Wards
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Welcome to the "Famous Wards" section devoted to Ward kin who have served in the United States Congress, including the Continental Congresses, the United States Senate and the House of Representatives.
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Ward kin who have served in the United States House of Representatives.
Michael Delavan Ward was born 7 Jan 1951 in White Plains, New York. He graduated from the University of Louisville, Louisville, Ky. in 1974. He became a sales representative. He was elected to the Kentucky State House of Representatives and served 1989-1993. He served as special assistant to County Judge and County Executive from 1985-1989. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer to The Gambia.
Michael was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 104th US Congress and served 1995-1997. He lost a bid for reelection in 1996.
Samuel Ward was born 27 May 1725 in Newport, Rhode Island, a son of Richard Ward and Mary Tillinghast. He received a private, tutored education. He became a farmer. He was elected to represent the town of Westerly to the Rhode Island General Assembly and served 1756-1759. He was one of the founders of Rhode Island College (later renamed Brown University) and became a member of its Board of Trustees from 1764-1776.
During the French and Indian War of the 1740's and 1750's, Samuel represented Rhode Island at a Convention of the Colonies to consult with Lord Loudoun, commander of the British forces, as to a course for the colonies and the mother country in the war. The report of the commissioners of Rhode Island was adopted by the convention.
Samuel became an ardent supporter of civil rights for the Colonists and in 1763, he won election as Governor of Rhode Island. He was reelected in 1765 and held office until 1767. When the British parliament passed the infamous Stamp Act which imposed taxes on imports into the American Colonies -- without any representation of these colonists in that legislative body -- the Americans became infuriated. Samuel was the only one of the governors of the 13 colonies who refused to sign a required oath to sustain and enforce it.
He was appointed a delegate from Rhode Island to the Continental Congress to be held at Philadelphia as tensions heightened in the period leading up to the American Revolution.
The drama of revolution and war opened with all its horrors of bloodshed and devastation, and all its glorious scenes of devotion to the rights of man, and determination to obtain liberty, at any and every cost. Samuel played a prominent part in these scenes and performed it well. Samuel wrote a letter in 1775 to his brother, speaking of his own position and his feelings; he said:
"I have traced the progress of this unnatural war, through burning towns, devastation of the country, and every subsequent evil. I have realized, with regard to myself, the bullet, the bayonet and the halter; and, compared with the immense object I have in view, they are all less than nothing. No man living, perhaps, is more fond of his children than I am, and I am not so old as to be tired of life; and yet, as far as I can now judge, the tenderest connections and the most important private concerns are very minute objects. Heaven save our country, I was going to say, is my first, my last, and almost my only prayer"
Samuel took an active part in helping organize the Rhode Island Militia for the war. His son Samuel Jr., recently out of college, entered the Colonial Army with the commission of captain.
When the Continental Congress met, Samuel was chosen Chairman of the "Committee of the Whole". The committee recommended "...that a general be appointed to command all the Continental forces raised, or to be raised, for the defence of American liberty." This was passed and George Washington was chosen by ballot to take command of American forces.
Samuel was a devoted admirer of Gen. Washington, and a sincere advocate of his election. A few weeks after the appointment, he wrote to Gen. Washington:
"I most cheerfully entered upon a solemn engagement, upon your appointment, to support you with my life and my fortune; and I shall most religiously, and with the highest pleasure, endeavor to discharge that duty."
We find Governor Ward a most active member of Congress, and untiring in his efforts to organize and advance the preparations for defence on the part of the colonists. He was warmly in favor of pronouncing a declaration of independence; and, although he did not live to sign the Declaration, yet he was one of the most active and determined among those who consummated it.
During the Congress, Samuel contracted smallpox and fell ill in March 1776. He last attended sessions on Mar 15. He died 26 Mar and was buried at the First Baptist Church Cemetery in Philadelphia. All the members of the Congress and a large crowd of friends and supporters attended his funeral.
The remains of Governor Ward were exhumed and removed to the Old Cemetery at Newport, Rhode Island in 1860. The slab over his grave, contains the following inscription, written by John Jay (Supreme Court Justice):
"In memory of the Honorable Samuel Ward, formerly Governor of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; afterwards delegated from that colony to the General Congress; in which station, he died, at Philadelphia, of the small pox, March 26th, 1776, in the fifty-first year of his age. His great abilities, his unshaken integrity, his ardor in the cause of freedom, his fidelity in the offices he filled, induced the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations to erect this grateful testimony of their respect."
T
homas Ward was born about 1759 in Newark, New Jersey. Thomas graduated from Princeton University in 1803. He studied law and was admitted to the bar and set up practice in Newark. He served as a captain and major in the Army during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 in Pennsylvania. He was elected Sheriff of Essex County in 1797. He was elected a Judge of the Essex County Court in 1804 and reelected in 1809. He served as a member of the Legislative Council in 1808 and 1809.Thomas was elected as a Democratic Republican to the House of Representatives of the US Congress and to an additional term, serving from 1813-1817.
He was serving as senior officer of the New Jersey Cavalry at the time of his death, 4 Mar 1842. He died at Newark and was buried at the First Presbyterian Church Cemetery there.
