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John Ward (abt. 1626 - 1708)

John Ward
Born about in Englandmap [uncertain]
Son of and
Brother of , , , , [half], [half], [half], [half], [half], [half], [half] and [half]
Husband of — married about 1650 in Massachusetts Bay Colonymap [uncertain]
Descendants descendants
Father of , , , , , , , , , and
Died at about age 82 in Newton, Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Baymap [uncertain]
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Anne B private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 22 Feb 2010
This page has been accessed 6,627 times.
There are disproven, disputed, or competing theories about this person's parents. See the text for details.

Contents

Biography

John Ward immigrated to New England as a child during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640).

Vitals

Birth: 1626 in England, the son of William Ward. This date is written in the Newton, Massachusetts town records, after the fact. It is part of a listing of William's children.[1] It can also be found in the printed Newton Town Records followed by "sword" mark, indicating a town copy with additions.[2] As the oldest child of William, John's mother would have been the first wife of William.[3] Again, she was not Elizabeth Phillips as is sometimes reported.

Marriage: Hannah Jackson (c.1634-1704), daughter of Edward and Frances (_____) Jackson, about 1650.[4][5] A record has not yet been found for their marriage.

Death: John died according to the town record on 1 July 1708,[2][3] although the Ward Genealogy lists the date as the 8th.[4] The date of death inscribed on his gravestone is "1st July 1708". John is buried in the East Parish Burying Ground in Newton, Massachusetts.[6]

Massachusetts

John's father William was an original settler at Sudbury. John Ward was a freeman on 3 May 1649[7] and a proprietor of Sudbury in 1651.[8] John received a land grant in Sudbury about 1655.[9]

In 1659, John was one of the first twenty settlers in the area now known as Newton, Massachusetts.[3] The area was settled in 1630 and named Cambridge in 1638. Newton was incorporated as a separate town, known as Cambridge Village (called "New Cambridge" by some), on 15 December 1681. It was renamed Newtown in 1691, and finally Newton in 1766.

On 10 March 1661, his wife's father, Edward Jackson, conveyed 45 acres of land in Cambridge (later Newton) to John and Hannah, on which they had previously built their house (which was later used as a garrison house during King Phillip's war).[3] John and Hannah were members of Newton's first church, established in 1664.[3]

John was on the 1679 list of freeholders in Newton.[3] He was a turner and farmer there,[4] and was a selectman for nine years beginning in 1679. He was Cambridge Village's first representative to the General Court, serving in that post for eight years. He served on several committees as well.[3]

John was named in the will of his father dated 6 April 1686 and proved 29 September 1687, in which he inherited land in Marlborough, Massachusetts.[10]

By 1701, John owned about 500 acres of land which he gifted to his sons, who each received about 100 acres.[4][3]

Will

John left a will dated 2 January 1707/8 and proved 19 July 1708. As he had gifted all his lands to his sons in 1701, his inventory dated 9 July 1708 only listed household and personal items totalling £13 12s 10d.[11]

Children

John and Hannah had the following children, all were born or baptized in Cambridge (later Newton), Massachusetts:

  1. Hannah,[4] eldest child,[1] born about 1651.[12] Hannah married Thomas Greenwood[2] and they had children. Hannah probably died before 1687.[13]
  2. John, born 26 January 1653[1] and died 5 June 1654, in Newton[4]
  3. Rebecca, born 15 June 1655[1] and died unmarried 28 August 1735 in Newton[4]
  4. John, born 8 March 1658.[4][1] John married Mary Spring and died 5 June 1727 age 69 in Newton.[2]
  5. Elizabeth, born 18 June 1660.[4][1][14] Elizabeth married Joshua Fuller and died 17 August 1691 in Newton.[2]
  6. Deborah, born 19 July 1662[4][1] or 19 October 1662.[15] Deborah married John Wyeth.[16]
  7. William, born 19 November 1664.[4][1][17] He married Abigail Spring; William of Waltham died 23 January 1752 in Newton.[2]
  8. Richard, born 15 November 1666.[4][1][18] He married Thankful Trowbridge; Deacon Richard died 27 March 1739 in Newton.[2]
  9. Mercy, born 27 January 1668,[1][19] died unmarried 4 June 1685 in Newton[4][2][20]
  10. Edward, born 13 March 1671.[4][1][21] He married Grace Lovering.[22]
  11. Eleazer, born 26 February 1672.[4][1][23] Eleazer married Deliverance Trowbridge and had children.[24] He died 18 January 1750/1 in Oxford, Massachusetts.[25]
  12. Jonathan, born 22 April 1674.[4][1][26] Jonathan married Abigail Hall and died 16 July 1723 in Newton.[2]
  13. Joseph, born 15 November 1677.[4][1][26] He died 26 November 1742 in Newton.[2] He married Esther Kenrick and had issue.[27]

