Phebe Warren

1754 – 1835

Warren Family Mortuary Chapel – Oakwood Cemetery Built 1860 in English Country Gothic Style Architect: Henry Dudley, New York City

Phebe Bouton Warren, the daughter of Esaias Bouton and Phebe Bixby of Norwalk, Connecticut, was born on March 5, 1754 and died at the age of 80 on January 17, 1835.

Phebe married her neighbor Eliakim Warren on January 17, 1771, the son of Eliakim and Ann Reed. Eliakim was born February 9, 1747 and died September 4, 1824. It is with this marriage of Eliakim and Phebe that the Troy history of the family begins. Phebe and Eliakim had three sons, Esaias, Nathan and Stephen and two daughters, both named Hannah, who died very young.

On the advice of their son Esaias, they decided to remove to Troy, a thriving village at the head of navigation on the Hudson river. The Warren family sailed out of Norwalk harbor in May, 1798, and made the entire trip to Troy by water. They had just had a sailing vessel built for them at Rowayton, a sloop named “The Three Brothers.” It was fifty feet keel, twenty feet beam, and sixteen feet hold, and rated sixty-four tons. Troy at this period contained three hundred houses and one thousand eight hundred and two inhabitants.

Phebe Warren, was an ardent Episcopalian and owing to her initiative and persevering effort, Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church was built in 1804 on the northwest corner of Third and Congress streets, and according to her wish the church was modeled exactly after Saint Paul’s Church in Norwalk, Connecticut.

In 1824 a new and larger church (the present Saint Paul’s) was erected on the northeast corner of Third and State streets. In 1815 Phebe formed in the parish a Saturday sewing class for poor girls which she conducted until her death in 1835.

Note 1: To see pictures of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Troy’s Tiffany masterpiece, and a brief history, click on PROJECTS on the TIGS website and then CHURCH MEMORIALS AND FAMILY NAMES. Also, take a look at the memorial inscriptions for various members of the Warren family.

Note 2: Death notice for Warren was published in The Troy Daily Whig on January 17, 22, 24 and 27, 1835.