Week 33 – Strength

 

Weeks ago, I shared that I was a descendant of three men who sailed on the Mayflower. While I am extremely proud of this heritage, I am most proud of the wife of one of these men. She did not sail on the Mayflower but came three years later. She is my tenth great-grandmother, Elizabeth Walker Warren.

When the Mayflower set sail, Richard Warren, a wealthy businessman, left his family to prepare a life for them in the new world. He was listed as a member of the Leiden contingent and merchant venture financial banker. Most everyone knows the story of the hardships these first pilgrims endured, but by 1623, Richard felt the conditions were stable enough for his family to accompany him. The “Anne” arrived in Plymouth carrying eighty new immigrants, many of whom were family members of those who sailed on the Mayflower.  Elizabeth Warren and her five daughters, Mary, Anna, Sarah, Elizabeth, and Abigail were among them.

Once in Plymouth, Elizabeth took on the role of running the large household, which included not only her family, but those of their farm workers and hired help. Plymouth was an agricultural community and Richard was enmeshed in public affairs, as well as working in the fields. It wouldn’t have been uncommon for Elizabeth to have helped in the fields, as time permitted. The births of two sons, Nathaniel and Joseph, before 1627, tells us her schedule was surely full.

Then, in 1628, Richard died. He had been one of the original 1626 Purchasers, which helped to underwrite much of the Colony’s debt. Although the list of the original Purchasers did not appear in Plymouth Colony Records, several years later, breaking with tradition, the tax list contained not Richard Warren’s name, but “Elizabeth Warren, widdow.” In a complicated arrangement, the Court noted that Elizabeth was listed, as she had struck the same bargain after his decease. This was the beginning of Elizabeth Warren’s incredible life as likely one of the first businesswomen in America, acting on her own behalf, without the restraints of being someone’s wife. Over the next years, Elizabeth’s holdings increased substantially. With thirteen miles of coastline, which today stretches from Plymouth to Sandwich on Cape Cod, she was one of the largest landowners. She also had vast holdings in the area which today borders Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She was a woman in a man’s world but was, without a doubt, respected in her position. Had she remarried after Richard’s death, she would have forfeited her rights to act as her own agent.

Their daughter, Sarah, was wed to Mayflower passenger John Cooke. It is through this couple that I descend. As each of the daughters began their own families, land was deeded in Eel River Valley, to her sons-in-law. Fifteen years later, controversy arose when “sundry speeches have passed from some who pretend themselves to be the sole and right heirs unto the lands on which the said Robert Bartlett now liveth, at the Eel River, in the township of Plymouth, which he, the said Robert, had bestowed on him by his mother-in-law Mistress Elizabeth Warren.” The finding of the Court was unanimous in Elizabeth’s favor, as she had been “by an order of Court bearing date March the 7^th of 1637, and other acts of the Court before, invested into the state and condition of a Purchaser.” Proving she was well within her rights to convey the land in any way she so chose. Although the ruling left no doubt about the legality of Elizabeth’s rights, the dispute continued where it was revealed that Nathaniel Warren, Elizabeth’s son, along with his grandmother-in-law, Jane Collier, were the ones “who pretend themselves to be the sole and right heirs.” An arbitration hearing was held where Elizabeth Warren selected William Bradford and Thomas Willett; Nathaniel selected Thomas Prence and Myles Standish. After hearing the evidence, the arbitrators concluded that Nathaniel be awarded his right to share in the Warren holdings. He was granted 2/3 of the original Warren “Purchase Lands” after Elizabeth’s death…of three acres, near his current holdings. This is certainly proof of Elizabeth’s standing in the community, which otherwise would have sided with the oldest son, as tradition would have it. To quote the panel, “that she shall enjoy all the rest of her lands and all of them to whom she hath already at any time heretofore disposed any part thereof by gift, sale, or otherwise, or shall hereafter do the same, to them and their heirs for ever without any trouble or molestation.” Nathaniel was instructed to cease and desist any further claims.

After living as a widow for more than forty-five years, Elizabeth Warren’s life came to an end. As chronicled in the Plymouth Colony record, “Mistris Elizabeth Warren, an aged widdow, aged aboue 90 yeares, deceased on the second of October, 1673, whoe, haveing lived a godly life, came to her grave as a shoke of corn fully ripe. Shee was honorably buried on the 24^th of October aforesaid.” The Warren’s must have come from sturdy stock. All seven of their children lived to adulthood and became some of the most respected and affluent people of their time.  This most assuredly had to do with Elizabeth’s strength. She was a woman who shattered the glass ceiling and was a well-respected businesswoman at a time when women had no political rights and were nothing more than possessions of their husbands.

Richard and Elizabeth Warren had fifty-six grandchildren, which makes them likely to have more living descendants than any other Mayflower passenger. As I mentioned in a previous story, there are many notable descendants. Many of their female descendants have followed in Elizabeth’s footsteps – among them Laura Ingalls Wilde, and Taylor Swift (which makes my granddaughter very happy – and it doesn’t hurt that this has certainly sparked her interest in our family tree). The photo below is just a sampling of the strong women who descend from of Elizabeth Warren.