Research Notes

Disputed Origins: The Find a Grave website and several Ancestry trees list the birthdate of John as 21 December 1626 and his parents as William Ward and Elizabeth Phillips (or Phillipus). William and Elizabeth were married by license on 4 May 1626 at St. James Church in Clerkenwell.[28] There is, however, no evidence that the William who married Elizabeth Phillips/Phillipus was the same William who emigrated to New England.

More on Origins: Go to FamilySearch and search the England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1473014. There are six John Wards listed as christened, in 1626, in their database alone. John Ward is a very common name and just because you’ve found one John, does not make him the correct John. There is one Obediah (a much less common name) in the correct time span. He even has a William as a father, however he’s from Warrington, Lancashire, England, not London and his christening date is 1635, much later than we would expect to find it.

Further explanations are on the profile of John's father William Ward.

Middle or Nickname Turner: There are no documents that show John had a middle name of "Turner" or ever used the nickname "the Turner". Turner often appears in unsourced trees and FindAGrave, perhaps as an indentifier, as there were several John Wards who settled in Massachusetts at the same time. As John did not use this name himself, it was removed as a nickname.

Sources

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Ward family births in Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm 007009513.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Vital Records of Newton, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850. Boston: NEHGS, 1905. Archive.org. Ward Births: pp. 197-204; Ward Marriages: pp. 395-397; Ward Deaths: pp. 510-512
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Smith, Samuel Francis. History of Newton, Massachusetts ... 1630-1880. American Logotype Co., 1880, pp. 40, 95 (bio); 109 (1661 deed); 762-764 (town office). Google Books.
  4. ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 Martyn, Charles. William Ward Genealogy: The History of the Descendants of William Ward of Sudbury, Mass., 1638-1925. Part II: William Ward's Descendants. New York: Artemas Ward of the Seventh Generation, 1925, pp. 65-66. Archive.org or .pdf (pp. 109-110)
  5. ↑ Frank Farnsworth Starr. Edward Jackson Family of Newton, Massachusetts. Hartford, CT: 1895, p. 26 (children of Edward w/baptism date). Archive.org.
  6. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 20 January 2023), memorial page for John Turner Ward (21 Dec 1626–1 Jul 1708), Find A Grave: Memorial #18365547, citing East Parish Burying Ground, Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA; Maintained by LookingForFamily (contributor 47127361): images of headstone.
  7. ↑ Shurtleff, Nathaniel. Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. Boston: William White, 1853, p. 295. Archive.org.
  8. ↑ Ward, Andrew Henshaw. Ward Family: Descendants of William Ward, who Settled in Sudbury, Mass., in 1639. Boston: Samuel G. Drake, 1851, pp. 9-10. Archive.org
  9. ↑ Hudson, Alfred Sereno. The History of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889. Town of Sudbury, 1889. Republished by the Sudbury Press, 1968, p. 181. Archvive.org.
  10. ↑ "Suffolk County, MA: Probate File Papers." NEHGS, 2017-2019. Online database from records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org. AmericanAncestors.org($): Will of William Ward
  11. ↑ "Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871". NEHGS, 2014. From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Digitized images provided by FamilySearch.org. AmericanAncestors.org($) and Ancestry Sharing Link (free access); Ancestry Record 9069 #2405174($): John Ward probate in 1708.
  12. ↑ "Massachusetts Births and Christenings, 1639-1915", database, (FamilySearch: 10 December 2019), Hannah Ward, 1651 (index only).
  13. ↑ Frederick Greenwood. Greenwood Genealogies, 1154-1914. East Templeton, MA: 1914, p. 53. Archive.org
  14. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Elizabeth Ward, 18 Jun 1660; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  15. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Deborah Ward, 19 8th month 1662; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  16. ↑ Vital Records of Cambridge, Massachusetts to the Year 1850. Vol. 2: Marriages and Deaths. Boston, MA: 1915. Archive.org. Ward Marriages: pp. 403-404; Ward Deaths: p. 777
