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elcome to the Ward Family Club's History section, devoted to history of all the different Ward families. Obviously, all the Ward families in the America are not related because this name became a common "occupational" name in Britain. However, we do all have a common bond of interest in a desire to preserve our families' heritage. Because of this, we are trying to create a national library of records and information and provide a family club for all of us to work together on this effort. Please--don't write and ask if you are "related" to "this group". As stated--this is a family club for ALL Ward families.We hope the Family Club and this website can become a central "clearing house" for information and records on our families' heritage. You are urged to make copies of family records and take time to write down info on your immediate family as far back as you know of and send these records and info to preserve in the Family Library. Our Library will be donated to the Georgia State Archives in Atlanta upon the death of our historian. This agency was chosen because it is the largest and most modern state archives in the South (where our historian is from) and centrally located to a vast number of our families.
The Ward families who were in the English Colonies when they became independent came from the British Isles -- England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. It is a common "occupational" name in Britain, meaning a guardian, usually of a fortress or castle -- i.e.="the ward of the castle" or guardian of the site. The word "warden" has the same origin.
Read the section below on the Ward Family Library to learn more about the type of information and records we are trying to gather and preserve on all Ward families.
If you came directly to this site, be sure and visit the Ward Family Club's HOME page where you can jump to the family QUERIES section, the Ward Family NEWSLETTER, the "FAMOUS WARDS" section (governors, movies, Congressmen, state legislators, educators, senators, athletes, state officials and more) and our other websites. Click on back to "HOME" at the bottom of this page to get started.
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e are trying to create a national family library for ALL the Ward families. So don't ask "does this include my "branch". If you are a Ward or descendant of a Ward--it does include you. This effort needs the cooperation of all the Ward families. No one person nor a small group of folks can accomplish such a goal. This is why we have a family club--so we can all work together on this effort.We are trying to gather and preserve every type of public document and family record available on ALL the Ward families. This includes every kind of record found in local county courthouses, state records, libraries and in homes, such as the births, marriages and deaths recorded in your family Bible.
You are strongly urged to take part in this project and send in copies of family records to be preserved in the Family Library. Upon the death of our historian, this Library will be donated to the Georgia State Archives in Atlanta, the largest and most modern such facility in the South and the most centrally located one for all our family.
The kinds of records and information we are trying to preserve on our families include:
Family records
Information in our Family Library is kept on family information sheets: these include the names of the father and mother, when and where they were born, married, died and are buried; their parents and grandparents names; and same info on their children. Also, family Bible records, old letters, written manuscripts of family histories, etc.
We are gathering every kind of public records including: marriage licenses and bonds, birth and death certificates, obituaries, wills & probate records, military records, cemetery records, homesteads, land grants, deeds, (tombstone inscriptions), census records, published information (from books & magazines), school records, awards & certificates. In other words, if it has been written about our family, we want to preserve it in our family library.
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his Alabama State historical marker records the fact that John Ward was the first person buried in the cemetery at old Fort Mitchell. This fort was established on the west side of the Chattahoochee River in what is now Alabama and was used as a military post by the US Army to guard the frontier against hostile Creek (Muscogee) and Seminole Indians. The post was also a major trading center between the whites and Indians of southern Georgia, Alabama and north Florida. It was a principal jumping off point for settlers moving from Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia westward to Mississippi Territory and Louisiana.At present, we have no proof as to "which" John he was. This has always been a common name in the Ward families and there were quite a number in the Southeast during this period.
Our thanks to Frank J. Ward for the photo above. He says his family believes this John is the father of James B. Ward who later settled in Dale County, Ala.
This section will soon have a brief history of Ward families whose roots were originally from the South. Be patient as out historian works on it.
[NOTE: the coat of arms shown at the top of the page is just one of several granted to knights of England and Great Britain over the centuries. Below are more. If you have copies of a Ward coat of arms or family crest, please send us a copy by email or to the mailing address on the HOME page, to preserve in the Family Library.
back to Ward Family Club Home page17 June, 1998