Some notes by Harold Nelson Dewey, dated 11 March 1932:
Victor Strode Manley’s references to Warminster in America leads me to suppose that it would be of interest to give publicity to some further information on this subject which is in my possession.
I presume his statement to be based on a paragraph in the Rev. H. Mayo Gunn’s “History of Nonconformity in Warminster,” published in 1853, and well worth perusal by those interested in the past history of our ancient town. He says:
“Some of them (i.e., Warminster Nonconformists of the time of the repressive period of the Restoration) also emigrated to North America and bought a tract of land in the state of Virginia, where they built a town, and called it Warminster, after their native place. It is described in “Brook’s Gazetteer,’ as “a town of Virginia, in Amhurst County, seventy miles from Richmond’.”
I remember when I first read this, many years ago, being surprised at their not joining their Puritan friends in New England instead of choosing a part of North America which had become a refuge for Cavalier emigrants during the Commonwealth regime.
Two years ago I thought I would take advantage of my Chairmanship of the Warminster Urban District Council to get in touch with our daughter town across the Atlantic, and as a preliminary I made enquiries of the American Ambassador. I received in return the surprising intelligence that there are two Warminsters in the States, one in Virginia and the other in Pennsylvania. Presumably this was unknown to Gunn, and my doubts revived strongly. Such information as I have, unfortunately very incomplete, suggest that it was the Pennsylvanian Warminster which was the one founded by these old Wiltshire Nonconformists, a much more likely theory, it seems to me, than Gunn’s. I shall be interested to see if this article produces any facts as to his sources of information.
I immediately wrote to both towns in search of information. In both cases I was unsuccessful at the first attempt, but a second attempt proved more satisfactory. I don’t know whether any local official noted with interest a letter come through with the postmark, “Warminster, Va.”
I am indebted to Mr. J.M. Carr, of Hartsville, Pennsylvania, for the following information as to our New England namesake:
“Warminster is a township in Bucks Co., Penna. At a cross roads there is a blacksmith’s shop and garage and about five houses, also a post office, which is called Warminster. It is about 18 miles from City Hall, Philadelphia, and on the Old York Road, on which the mail was carried from New York to Philadelphia by stage coaches some years ago. Also at this cross road is a monument to mark the spot on which John Fitch stood when he gave his first idea of a steam-boat.”
In passing it may be of interest to say that Fitch was born in Connecticut in 1743, and led an adventurous life. He was a gunsmith to the American revolutionaries, and also fell into the hands of Indians whilst trading in the West. In 1785 he brought out a model steamboat with side wheels, and one of his larger vessels of a later date was for some time employed as a passenger boat. Some of his plans are said to have fallen into Robert Fulton’s hands, and given him the idea of his steamship. Fulton’s vessel attained the prodigious speed of five miles per hour on the Hudson River. Like so many pioneers, Fitch was discouraged during his life time, and committed suicide in Kentucky in 1798. Fulton (1765-1815) subsequently invented the submarine in France (1801).
I am afraid V. S. Manley’s account of an interchange of greetings between the respective Mayors on the two sides of the Atlantic must be somewhat exaggerated, as I imagine our two daughters must be as innocent of this adornment as the mother town.
The Virginian Warminster, which, by the way, is in Nelson County on the James River, seems to have been much larger before the American Civil War, when it was entirely destroyed by fire, and all records of the original settlement destroyed, including the original grants of land from the King. I am indebted to Miss Louise B. Horsley for some very interesting information, including the above. She is a descendant of the original settlers on the opposite side of the river in Buckingham County.
“Warminster is reputed to have been founded by a Dr. William Cabell, a Naval surgeon, whose English home is varyingly stated as being in Wiltshire and Devonshire. Visiting this colony during his naval service he was so pleased with it that on his retiral, in 1724, he took up large grants of land on the upper James. His seat was at Warminster, in a section famed for its beauty and fertility. He became a very wealthy man and founder of a distinguished family. A lofty elm, said to shade his grave, may still be seen in the family graveyard. His descendants still occupy Edgewood House here. At present this and its tenant houses, a railroad station, a filling station, a store and post office are all that remain of what, in early colonial days, was a flourishing village of several hundred inhabitants, and a shipping point for tobacco by bateaux down the James River.”
The naval records of the period may throw some light on the connection of Dr. Cabell with our town. They are, I am informed, at the Public Records Office, but so far I have not had the necessary leisure to make a search in them.
I have carried out a search in the Parish records, but can find no record of the name nearer than 1588. At that time, there was a family of the name here. September 25th, 1559, shows the marriage of Thomas Cabell to Jane Holowway, and their children are presumably Elizabeth Cabell, born February 20th, 1561, died in childhood March 12th, 1663; and Giles Cabell, born October 24th, 1563. The name also occurs in two further marriages: September 20th, 1585, John Turner and Margaret Cabbell; November 24th, 1596, Richard Slade and Eliza Cabell. And three deaths: Alice Cabell, November 27th, 1569; William Cabell, of Bore. (Boreham), October 18th, 1572; and Thomas Cabell, February 13th, 1588. I can find no record of the Horsley family, but I believe it was a common name in Dorset.
These facts do not form sufficient basis for any very dogmatic theories, but I think we may take the following as legitimate hypotheses for further investigation:
(1) That it was to Warminster, Pennsylvania, that the Presbyterian exiles of the 17th century made their way in search of the religious freedom denied them at home.
(2) That Dr. Cabell was either a native or had close connection with our town, and chose its name to give to his new home in Virginia. He may, like W.H. Hudson, have been impressed by its “nobler-sounding name than any other in Wiltshire,” but one likes to think that it was a deeper affection than this.
I propose, as time and opportunity occur, to continue my enquiries on this subject, and shall be glad to receive any information which may come the way of any interested reader of this article.