My Genealogy Hound

CHARLES L. WARREN, of Florence, Mass., who for upward of forty years has dealt in live-stock, surviving all who were his contemporaries in that business at the time he started, is actively engaged in it still. He was born in Williamsburg, July 6, 1826, son of Mather and Ann M. (Fairfield) Warren, both natives of the same town.

Cotton Mather Warren, his grandfather, was one of the first settlers of Williamsburg. He located on a spot between Hatfield and Albany, where the foundations of the old house are still to be seen. His wife, who before marriage was Miss Lois White, of Belchertown, Mass., bore him five children, as follows: Julia, the wife of Charles Bridgman, now residing in Ohio; Mrs. Sophia Seeley; Mather; George, a carpenter of Northampton, who died at the age of sixty; and Mrs. Lucinda Bryant, of Pelham, Mass. Mather Warren, besides farming two hundred acres of farm land, moved buildings and performed carpenter work. He had a blacksmith shop on his farm, and owned two saw-mills, which he successfully conducted. His wife, to whom he was married in 1821, was a daughter of Ira W. Fairfield, who is said to have been the first white male child born in the town of Williamsburg. Five children were born to them; namely, Almira Caroline, Charles L., Hannah M., Henry W., and William F. Almira Caroline became the wife of Seth Church. After his death she married a Mr. Knight, but is now a widow again, and resides in Tennessee. The larger part of her life has been spent as a teacher. Prior to her marriage she was an instructress in Wilbraham Academy; and later she and Mr. Church taught in Athens, Tenn. After Mr. Knight’s death she again took up teaching as a vocation. Hannah M. married Dr. Hill, of Chicago, Ill., where she died at their home on Michigan Avenue, leaving one daughter. Henry W., who is a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal church, with headquarters in Denver, Col., has been twice married. His second wife was the Widow Iliff, better known as the Cattle Queen of the West; each has three children by the first marriage. William F. Warren, who, as well as his brother Henry W., was a graduate of Middletown Academy, is President of the Boston University.

Charles L. Warren acquired his education by attendance at the district school for the usual length of time and at a select school and Wilbraham Academy for two and one terms respectively. He remained at home with his parents, and succeeded to the ownership of the old homestead at his father’s death. In 1867 he removed to his present home, which he erected on the outskirts of Florence. With the lot on which it stands he purchased another adjoining it. In 1870 he sold the homestead farm. He deals principally in native stock, making a portion of his purchases in Vermont; and he has farms from two to four miles from his home, on the pastures of which he feeds his stock, while he cultivates the tillage land. These farms have fine orchards, yielding from two to six hundred barrels of apples per year. During the war and up to 1883 he conducted a meat market, for which he ran five or six meat carts.

On November 25, 1846, he was united in marriage with Miss Minerva G. Gardner, of Hartford, a daughter of B. D. Gardner. They became the parents of five children; namely, Lizzie M., Fred C., Sarah M., Mary L., and Minnie G. Lizzie M., the youngest daughter, has made kindergarten work a specialty. After establishing her school in Florence, she spent a year in Berlin, studying kindergarten methods. She is now engaged in her school, and is meeting with merited success. Fred C., who is married, is a graduate of Wilbraham Academy and a successful business man. He is a commission merchant in Chicago, Ill., with an office on Wabash Avenue. Sarah M. is a book-keeper at the brush factory. Mary L., a music teacher, has just returned from Berlin after a year’s absence spent in study. Minnie G., like the other children, received a good practical education in the schools of Florence and at Wilbraham Academy. Mr. Warren votes the Republican ticket, but has never been desirous of office. He is much attached to his home and family, of whom he may well be proud. He is a communicant of the Congregational church.