BART WARD

 

     Bart Ward, a prominent agriculturist and stock-raiser of Box Township, Cedar County, Mo., was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1839, and is the eleventh of fourteen children born to Charles and Letitia G. (Fury) Ward, natives of Ireland, where they were reared and married.  After coming to the United States they lived first in Ohio, and then in 1839 moved to Livingston County, Mo., where they remained until about 1842, when they located in Cedar County, being among its very first settlers.  The country was wild and unsettled, and wild animals of all kinds were numerous.  They improved a good farm, and here Mrs. Ward died in 1865 and Mr. Ward one year later.  Both were members of the Catholic Church.  He was a farmer, and was a stone-mason by trade.  Of their large family of children, only three are now living, viz.: Daniel, of Vernon County; Phares, of Cass County; and Bart, the subject of this sketch.  The latter has lived in Cedar County since three years of age, and never attended school a day in his life.  He began for himself at the age of twenty-three, and was married May 17, 1866, to Miss Zerelda Hawkins, daughter of David and Margaret Hawkins, natives of Tennessee, who moved to Indiana and from there to Missouri, settling in Livingston County in 1840, and then moved to Cedar County in 1865.  Here Mrs. Hawkins died in 1874, and Mr. Hawkins in 1880.  By his marriage Mr. Ward became the father of four children, one son and three daughters. Since marriage he has lived in Box Township, and on his present farm since 1881.  He is the owner of 200 acres of land, 170 under cultivation, is one of the pioneers of the county, and endured many of the privations incident to early times.  He is a Democrat, voting for Douglas in 1860, and is a member of the I. O. O. F.  When twenty-one years of age Mr. Ward could not spell nor write his name, but since then he has learned to read, is a fair scholar, and is well informed on general issues.  From 1862 until the close of the war he was in the Government employ in New Mexico.  Mrs. Ward belongs to the Christian Church.

From the History of Hickory, Polk, Cedar, Dade and Barton Counties, Missouri, 1889, p. 785-786

 

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