JACK WARREN WAS THE YOUNGEST OF THE FOUR WARREN BROTHERS – THE SONS OF JOSEPH WARREN SR. AND MARY (STEVENS) WARREN. Joseph Sr. died instantly from a fall while picking apples in the family’s orchard in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Jack, only two-years-old, witnessed his father’s death. The shock of this tragedy can hardly be imagined Joseph, Mary’s eldest son, had just begun his freshman year at Harvard. He was fourteen years old, at the time. With the financial help of family and the Roxbury community, Mary was able to keep her eldest in college. Many widows remarried out of necessity, Mary did not. She maintained the family orchard/farm, managed a financial agreement to place Joseph into a medical apprenticeship, and, when Jack was of age, sent him to Harvard as well. She was a remarkable woman devoted to her family.
Jack would train as a doctor under his brother. During this two-year apprenticeship Jack would live with Joseph, sister-in-law Elizabeth, and four young nieces and nephews. During Jack’s second year of apprenticeship, Elizabeth became gravely ill. Mary would now care for her grandchildren Joseph’s anguish upon Elizabeth’s death is keenly felt in a published poem ascribed to him. Jack was present as his tormented brother made plans to bury his dear wife. He was there as Joseph struggled to immediately restructure his life. Jack was there to console his grieving brother.
Upon the completion of Jack’s apprenticeship, Joseph gifted his brother a surgical kit and arranged a position for him as a physician in the town of Salem, twenty-five miles from Boston. Their relationship, no doubt, was exceptionally close.
For a number of days following the Battle of Bunker Hill, Joseph’s family was not certain of his fate. Jack made an entry in his journal on June 17, 1775, which offers a glimpse into his anguish and fear:
“This day, a day ever to be remembered by the United American Colonies, at about four o’clock in the afternoon, I was alarmed with the incessant report of cannon, which appeared to be at or near Boston. Toward sun-setting a very great fire was discovered, nearly in a direction from Salem to Boston; at the beginning of the evening, news arrived that a smart engagement had happened in the afternoon on Bunker Hill, in Charlestown, between the King’s regular troops and the provincials; and, soon after, we received intelligence our own troops were repulsed with great loss, and the enemy had taken possession of the ground, which we had broke the night before. I was very anxious, as I was informed that great numbers had fallen on both sides, and that my brother was in all probability in the engagement. I, however, went home, with determination to take a few hours’ sleep, and then to go immediately to Cambridge with my arms. Accordingly, in the morning, at about two o’clock, I prepared myself, and went on horseback; and when I arrived at Medford, received the melancholy and distressing tidings that my brother was missing. Upon the dreadful intelligence, I went immediately to Cambridge, and inquired of almost every person I saw whether they could give me any information of him. Some told me that he was undoubtedly alive and well, others that he was wounded, and others that he fell on the field. Thus perplexed almost to distraction, I went on, inquiring with a solicitude which was such a mixture of hope and fear as none but such as have felt it can form any conception. In this manner I passed several days, every day’s information diminishing the probability of his safety.”
Next: Jack’s search for answers to his brother’s fate and his continuous grief
(Pictures: Dr. John (Jack) Warren, Dr. Joseph Warren, and Elizabeth Warren)
