Sampson Waring, Puritan Activist,
and Warrington
On this page . . .
Emigration from England, properties near Parkers Creek
Sampson Waring was born in 1616 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, and emigrated to the Virginia colony in about 1643. For reasons outlined in the following section, Politics and Religion in Virginia and Maryland, ca. 1640-1660, Waring moved to the colony of Maryland in about 1650. (Endnote 1)
Near Parkers Creek, Waring patented two adjacent properties. One resulted from a subdivision: in 1651, a 300-acre tract was certified (an early step in the land-patent process) to Waring and Thomas Davis, and the pair soon divided this tract into two equal parts. In the certification, the men are described as carpenters living in Anne Arundel County. Davis's southern segment, called Devise, was patented in 1659, while Waring's northern segment, called Sampson's Dividend, was patented in 1663. Meanwhile, in 1661, Waring patented a 200-acre tract called Warrington just north of Sampson's dividend. In 1651, this tract had been surveyed for John Covell, who assigned the survey to Waring in 1661.
Two tracts patented by Sampson Waring, Warrington (1661) and Sampson's Dividend (1663), shown with some adjacent colonial-era land patents. The green and yellow dashed lines represent ACLT hiking trails, and the two barns marked by red icons are on the trails. For more on land patents and a discussion of how the Parkers Creek Heritage Trail project made a "best effort" to develop its maps, see Colonial-era Land Patents Near Parkers Creek. This map was delineated by Exa Marmee Grubb.
Waring cultivated tobacco for the market on some of this land; in his will, he bequeaths his plantation to his widow. The historical record, however, provides more insight into Waring's other business ventures. For example, a 1664 report documents Waring's role on behalf of one London merchant (there may have been others): "A list of what Bills [debts] are left in the handes of Capt. Sampson Waring, by Thomas Elwes for the Use of Mr. Christopher Johnson of London." These debts for imported goods would be paid off with tobacco ready for market. Waring was referred to as captain, a common designation for a militia captain and a civil authority who was a leader of the inhabitants and would have been entrusted with the task of finding the debtors and getting the debts paid. (Endnote 2)
Warrington is shown as a town (however modest) on Augustine Herrman's 1670 map of Maryland and Virginia, an indicator of Waring's commercial role. The town is referenced again in the Maryland Assembly's 1683 action promoting town sites. This topic is discussed in the final section of this webpage.
Politics and Religion in Virginia and Maryland, ca. 1640-1660
The English Civil War broke out in the early 1640s. Although a bit of a simplification, the conflict pitted Parliamentarians against royalists loyal to King Charles I. As the rebellion developed, Oliver Cromwell emerged as its leader. He and many of his followers were Puritans, a group that viewed the practices of the Church of England, represented and supported by the king, as too close to those of Roman Catholicism. The Parliamentarians executed Charles I in 1649.
In the 1620s and 1630s, several hundred Puritan men and women emigrated from England and settled in Virginia, where the Church of England was the established faith. Sampson Waring joined that community in 1643, at about the time that Virginia's governor strengthened the enforcement of religious uniformity and adherence to the practices of the Anglican church. (Endnote 3) In contrast, the neighboring colony of Maryland--governed by the Roman Catholic Calvert family--did not have an established church. In 1649, the Maryland Assembly signaled their welcome to Puritans by enacting the "Act Concerning Religion," often called the Religious Toleration Act, a guarantee of freedom of worship to all Christians.
Waring joined many other Virginia Puritans in a move to Maryland. In about 1650, the time of his move, Waring married Sarah, probably the widow of Richard Young, who may also have been one of the Virginia Puritans. The household included three children from Sarah's first marriage and the couple's son, Basil, born in 1650. (Endnote 4)
Although their move from Virginia took advantage of the Religious Toleration Act, the newly arrived Puritans carried out a series of actions intended to undercut the Calverts and to promote a society in which their brand of reformed Protestantism prevailed. Sampson Waring played a role in these actions. In 1654, when Puritans succeeded in removing Maryland's governor, Waring was a member of the Assembly, the colony's legislative body. In 1655, a small army of Catholics and non-Puritan Protestants attempted to restore the governor, but they were defeated by Puritan forces in the Battle of the Severn. "Waring took part in the battle," one historian wrote, adding that he played a role "in its shameful aftermath as a member of the Puritan War Council" when that body ordered "the execution of prisoners of war taken at the battle." Citizens protested the execution orders and six of the sentenced men were spared while four were executed by firing squad. (Endnote 5)
Battle at the Mouth of the Severn, James Edward Kelly (1855-1933), engraved by Frederick Juengling (1846-1889), from the Wallach Division of Art, Prints & Photos Picture Collection, NYPL.
