Person:Josiah Wardwell (1)

During the Revolutionary War, he was impressed on board an English man-of-war and kept there for 2 years. He escaped by swimming to the shore.

Several published sources have claimed that Josiah was a son of Daniel Wardwell of York by his first wife, Sarah Staples. This was probably based on the fact that Josiah named his first son and daughter Daniel and Sally, supposedly for his parents. Daniel Wardwell filed intentions at York on 24 January 1755 to marry Sarah Staples, only 2 days before the recorded birth of Josiah. Nine Months later, Daniel and Sarah brought their son Eliakim in for baptism at the York 1st Parish Church. All of Daniel's later children were also baptized at this church, but they included no son named Josiah. The only other adult Wardwell males living in York at the time of Josiah's birth were Daniel's older brothers Joseph and Jeremiah. Little is known of Joseph other than that he had a wife Mary, but he would seem the best candidate to be Josiah's father. Maine Families in 1790

1. ↑ Penobscot, Maine Vital Records.
2. ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/l/e/e/Richard-P-Lee-Jr/ODT1-0001.html?Welcome=1006632412.