•PART TWO
The second eldest son of Wettenhall Warner, Col. Thomas Cargill Warner was thought to have been born in 1772 in South Carolina on his father's land which had been a gift from John Cargill, Wettenhall Warner's father-in-law and Thomas Cargill Warner's grandfather.
He was educated as a young fellow though information on his early years is scarce. By 1793 at the age of twenty-one, Thomas Cargill Warner was working as a Deputy Surveyor in the Orangeburg District. The occupation came naturally as both his father and grandfather John Cargill were surveyors. It was thought that Thomas Cargill Warner also was educated in the law. He married Tabitha Cargill (1776-1854) on October 23, 1794.
As Dr. E. Russ Williams, Jr., informed in his book "Kinsmen All Descendants of Wettenhall Warner and Related Families" - my source for this series of columns - there was conflicting information on when Thomas Cargill Warner arrived in the Louisiana Territory. It was at least by 1806 and could have been as early as 1802. The 1806 date is evidenced by a letter written in 1820 by Warner himself which also established that he was serving as Surveyor for the Spanish Alcade William Cooper by 1806.
In 1811 Governor William C. C. Claiborne gave Warner a Commission to become Judge of St. Tammany Parish, which included the region that was to become Washington Parish. Warner served in this honorable role from October of 1811 until March of 1813. Following this judicial service, he filled the position of Clerk of Court until he became Judge of Washington Parish.
But in the meantime, when Louisiana became embroiled in the War of 1812, Colonel Warner who was commissioned by Governor Claiborne in 1814 engaged in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, at the helm of the 13th and 14th Louisiana Regiments. According to Dr. Williams, legend has it that Warner's portrait, which had been painted with General Andrew Jackson, once hung in the Cabildo in New Orleans. But it has since disappeared.
A terrific description of the life of Col. Thomas Cargill Warner and his family is found in my copy of "A Complete History of Methodism as Connected with the Mississippi Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South" Volume 1 by John Griffling Jones. The introduction to the Warner family on page 97 reads as follows:
"Another historic family who performed an important part in the establishment of Methodism in what was West Florida--now the eastern parishes of Louisiana--was that of Hon. Thomas C. Warner. We know but little of Judge Warner's early history, except that he removed from Orangeburg District, South Carolina, about 1802, and settled a while in St. Helena Parish, and finally on the waters of Bogue Chitto, in Washington Parish, Louisiana, where he brought up a family of seven sons and six daughters. He was born of the Spirit while his wife was praying with him. This pious wife survived his triumphant death twenty years. He probably obtained the title of Judge from filling at an early day the office of Parish Judge in Washington Parish, La. His position in society was elevated. He served as Colonel in Jackson's war. His large family were intelligent, and noted for moral, steady, and industrious habits.
Judge Warner's house was the abode of true piety and a liberal Christian hospitality. The itinerant pastors of the circuit not only visited his family for their own entertainment and comfort, but that they might have access to his large household of promising children in order to win their young hearts to the Savior. Many were the fervent prayers of visiting ministers put on record for the salvation of the entire family; and many were the lessons of admonition, instruction, and encouragement which they received from their faithful pastors…."
Colonel, also known as Judge, Warner lived with his family on property near Enon, on the Bogue Chitto River. This was the same land where the original St. Tammany Parish Courthouse was situated, an area known as Washington Field. Then, in July of 1819 when Washington Parish was established, Warner offered this same building for the new parish's use. Thereafter, Col. Warner became Judge of Washington Parish, filling the vacancy left by the death of Judge Ebenezer Ford, a post which he held until his death.
Once the court moved north to what is now Franklinton, Col. Warner sold the site at Enon and moved to the area which is known today as Warnerton. It was there that the first Methodist Church in both Washington and St. Tammany Parishes was built. Called Warner's Church, it was where Col. Warner's sons preached.
The Warners' seven sons and six daughters were, as follows: Daniel Cargill Warner (1795-1868), Wettenhall Cornelius Warner (1796-1827), Sarah Clara Warner (1798-1877), Thomas Coalter Warner (1800-1870), Richard James Warner (1804-1832), Mary Pamelia Warner (1806-1889), John Bickham Warner (1807-1843), H. Harriet Warner (1809-1851), George Washington Warner (1814-1830), Tabitha Emily Warner (1811-1890), William Dudley Jones Warner (1817-1877), Elizabeth Brownlee Warner (1802-1882), and Nancy Cunningham Warner (1802-1880).
After her husband Col. Warner's death in 1833, wife Tabitha continued to reside in Warnerton until her daughter Hettie died. She then moved to Covington to live with her son John before moving west to East Feliciana Parish where she resided with her daughter Elizabeth Pipes, wife of Rev. David Pipes. Tabitha died in 1855 and is buried in the Pipes Cemetery in an unmarked grave.
Credit for this column: Dr. E. Russ Williams, Jr., and his book "Kinsmen All Descendants of Wettenhall Warner and Related Families."
Stay tuned for the next column in this series.
