1669 book New England's Memorial, in which he writes: "This year 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."
Descendants
His seven children were: Mary (b about 1610), Anna (b about 1612), Sarah (b about 1614), Elizabeth (b about 1616), Abigail (b about 1618), Nathaniel (b about 1624), and Joseph (born about 1626).
All of Richard Warren's children survived to adulthood, married, and had large families, making Richard Warren, quite possibly, 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, Alan Shepard the first American in space and the fifth person to walk on the moon, author Laura Ingalls Wilder, actress Lucille Ball, actor Richard Gere, writer Henry David Thoreau, and many more. A detailed genealogy of just the first five generations takes up three volumes (see below).
See also
References
Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Vol. 18, Pt. 1: Richard Warren); edited by Robert S. Wakefield
Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Vol. 18, Pt. 2: Richard Warren--Fifth Generation Descendants of Mary2, Anna2 and Elizabeth2); edited by Robert S. Wakefield
Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Vol. 18, Pt. 3 Richard Warren) Fifth Generation Descendants of Abigail 2, Nathaniel 2, and Joseph 2; edited by Robert S. Wakefield
External links
"Richard Warren"