My Genealogy Hound

WILBUR H. H. WARD, a retired business man of Amherst, was born in Southbridge, Mass., April 8, 1845, son of John B. and Louisa (Cook) Ward, and grandson of Reuben H. and Polly (Shaw) Ward.

Mr. Ward’s grandparents were natives of Belchertown, where his great-grandfather, John Ward, was an early settler. He owned a good farm there, and was generally known as an industrious and honest man. Both he and his wife lived to advanced age. They had a family of four sons and two daughters. John Ward was a member of the State militia, and was in Springfield at the time of Shays’s Rebellion. Politically, he was a Democrat. His son, Reuben H. Ward, succeeding to the ownership of the homestead, was engaged during his lifetime in agricultural pursuits. He prospered in his undertakings, and he owned land at the time of his death aggregating one hundred and twenty-five acres. Politically, he was independent. In religious matters his views were not restricted by creed, being broadly liberal. He died at the age of seventy-five. Grandmother Ward lived to be eighty-two. They had a family of seven sons and six daughters, four of whom are now living, namely: John B., the father of our subject; Warren S., in Michigan; Alfred, in Gilbertville; Lutheria (Mrs. Davis), in South Orange.

John B. Ward, the father of Mr. Ward, was educated in the schools of Belchertown. As a first attempt at earning a livelihood he hired out as a farm hand at ten dollars a month, and later he worked in the woollen factories of Ware and Southbridge. After fourteen years of factory life he purchased four hundred acres of land in Pelham, and engaged in lumbering and general farming. From 1850 to 1868 he was the largest tax-payer in Pelham. He was also the most extensive farmer, and was prominent as a lumberman. In September, 1868, he purchased the handsome estate where he and his son, Wilbur, now reside, and retired from active work. Mr. Ward’s early years were devoted to hard and persevering labor, and he is now enjoying its fruits. Politically, he favors the Democratic party. In religious views, like his father, he is liberal. His wife, to whom he was united May 15, 1837, was born in Pelham, June 23, 1815, daughter of Ziba and Sally Cook. Ziba Cook was a leading man in his district, and represented Pelham in the legislature several terms. Mrs. Ward died at Amherst, March 11, 1872.

Wilbur H. H. Ward was the only child of his parents. He was quite young when they removed to Pelham, and in that town received his early education, afterward attending other schools in Hampshire County. In 1866 he engaged in the bakery business in Springfield, with W. C. Wedge as partner. One year later they removed to Holyoke, and for some nine years conducted a successful trade in that town. In 1876 Mr. Ward went to New York City, and there was engaged as a baker till 1887, when he disposed of his business, and moved to Amherst, deciding

“To husband out life’s taper at the close,
And keep the flame from wasting, by repose.”

On February 16, 1865, Mr. Ward was married to Elizabeth A., daughter of Lemuel C. and Lucy Wedge, born in Pelham, January 5, 1846. Mr. and Mrs. Ward have no children.

Mr. Ward votes the Democratic ticket. In religious views he is liberal, while his wife is a member of the Episcopal church. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and was one of the charter members of the Association of Knights of Pythias in Holyoke. He has been a very successful man in business; and his residence on North Prospect Street, in the beautiful college town of Amherst, is one of the handsomest homes in the vicinity.