How Elizabeth Warren Really Came to Massachusetts

Elizabeth Warren was not born in Massachusetts, although she rose to prominence here. Warren's knowledge of business and real estate dealings helped to make her a powerful and wealthy Massachusetts woman. You may know Elizabeth Warren had connections to Native Americans, but you've probably not heard the whole story – until now.

You are also probably thinking about the bespectacled Okie, a former school teacher who serves Massachusetts in the United States Senate – but you'd be wrong. You see, long before there was Sen. Elizabeth Warren, there was Pilgrim Elizabeth Warren.

That's right, an Elizabeth Warren was among the first English settlers in the New World.

Elizabeth Warren arrived in Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts in 1623, three years after her husband Richard arrived. Richard Warren was one of the passengers on the Mayflower that arrived in Plymouth Harbor in 1620. Elizabeth did not travel with Richard to the New World but followed later with the couple's five daughters aboard the Anne. She gave birth to two sons in Plymouth Colony.

Richard Warren died in 1628, just eight years after arriving in Plymouth Colony. Elizabeth Warren never remarried and instead focused on family business, to the extent the law permitted in those days.

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Peggy Baker, Director Emerita of the Pilgrim Society & Pilgrim Hall Museum, has written a great essay, "A Woman of Valor: Elizabeth Warren of Plymouth County." The essay is a brief history of Elizabeth Warren and should be read in all Massachusetts public schools.

Mayflower400UK.org also has a wonderful history of Elizabeth Warren, titled "How Elizabeth Warren Became Plymouth Colony's Most Successful Businesswoman." It is also worthy of your attention.

Elizabeth Warren lived to be 90 years old, passing on October 2, 1673. She was buried at Burial Hill on School Street in Plymouth.