William Ward (frontiersman)
| Colonel William Ward | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 14, 1752 Augusta County, Virginia |
| Died | November 24, 1822 (aged 69) Urbana, Ohio |
| Resting place | Oak Dale Cemetery, Urbana, Ohio |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | frontiersman, soldier, state militia officer, politician, surveyor, merchant, land speculator |
| Relatives |
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Colonel William Ward (December 14, 1752 – December 24, 1822) was the founder of Urbana, Ohio and one of the original settlers in Kentucky’s Mason County and Ohio’s Mad River Valley.
William Ward was born on Dec 14, 1752 in Augusta County, Virginia, the first son of Scotch-Irish immigrants James and Phoebe (Lockhart) Ward. His father, Captain James Ward, was born in County Donegal, Ireland and immigrated to the Colonies around 1730 as an infant with his father and two brothers.
Ward lived on the edge of the frontier his entire life. Shortly after William was born, his father moved the family from eastern Augusta County to the area now known as Greenbrier County, West Virginia. After Braddock's Defeat, that area became too hostile so James Ward moved his family closer toward Staunton while he joined several expeditions during the French and Indian War.
As a six-year-old boy in 1758, Ward joined his father on horseback to travel to the family mill on the Jackson River near Fort Dinwiddie, which was located five miles west of Warm Springs in present-day Bath County, Virginia. They were unaware that William’s three-year-old brother, John, had followed them on foot. A pair of Shawnee watched from the woods and stole John. Despite efforts to track the Shawnee in the light snow, the family was unable to locate John. Years later, the family learned that John was raised by the Shawnee and adopted the name of White Wolf.
In 1774, the royal governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issued a call for volunteers to create a militia for retaliatory war against the Indian nations along the Ohio River. Ward volunteered to join his father’s company from Botetourt County under the command of Colonel William Fleming. Ward was selected to serve as a sergeant. The company of Captain James Ward only consisted of seven men so at times it was amalgamated with the company of James’s wife’s brother-in-law Captain Mathew Arbuckle. William and his father fought at the Battle of Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774. When William’s father, Captain James Ward, was killed in battle, William assumed command of the company. Years later, the family discovered that long-lost family member John Ward fought in the battle with his adopted Shawnees.
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