  17. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), William Ward, 19 Nov 1664; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  18. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Richard Ward, 19 Nov 1666; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  19. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Mercy Ward, 27 Jan 1668; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  20. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Mercy Ward, 4 Jun 1685; Hannah Ward 21 Apr 1704. Death, Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 007009513.
  21. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Edward Ward, 13 Mar 1671; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  22. ↑ "U.S., New England Marriages Prior to 1700". Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co. Ancestry Sharing Link (free access); Ancestry Record 3824 #71825($). Edward Ward marriage to Grace Lovering in 1699 in New England, USA.
  23. ↑ "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Eleazer Ward, 26 Feb 1672; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  24. ↑ Martyn. William Ward Genealogy. 1925, p. 78. Archive.org.
  25. ↑ "Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988", Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute (Jay and Delene Holbrook), Ancestry Sharing Link (free access); Ancestry Record 2495 #80734439 ($), Eleazer Ward death 18 Jan 1750-1751 in Oxford.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, (FamilySearch: 20 May 2022), Jonath. Ward, 22 Feb 1674; Birth, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony; FHL microfilm 004198966.
  27. ↑ Martyn. William Ward Genealogy. 1925, p. 79. Archive.org.
  28. ↑ "England, Middlesex Parish Registers, 1539-1988", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68FW-1MD3 : 11 July 2022), William Ward, 1626.




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Comments: 14

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Madison-125 Bobbie (Madison) Hall
This person immigrated to New England between 1621-1640 as a Minor Child (under age 21 at time of immigration) of a Puritan Great Migration immigrant who is profiled in Robert Charles Anderson's Great Migration Directory (or is otherwise accepted by the Puritan Great Migration (PGM) Project).

Please feel free to improve the profile(s) by providing additional information and reliable sources. PGM encourages the Profile Managers to monitor these profiles for changes; if any problems arise, please contact the PGM Project via G2G for assistance. Please note that PGM continues to manage the parent's profile, but is happy to assist on the children when needed.

posted by Bobbie (Madison) Hall
Cochoit-2 Joe Cochoit
Anne, I see you have been making a few changes on this profile. I think it should definitively shoot down the theory that his mother was Elizabeth Phillips as we have done on his father's page. There is no evidence whatsoever to backup the theory (wills, baptisms etc.), and the dates don't work. There is no point in leaving it out there as even a possibility, unless evidence is found.
posted by Joe Cochoit
Hilse-40 Anonymous (Hilse) Burnett
I've just spent about 2 hrs trying to get the whole line of Ward family members together, and my search is a WARNING to anyone who thinks a quick search is possible. My ancestors don't hail from the same part of the country and perhaps England or Ireland as mine did. I have many many of the first names of this line in my line. So I was hopeful. But that is a 2nd WARNING: traditional naming practices are also not a NECESSARY LINK to someone else's researched lines. The notes about John Ward of England & Newton MA are ample warning. Mine is strictly a repeat of a kind, and a perhaps insufficient warning that one should not go in optimistically.
posted by Anonymous (Hilse) Burnett

Rejected matches › John Baird (abt.1633-)

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Categories: East Parish Burying Ground, Newton, Massachusetts | Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b | Ward Name Study | Massachusetts, Ward Name Study | Puritan Great Migration Minor Child