Thomas Bayless Ward was born 27 Apr 1835 in Marysville, Union County, Ohio. His family moved to La Fayette, In. He graduated from Miami University of Oxford, Oh. in 1855-1856. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar. He became Clerk of the city of La Fayette. He was elected City Attorney in 1859 and 1860. He was elected Mayor and served 1861-1865. He was elected Judge of the Superior Court of Tippecanoe County and served 1875-1880.
Thomas was elected as a Democrat to the House of Representatives of the 48th US Congress and to an additional term, serving from 1883-1887. He did not seek reelection in 1886. He then resumed his law practice in La Fayette. He died there 1 Jan 1892 and was buried at Springvale Cemetery.
William Ward was born 1 Jan 1837 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a son of Patrick Ward. He received his education at Girard College, Philadelphia. He worked as a printer for the Delaware County Republican newspaper at Chester for four years. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He also entered banking in 1868 and retired from the banking firm of Ward & Baker in 1873. William was elected to the Chester City Council for several years and served as City Solicitor. He served as secretary and treasurer of the Chester Improvement Co., director of the First National Bank, treasurer of the South Ward Water Board and secretary of the Chester Creek Railroad Co.
William was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives of the 45th US Congress and to two additional terms, serving 1877-1883. He did not seek reelection in 1882. After his terms in Congress, he returned to his law practice in Chester. He died there 27 Feb 1895 and was buried in Rural Cemetery.
William Lukens Ward was born 2 Sep 1856 in Greenwich, Fairfield County, Connecticut. He later moved to Port Chester, NY with his parents in 1863. He attended Friends Seminary, New Yori and the Columbia College (University) school of mines and graduated in 1878. He then engaged in manufacturing nuts, bolts and rivets at Port Chester. He served as Chairman of the Republican Party State Committee for several years.
William was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives of the 55th US Congress and served 1897-1899. He then resumed his manufacturing work . He served as a member of the Republican Party National Committee from 1904-1912.
He died 16 Jul 1933 in New York, NY and was buried in the family mausoleum at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, NY.
William Thomas Ward was born 9 Aug 1808 in Amelia County, Virginia. He attended St. Mary's College, Lebanon, Ky. and then studied law. He set up practice in Greensburg, Ky. He served as a major of the Fourth Kentucky Regiment of Volunteers during the Mexican War in 1847-1848. He was elected to the Kentucky State House of Representatives in 1850.
William was elected as a Whig Party candidate to the House of Representatives of the 32nd US Congress and served one term, 1851-1853. He did not seek reelection.
During the War for Southern Independence, he was commissioned a brigadier general in the union army and served throughout the war. After the war, he set up law practice in Louisville, Ky. He died there 12 Oct 1878 and was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.
Mathias (Matthias) Ward, Jr. was born 13 Oct 1805 in Elbert County, Georgia, a son of Mathias Ward Sr. and Rebecca Elizabeth Salmon. His parents moved to Madison County, Alabama where he was raised. He attended an academy in Huntsville, Ala. He taught school for two years and studied law.
Mathias moved to the Republic of Texas in 1836 and settled in Bowie. He later moved to Clarksville in 1845. He worked in trading.
Mathias was elected to the Senate of the Seventh and Eighth Congresses of the Republic of Texas.
He later moved to Jefferson and was elected to the Texas State Senate, serving 1849-1850. He lost a bid for Texas lieutenant governor in 1851. He was a delegate to the Democratic Party conventions at Baltimore in 1852 and Cincinnati in 1856. He served as president of the Texas State Democratic Convention in 1856.
He served in the Seventh and Eighth Congresses of the Republic. After his removal to Jefferson, he served in the Texas Senate, 1849-50, and unsuccessfully campaigned for the lieutenant governorship in 1851. Ward was a delegate to the Democratic conventions in Baltimore in 1852 and in Cincinnati in 1856 and president of the State Democratic convention in 1856. In 1855 Ward was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress.
The Texas Legislature elected him to the United States Senate to fill a vacant seat in 1858. He served from Sep 1858 until Dec 1859.
Mathias married Elizabeth L. Sanders. He died 5 Oct 1861 at Warm Springs near Raleigh, North Carolina and was buried with Masonic honors at the Old City Cemetery in Nashville, Tn.
John Renshaw Thomson was born 25 Sep 1800 at Philadelphia, Pa. He attended the College of New Jersey (now Princeton Univ.). He went to China in 1817 an became a merchant in Canton. He served as the United States consul there, 1823-1825. He returned to the US and settled at Philadelphia. He was president of the Philadelphia & Trenton Railroad Co. He was an unsuccessful Democratic Party candidate for governor of New Jersy in 1844.
John was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by a resignation. He was reelected in 1857 and served from 4 Mar 1853, until his death at Princeton, NJ, 12 Sep 1862. During his tenure, he served as chairman, Committee on Patents and the Patent Office.
John married first Annis Stocton and after her death in 1842, married Miss ??? Ward, a daughter of Aaron Ward and ??? Watson.