The town of Ipswich was established on August 5, 1634, from common land called Agawam. On October 18, 1648, that portion called the "Village" at the New Meadows was set off as Topsfield. The boundary line between Ipswich and Topsfield was established, February 28, 1694.
They came to Ipswich in 1637. In 1637 the town granted William
one house lot, one acre, more or less, on the Mill St., bounded on the E. by another house lot not yet granted on the N.E. by the highway leading from the mill St. to the High St., butting on the Mill St. at the S.W. end , at the N. end butting upon the swamp.
William was admitted a freeman, May 2, 1638.
Essex County, Massachusetts was created on May 10, 1643 by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when it ordered "that the whole plantation within this jurisdiction be divided into four sheires."
Old Style Calendar
Before 1752 the year began on Lady Day, March 25th,. Dates between January 1st and March 24th were at the end of the year. Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) are used to indicate whether the year has been adjusted. Often both dates are used.
Any man entering a colony or becoming a a member the church, was not free. He was not forced to work, but his movements were carefully observed to see if they followed the Puritanical ideal. After this probationary period, he became a "freeman." Men then took the Oath of a Freeman where they vowed to defend the Commonwealth and not to overthrow the government.
from Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity by Ellery Bicknell Crane published by Lewis Pub., 1907
William Warner, the emigrant ancestor of the Warner family of Barre, and of Dr. Emerson Warner, of Worcester, is believed to be a son of Samuel Warner, of Boxted, Essex, England, and was doubtless born in England about 1590.
William Warner was one of the pioneers at Ipswich, Massachusetts, was one of the proprietors as early as 1635, and his name appears on a list of proprietors dated 1637. He was admitted a freeman, May 2, 1638. The date of his death is unknown, but he was living October 29, 1654.
Records exist in this country of three of his children, namely: Daniel; John, born about 1616 in England; and a daughter, born in England, became the wife of Thomas Wells, and died July, 1671.
From The Hammatt Papers by Abraham Hammatt.
Copy of a Manuscript in the hand-writing of Daniel Warner
ye posterity of Mr. William Warner, formerly of Ipswich. My Great Grandfather, William Warner, Came out of England in ye year 1637, and Brought over three Children: two sons and a daughter. The oldest son was John, which went southward, which had six sons, to wit: Sam’ll, John, Mark, Daniel, Nathaniel, & Oliver. . .the daughter, my Grandfather’s sister, married with Mr. Wells.
Memorial of Professor Aaron Warner byy Edward Payson Crowell, E P C published by s.n., 1884
But among the large number of those who for the sake of civil and religious freedom came to this country in the great period of emigration, between the years 1620 and 1640, were William Warner of Ipswich, England, and his family including three children, who with his pastor settled in 1637 in Ipswich—one of the foremost towns in the colony in the intelligence and worth of character and thrift of its earlier inhabitants, as it was one of the oldest in settlement.
A few years after its founding in 1633, the historian Johnson recorded the fact that
"the peopling of this town is by men of good rank and quality, many of them having the yearly revenue of large lands in England before they came to this wilderness."
And in 1638 Cotton Mather wrote concerning it.
"Here was a renowned church consisting mostly of such illuminated Christians, that their pastors, in the exercise of their ministry might think that they had to do not so much with disciples as judges."
Of this church William Warner was a member, he died before the year 1648.
Cotton Mather was a Puritan clergyman and theological writer. His writings had great influence in his time. He is generally pictured as the archetype of the intolerant and severe Puritan and is known for his part in the Salem witch trials in 1692 . He did not approve of all the trials, but had helped to instigate the hysteria by his Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689)
