I’d like to share with you some research I’ve been doing on the origin Warren County. The county was formed by the New York State Legislature in March 1813.
What has been lost to history is the fact that the naming of Warren County after Joseph Warren was not the name originally proposed by the legislature. A reporter from the Commercial Advertiser of New York City was present on March 9, 1813 during the debate on dividing Washington County into two counties and recorded the following on page 3 of the Commercial Advertiser of March 13, 1813.
The House (Assembly) passed the bill naming the county Caldwell no doubt after James Caldwell. When the bill was sent to the New York State Senate they inserted the name Warren after the hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The bill was sent back to the House for concurrence.
The vote on the concurrence in the Assembly was 47 Ayes to 18 Nays as reported the Albany Argus of March 16, 1813
The final task in the creation of the new county was was the Council of Appointment’s duty to name the new judges and officers of both Washington and Warren County. This was reported in the Northern Post of Salem, New York on March 25, 1813.
Stop and think for a minute. If the Assembly had won out according to their initial bill we might had been known as the Caldwell County Historical Society!
research by Tom Lynch, Collections Manager
(c) 2023. Warren County New York Historical Society.
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