 1646 - 1704 (58 years)
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| Name |
Richard Warfield |
| Birth |
1646 |
England  |
| Christening |
27 Aug 1646 |
| Gender |
Male |
| Death |
1704 |
Anne ArundeL, Maryland |
| Age |
58 years |
| Person ID |
I18669 |
Base Tree |
| Last Modified |
25 Oct 2024 |
| Family |
Elinor Brown, b. 1649 d. 13 Feb 1718 (Age 69 years) |
| Children |
| | 1. John Warfield, b. 1674 d. 1718 (Age 44 years) |
| | 2. Richard Warfield, b. 1676 d. 1755 (Age 79 years) |
| | 3. Alexander Warfield, b. 1677 d. 11 Jun 1740 (Age 63 years) |
| | 4. Mary Warfield, b. 1679 d. 1700 (Age 21 years) |
| | 5. Benjamin Warfield, b. 1680 d. 23 Mar 1717 (Age 37 years) |
| | 6. Rachael Warfield, b. 1681, Anne Arundel, Maryland d. 1709, Baltimore, Maryland (Age 28 years) |
| | 7. Elinor Warfield, b. 10 Jul 1683 d. 15 Jul 1752 (Age 69 years) |
|
| Family ID |
F4913 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
-
| Notes |
- progenitor of the Warfield family in America
Posted Aug 21, 2014 by jbimbi1
Richard Warfield, Progenitor of the Warfield Family in Maryland
The founder of the Warfield family in the State of Maryland was Richard Warfield, who was brought to Maryland in 1659 as an indentured servant for a John Sisson and later bequeathed to Cornelius Howard, son of Mathew the Immigrant. By 1670 he had completed his service and subsequently rose to positions of prominence and affluence.
The origins of Richard Warfield in England have recently been uncovered by Richard T. Foose in two articles for the Maryland Geneological Society Bulletin. Mr. Foose comments that "There were so few Warfields in London in the decades before Richard came to Maryland, that one gets the impression of a family constantly at the edge of extinction, a fate that could easily have befallen them in any one of several plague years. It looks as if the male line just managed to survive to pass on the name."
Richard Warfield was apparently the son of John Warfield, a watch-maker on Fleet Street in London. Richard the immigrant gave his eldest son the name of John, the name of his father in London. He gave one of his daughters the name of Rachell, the name of his mother in London. And he gave his third son the name of Alexander, the name of his half-brother in England.
Richard was 13 years old when he was brought to Maryland. No record of him has been found in England after his baptism on August 27, 1646. In the wills of several of Richard's children, there are bequests of silver watches, each containing a "Seal", possibly representative of three successive generations of watchmakers in London.
All of Richard's brothers and sisters except his half-brother, Alexander, died before he left for Maryland. Alexander took up his father's profession of watch-making. Because of the turbulence of religion and politics in England at the time, the scale of commercial competition on Fleet Street, known for its denizens of artisans and pubs, and the catastrophic effects of periodic outbreaks of the plague, it was decided that Richard should be sent abroad, to take advantage of the opportunities present in the New World. This decision was apparently preferred to the prospect of years as an apprentice in seventeenth century London. However, this decision meant that his mother, Rachell, had to part with her only living child.
The timing could not have been better. The Plague carried off a fifth of the people of London in 1665, including Richard's presumed father, John Warfield, and the streets were deserted with houses bearing Red Crosses and the words, "Lord, have mercy on us!" The "dreadful fire" in 1666 destroyed the remainder of London. When London was rebuilt, legislation mandated that the houses had to be entirely of brick; no more half-timbered structures were allowed.
In the New World, Richard married Elinor Browne, daughter of Captain John Browne, a mariner who shipped between Maryland and London. On at least one occasion, Richard Warfield returned to England aboard the ship, Anne, captained by his father-in-law. He returned to England as one of the signers of an address to the King. When he returned to England, thirty years after he immigrated to the New World, he was a leading citizen of the Province of Maryland, an Officer of the Militia and a wealthy planter. By then his land holdings "exceeded the acreage of the city of London, his birthplace."
He was a member of the first Vestry at St. Anne's in Annapolis. He owned the "Black Horse Tavern", nine miles west of Annapolis. He held tracks of land named "Wayfield", "Warfield's Right", "Hope", "Increase", "Warfield's Plains", "Warfield's Forest", "Warfield's Addition", "Brandy" and "Warfield's Range".
Richard Warfield died in Anne Arundel County, Maryland in 1704. Elinor Browne died in Anne Arundel County in 1718/19. Historians estimate that Richard's burial place is probably under the street at Church Circle, St. Anne's, in Annapolis. Mr. Foose's final conclusion is correct: "In the end 'fate' was kindest to Richard Warfield", the progenitor of the Warfield family in America.
Adapted from two articles authored by Richard T. Foose:
Maryland Geneological Society Bulletin, Volume 32, number 4 in the Fall of 1991, pages 397-445.
Maryland Geneological Society Bulletin, Volume 33, number 1 in the Winter of 1992, pages 44-82.
Richard's will can be found in the Hall of Records in Maryland, Vol 3, Liber 11, folio 409.
