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WARNER, Frederick Walton,
Business Man, Public Official.
Family names are the product of the
middle ages and as a means of distinc-
tion have been a blessing to mankind.
Surnames were first used in England
about the year 1050, but their use was
confined to a few persons for three centuries
or more thereafter. As the name
of Warner appears in the Domesday
Book, it will be seen that it is one of the
oldest of the English names. By some
it has been supposed that it was derived
from the word Warriner, the keeper of
a warren, and another explanation of its
derivation is to be found in the theory
held bv some antiquarians as follows: It
appears that near the boundary of Wales,
in the southwest section of England, their
dwelt a race of people who were engaged
in agricultural pursuits. To protect
themselves from the surrounding sav-
age tribes, these people were forced to
appoint from among themselves the
most athletic and discreet men, who
might go out into the surrounding country
and warn the people of the approach
of the enemy. Hence the name Warner,
and this explanation of the origin and sig-
nificance of the name corresponds with
the derivation from the old high German
Warjan, meaning to defend, as given by
Zeuss. It seems likely that the name is
derived from the ancient German and like
all historic names was spelled in a variety
of ways. In the seventh century we find
the old German form, Warm, Guarin,
Warne, Werno and Wern, and at a later
time Warrerener, Warner and Werner,
the latter being also common English
forms of the name. The arms of the Warner
family are a bend engrailed between
six roses, three and three gules, and the
motto, non nobis tantum nati. These were
emblazoned on their shields and are also
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
330
found carved in several parts of the ceil-
ing of the South Isle of the Church of
Great Waltham, England. Burke gives
the significance of the motto as "we are
not born for ourselves alone." Various
branches of the family are now living in
the counties of Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk,
Warwick and York in England, Ayrshire,
Scotland, and in Ireland.
The ancestors of William Warner, the
founder of that branch of the family in
America of which Frederick Walton
Warner is to-day a representative, have
not thus far been identified. He was the
son of Samuel Warner, and was born at
Boxted in the County of Essex, England,
October 20, 1594. This William Warner
with his sons, John and Daniel, and his
daughter Abigail, came to this country
at a very early date and settled in Ips-
wich, Massachusetts, in 1637. In the
same year the town granted him, "one
house lot," "one acre, more or less on the
Mill Street." William Warner died prob-
ably before 1648, as the names of his sons
appear on the tax list for that year while
his name is missing.
His son, Daniel Warner, was born in
England about 1618, and died in Ipswich,
September 9, 1688. He married for his
first wife, Elizabeth Denner, who died
November 1, 1659.
Their son, William Warner, was born
in 1646 at Ipswich, Massachusetts, and
married, November 1, 1667, Hannah, a
daughter of "Gentleman" John and Mary
Robbins. She was born April 10, 1643,
and died March 3, 1713-14. William
Warner located in Wethersfield, Connec-
ticut, in 1660. He was made freeman,
October, 1669; fence viewer, 1671 ; lieu-
tenant of the Train Band, September,
1689 ; deputy to the General Court, 1697,
1700, 1703, 1704, 1706, 1708, 1709 and
1710. Both he and his wife were mem-
bers of the Wethersfield church, and his