Waring's public roles in Maryland, 1654-1660
Waring played a variety of roles in Maryland during the Puritan ascendancy and in the years that followed. (Endnote 6)
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1654-1657/58: Justice, Provincial Court
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1655: Captain, Calvert County Militia
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1655-1657/58: Parliamentary Commission
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1655-ca. 1660: Sheriff, Patuxent, St. Mary's, and Potomock counties
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1659/60: Assembly, Lower House, Calvert County
The role of sheriff was significant, as described by the historian Charles F. Stein:
The High Sheriff was the chief County law enforcing officer. He not only was charged with the duty of enforcing the laws but also had charge of all elections. Elections were held at the County Court House [where] the landowners, who were the only persons entitled to vote, assembled during a four day period, and voted in person at open meeting. There was no secret ballot in those days, and no restrictions against electioneering at the polls. Each County was divided into Hundreds or election districts, each electing a Burgess. There was a Constable for each Hundred, he being the local law enforcing officer, under the jurisdiction and control of the High Sheriff. Other minor County officials were the Assessors and the Justices of the Peace. (Endnote 7)
The Town of Warrington
The placename Warrington is prominent on Augustine Herrman's map Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670. The map was surveyed in the 1660s, meaning that Herrman documented Warrington shortly before Sampson Waring's death, generally given as 1669 or 1670. (Endnote 8)
Detail from Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670, published in London by Augustine Herrman and Thomas Withinbrook, 1673. North is to the right. From the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2002623131/, consulted 21 June 2025.
A dozen years after Waring's death, the Maryland Assembly focused on the colony's need for more centers of trade: "the business of Townes is of soe great concern It being that which is soe earnestly desired by the generality of the Inhabitants . . . ." In an action taken in 1683, the Assembly called for "Comissionrs in their respective Countyes for Erecting . . . ports." Locations were identified, including four in Calvert County. One of the four was described as "att or nere Warrington vpon the Clifts." At that date, Sampson Waring's son and heir Basil Waring was still alive and (we believe) possessed the Warrington tract. (Endnote 9)
To date, no physical evidence of a Warrington town--however modest--has turned up. There may have been a handful of buildings and, if on the 17th century cliff front, any remains would likely have been eroded into the Bay and, by now, washed away. Beyond Herrman's map, the only documentary hint of the town that we have found pertains to a 1692 court meeting at Waring Town, in reference to the establishment of Protestant parishes in Maryland.
At a Court held at Waring Town the 7th day of February In the Year of our Lord God one Thousand Six Hundred Ninety and Two and in the 5th Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord and Lady King William & Queen Mary . . . by the Iustices thereunto authorised & appointed together with the most Principal Freeholders thereunto called for the laying out of Parishes on the West Side of Pottuxent River in Calvert County in obedience to an Act of Assembly Intituled an Act for the Service of Almighty God and the Establishment of the Protestant Religion in this Province . . . . (Endnote 10)
This event postdates the so-called Protestant Revolution of 1689 when Maryland's substantial Protestant majority rose up against the government led by the Roman Catholic Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore. This revolution took place one year after the Glorious Revolution in England, which saw the Protestant monarchs William III and Mary II replace the English Catholic monarch King James II. For the next 25 years, Maryland was ruled directly by the Crown and Maryland's experiment with religious toleration came to an end: Catholicism was outlawed, and Catholics were forbidden from holding public office.
Endnotes
1. In historical records, the name was spelled in several different ways, including Warring, Wareing, and Warren. Sampson Waring's baptism at St. Chad's church, Shrewsbury, on July 14, 1616, is reported in Waring's Find-A-Grave entry, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/183923379/sampson-waring, consulted 11 June 2025. Date of emigration to Virginia from Charles F. Stein, A History of Calvert County, Maryland (1976), pp. 330-331.
2. Archives of Maryland, Vol. 49, p. 185, https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000049/pdf/am49--185.pdf, consulted 12 July 2025.
3. Encyclopedia Virginia, "Puritans in Colonial Virginia," https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/puritans-in-colonial-virginia/, consulted 15 June 2025. Charles F. Stein, A History of Calvert County, op. cit., pp. 330-331.
4. Maryland State Archives, Sampson Waring (c. 1618-1670/71); MSA SC 3520-1328; https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001300/001328/html/01328bio.html, consulted 27 April 2025. Stein, A History of Calvert County, op. cit.
5. Lou Rose, The Life and Times of Sheriffe James Veitch of Calvert County, published for the Calvert County Historical Society by Porpoise Press, Port Republic, Maryland, 1982, pp 17-20. Wikipedia "Battle of the Severn," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Severn, consulted 12 June 2025.
6. Most of this summary is from Maryland State Archives, Sampson Waring (c. 1618-1670/71), op. cit. The 1655 date for his commission as sheriff is from the Archives of Maryland, v. 3, Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1636-1667, p. 318; online https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000003/pdf/am3--318.pdf, consulted 16 June 2025. The entry dated 10 December 1655 includes, "Sampson Waring being appointed and Sworne Sheriffe for Putuxent St Maries and Potomock Counties in the Province of Maryland." Calvert County was renamed Patuxent for a short time during the Puritan ascendancy; a division of St. Mary's was called Potomock and later evolved to become Charles County.
7. Charles F. Stein, A History of Calvert County, op. cit. Maryland State Archives, Sampson Waring (c. 1618-1670/71), op cit.
8. "The Herrman Map of Virginia and Maryland," Encyclopedia Virginia, https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/150386/, consulted 21 June 2025.
9. Archives of Maryland, v. 7, Proceedings and Acts of the General Assembly, October 1678-November 1683, pp. 539-541, https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000007/pdf/am7--539.pdf, consulted 16 June 2025.
10. Archives of Maryland, v. 8, Proceedings of the Council of Maryland, 1687/8-1693, p. 472, https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000008/pdf/am8--472.pdf, consulted 16 June 2025. The meeting postdates Basil Waring's death in 1688 and the Warrington property may have been in the possession of his heirs.