"Warfields of Maryland" by Prof Joshua Dorsey Warfield, includes a transcription of Richard's Will:
"RICHARD WARFIELD WILL, A.D. 1703-4
"In the name of God Amen, the tenth day of Jany., in the year of our Lord God 1703-4, and in the second year of the reign of Queen Anne, I, Richard Warfield, of A.A. Co., although sick in body yett of good memory, praise to Almighty God, therefore do make this my last will and testament in manner and form following:
"That is to say, first, I bequeath my soul and spiritt into the hands of Almighty God, my heavenly father, by whom of his meek and only grace, I trust to be saved, crowned into eternall rest through the Death of my Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, in whose precious blood I rest the whole and only hope of my salvation, My wrapped body, in the hope of joyful resurrection, I commit to the earth to be buried with such charges and in such a manner as my executors hereafter named shall think fitt and needful or convenient, and willing my worldly estate which the Lord has been pleased to bestow upon me, I dispose of the same as followeth:
"I will that such debts that I fully owe in Law or conscience shall be Truly Contented and paid within some convenient time after my Decease.
"I give and bequeath unto my sonn John Warfield, all that plantation and tract of land called "Warfield Plaines," to his heirs and assigns forever. I give and bequeath to my said sonn John another parcell of land called "Warfield's Forest," containing one-hundred and eighty acres, to his heirs forever. I give to my sonn John one black mare which he is now possessed with.
"I give to my sonn Richard Warfield that plantation whereon he now lives and all the land adjoining according to pattent called the "Addition," containing fifty acres to him and his heirs forever. I give to my sonn Richard Warfield this my dwelling plantation withall the land adjoining itt to him and his heirs forever; but my will is that he shall not possess it as long as my Loving Daughter Elinor Warfield lives a maid, but she shall have and enjoy itt till she marries, but after marriage that then my sonn Richard shall have itt and enjoy itt as above said.
"I give to my sonn Alexander Warfield all that tract and parcell of land called "Brandy" and the two plantations on itt to him and his heirs forever.
"I give to my sonn Benjamin Warfield all that two hundred and forty acres of land out of a tract and parcell lying on Patuxent called "Warfield range" to him and his heirs forever.
"I give to my daughter Rachell one hundred and fifty acres of land out of the aforesaid part and parcell of land called "Warfield range" to her during her natural life and unto her lawful heirs to be begotten of her body and for want of such issue to go to my sonn Benjamin and his heirs forever.
"I give to my sonn Benjamin one negro girl named Jeney during his natural life and after his death to go to my executors to be kept in their custody while his orphan come of the age of twenty one years and then to be delivered to the eldest of them with her increase, but my will is that said negro girl be appraised in my estate and my sonn to have her at appraisement. I give to my sonn Benjamin tenn pounds sterling to be paid by bill of exchange.
"My will is that my sonn John shall have my Negro Parklett according to the appraisement and my sonn Richard Warfield to have the old negro many Toby charged at the appraisement.
"I give to my daughter Elinor Warfield one negro girl named Hannah, one new feather bed and all the furniture belonging to itt and one other ordinary one with the furniture thereunto belonging, and four brood sows and four cows and calves, six new Russia leather chairs and six new pewter dishes and two pewter cassons. I will that my daughter Elinor shall have my two white servants named William and Nicholas but to take them at the appraisement.
"I give to my daughter Rachell Yates ten pounds sterling to be paid her by my executors hereafter named, and my will is that forty pounds of my Estate shall be kept in my executor's hands to be paid to my said daughter Rachell as they shall see her necessity wants itt and to be paid in such goods as will be most convenient for her, but in case she should not stand in want of itt, then my will is that itt be paid to her children when they come of age twenty-one and I give to my said daughter Rachell's girl named Elinor six silver spoons to be kept in my sonn John Warfield's hands while she come of age.
"And all residue of my Estate my will is that it shall be equally divided among these my children hereafter named- (viz.) John Warfield, Richard Warfield, Alexander Warfield, Benjamin Warfield and my Daughter Elinor Warfield.
(JD Warfield's Note: Elinor inherited 150 acres by this proviso.)
"I make and ordain my loving sonn John Warfield and my loving sonn Richard Warfield my full whole and only executors of this my last will and testament.
"And my two loving sonns Alexander Warfield and Benjamin, I do make and ordain overseers of this my last will and testament, and I give to my sonn John my seal ring and to each of the others a ring apiece for their pains to be taken to overseeing this my request - requiring them in the name of God to see this my last will performed accordingly. And I do hereby revoke all other former wills by me in anywise heretofore made or declared in witness whereof I have hereunto sett my hand and seale this Day and year above written.
RICHARD WARFIELD
[seal]
"Declared and delivered up by the said Richard Warfield in the presence of these witnesses whose names are underneath.
John Howard, Wm. Mccubin, Thos. Rowles, Chas. S. Stevens."
Sources:
-"The Warfields of Maryland", by Professor Joshua Dorsey Warfield, 1898.
-"The English Ancestry of the Warfields of Maryland", by Richard T Foose.
-"Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties Maryland" by Professor Joshua Dorsey Warfield, 1905.
-Ancestral Records and Portraits, Vol I, A Compilation from the Archives of Chapter I of The Colonial Dames of America, published by The Grafton Press, NY 1910, pp. 84 & 151.
-The Baltimore Sun, Maryland newspaper
-US & Internationl Marriage Records 1560-1900
-New York, Ontario Co Genealogy & Biography
-Warfields and Snowdens, www.snowden-warfield.com
-Rootsweb
-London Baptisms, Marriages & Burials 1538-1812
-Ancestry.com
-Passenger & Immigration Lists Index 1500's-1900's
-Maryland Historical Trust, Historic Sites Survey
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