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Thursday, November 21, 2013

How does George (1) Ward of Tygert Valley, Randolph County, West Virginia fit into my line of descent?

A Tragic account from: The Kinnan Massacre. West Virginia History: George Ward of Tygert Valley died before his wife Mary Ward.  As a young widow Mary Ward went to live with a friend named Mary Kinnan (nee Lewis) and her husband and children.  Mary had three children of her own, two boys George (2) and David  and one girl; The child of Mary Ward's named Mary was killed by Shawnee.  Also, during an evening raid by the Shawnee, David was scalped but survived and George who was an infant was slipped out of a window by his mother.   Mary ran to get help from a neighbor: John Hamilton. He sounded the alarm and help did not come soon enough and the Shawnee took Mary Kinnan captive for four years.

This tragic account led me to look for the grandfather Israel Ward in Gloucester, New Jersey.  Apparently, Mary returned to New Jersey with her sons and David bore a scar on his forehead as evidence of the Shawnee raid.

The question I have is who was George (1) Ward's father?  A working hypothesis is that his father was Edward Ward son of  John (1) Ward because of a Military Pension file I found on Fold3.com

I will keep looking and see if I can resolve this quandary.

Source: Sutler, Boyd B.  The Kinnan Massacre. West Virginia History. Volume 1, No 1. October 1939 page 30.

Disclaimer: I do not work for Fold3. I am a genealogist with gsgenealogy.

Found: Parents of Edward Ward

Update November 21 2013: Thank you to my fellow Edward Ward descendent who found this will and the will of John (1) Ward:

Edward Ward’s parents have been located. He is mentioned in his John Ward’s will in 1825 (Family Search Online. Hampshire County Virginia which is now Mineral County, West Virginia) Knobley Mountain/New Creek area, Patterson Creek.

John (2) Ward’s father is John Ward (1) whose father is Sylvester Ward. Sylvester Ward’s (of Hardy and Pendleton Counties, VA (now West Virginia)) father was Israel Ward (on Gloucester, New Jersey) Israel Ward was one of the first patentees of Lord Fairfax’s Northern Neck, South Branch/Patterson Creek (Hampshire County) in West Virginia. It is possible that he had a Tomahawk Claim because he does not appear in the official records but was settled there at an early date. The “Elkins, West Virginia Wards” came from this line.

Edward Ward’s siblings who were also listed in the will are: Sarah Ward, Hester Ward, Joel Ward, Jessie Ward, and John Ward(3). Note: The naming pattern Edward named his own son “Joel” after his brother and named a son after his brother, father and grandfather “John”

See post dated March 11, 2014 for a summary of persons mentioned in John (1) Ward's 1807 will.