Born: November 19, 1845
Died: February 1920 and buried in Pine Ridge Cemetery
Married: 2nd Wife: Belle Flanders applied for Warren’s Pension in 1920
Children: Myrtle Flanders Towne, Eugene Flanders, Guy M. Flanders, Ethel B. Flanders (1884 - 1961) and Charles S. Flanders (1896 - 1973)
Warren Flanders was a Civil War veteran and a guide; he was one of Dr. E.L. Trudeau's first guides.
"Warren C. Flanders and Orrin Flanders enlisted early in the war with the 96th Infantry (The “Plattsburg Regiment”). Orrin enlisted in October of 1861 and Warren a month later in November of 1861. In June 1865 they will join George M. Martin when the 118th merged with the 96th at Richmond. But the 96th and the 118th were joined in several battles toward the end, including Cold Harbor, Fair Oaks, and Petersburg." 1
He is listed as a member of GAR Post No. 490 in Bloomingdale, having served under James H. Pierce. In 1878, he was listed as a Major serving under General George W. Pay in what appears to have been a home guard operation.
He was a brother of N. B. Flanders, and of Helen and Lydia Flanders, one of whom was Mrs. George Martin.
He was also known as a musician and a square dance caller. The following verses are excerpted from a piece published in the Malone Farmer, March 3, 1926
THE BOYS AND GIRLS OF OLDEN DAYS AT WARDNER'S RAINBOW HALL.
...Vene Pay he saws the violin, while Flanders toots the horn
To keep them dancing to the strains until the early morn
Stand on your feet, pull down your vest, salute your partners all
It's lot of fun we always have at Wardner's Rainbow Hall...
...Now Warren Flanders calls it off to keep them on the run,
While Captain Pierce with graceful glides contributes to the fun
Both Henry Smith and Burt McCann are swept against the wall
By all this multitude of sports at Wardner's Rainbow Hall...
Full text is included at the bottom of the Rainbow Inn page.
Edward Livingston Trudeau, An Autobiography, 1915, pp. 84-88. The section below describes Trudeau's 1873 visit to Paul Smith's, the first trip to the Adirondacks after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
Warren Flanders came to my room after breakfast and told me he had fixed the boat "comfortable" with balsam boughs and blankets so that I could lie down in it, had put my rifle in, and if I felt up to it we would row down the river to Keese's Mill "kind of slow" and see what we could see. My hunting blood responded at once and I was soon in the boat. It was a beautiful sunny June day, the sky and water were blue, and the trees resplendent in their spring foliage; and as I lay comfortably on the soft boughs in the stern of the boat, with my rifle in reach across the gunwale, my spirits were high and I forgot all the misery and sickness I had gone through in the past two months. The guide kept looking ahead from time to time. All at once he stopped, suddenly turning the boat sidewise. On a point about two hundred yards away I saw two deer: a buck and a doe were feeding. I never sat up, but rested my rifle on the side of the boat and fired at the buck who, after a few jumps, fell dead at the edge of the woods. Warren went ashore, loaded the deer in the boat and we returned to the hotel. If any game laws existed in those days they didn't apply to the Adirondack wilderness, for it was the custom to shoot game and catch fish at any season, provided they were used as food and not sent out of the woods for sale. I got back quite triumphant to the hotel, and Lou Livingston, Paul Smith and the guides, who were very sympathetic about my illness, seemed delighted that I had had such good sport on the first day of my arrival.”
The Essex County Republican, February 13, 1920
ADIRONDACK GUIDE HAS PASSED AWAY
Warren C. Flanders Died at his Home in Saranac Lake - Was Famous As Woodsman.
Warren C. Flanders, 74 one of the best known guides in the Adirondacks died Thursday night at his home in Saranac Lake. He had been suffering from heart trouble for a year and a half.
Mr. Flanders was born at Schuyler Falls, Nov. 19, 1845. He came to this section when a youth and lived for a time at Bloomingdale. Forty-three years ago he married Miss Belle Buckley of Bloomingdale, who was his second wife. He went to Saranac Lake twenty-eight years ago and had since been caretaker of the Steele property on Lower Saranac Lake on which is located the handsome camp of Charles Swain of Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. Flanders was employed by the Swains since he was 19.
Mr. Flanders knows the woods and lakes of the Adirondacks as only the old guide knows them. He was a crack rifle shot, a clever angler and reliable guide, and his career has been the picturesque life of the Adirondack pioneer.
Mr. Flanders served during the Civil War with the Ninty Sixth Regiment. At the end of the war he returned to this section. He was commander of F. M. Bull Post, G. A. R. of Saranac Lake virtually since it was formed. Besides his widow, he is survived by five children, Mrs. Myrtle Towne of Bloomingdale and Eugene Flanders of Bay Pond, by his first wife, and Guy M. Flanders, Ethel B. Flanders and Charles S. Flanders by his second wife.
The funeral was held from the home Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Rev. E. P. Miller, rector of St. Luke's Episcopal church, officiating. Services were conducted with military honors. Internment was in Pine Ridge cemetery.
