Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Ward, Richard

WARD, Richard, colonial governor, b. in Newport, R. I., 15 April, 1689; d. there. 21 Aug., 1763. His father, Thomas Ward, son of John Ward, who was an officer in one of Cromwell's cavalry regiments, came from Gloucester, England, after the restoration of Charles II., as his father did also, and both settled in Newport. Thomas Ward, who followed the business of a merchant, was general treasurer of the colony, 1677-'8, a deputy to the general assembly in 1678-'9, an assistant in 1679-'81, and then deputy from 1683 till 1686. Richard was also engaged in commerce. He was attorney-general in 1712-'13, deputy and clerk of the assembly in 1714, recorder from 1714 till 1730, deputy governor from May to July, 1740, when Gov. Wanton died, and governor from 15 July, 1740, till May, 1743 — three terms. His able report to the English board of trade on paper money, 9 Jan., 1741, is printed in the “Rhode Island Colonial Records,” edited by John R. Bartlett. — His son, Samuel, statesman, b. in Newport, R. I., 27 May, 1725; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 26 March, 1776, removed in early life to Westerly, R. I., where he prospered in business both as a farmer and merchant. After representing his adopted home for several years in the legislature, he was appointed in 1761 chief justice of the colony, and in 1762 he was chosen its governor. He was active in the founding of Rhode Island college (now Brown university), and was one of its trustees from 1764 till 1776. In 1765 he was re-elected governor. When the stamp-act was passed he was the only one of the colonial governors that refused to take the required oath to sustain and enforce it. For a third time he was chosen governor in 1766. From the outset he took a decided stand against the oppressive encroachments of the British crown. With Stephen Hopkins he represented Rhode Island in the Continental congress in 1774-'6, and uniformly advocated the most vigorous patriotic measures. He was always called to the chair when congress went into committee of the whole, was chairman of the committee that reported in favor of a general for the American army, when Col. George Washington was unanimously chosen. Dying of small-pox in the midst of his arduous duties, he was buried in the grounds of the 1st Baptist church in Philadelphia, where a monument was erected to his memory by order of the Rhode Island general assembly. In 1860 his remains were removed to the cemetery of Newport, R. I. — Another son, Henry, member of the colonial congress, b. in Rhode Island, 27 Dec., 1732; d. there, 25 Nov., 1797, was secretary of Rhode Island from 1760 till his death, and took part in the congress that met at New York city on 7 Oct., 1765. He early espoused the principle of national independence, and during the Revolution acted as a member of the committee of correspondence. — Samuel's son, Samuel, soldier, b. in Westerly, R. I., 17 Nov., 1756; d. in New York city 16 Aug., 1832, was graduated at Brown in 1771. He raised a company, and marched to the siege of Boston in 1775, was commissioned captain by congress, and joined Benedict Arnold's expedition into Canada, being taken prisoner at the siege of Quebec, and conveyed to New York city by sea. He was commissioned as major of the 1st Rhode Island line in 1777, was in action at Red Bank, writing the official report of the battle, and was with the army at Valley Forge. In 1778. after marrying a daughter of Gov. William Greene, he assisted in raising a new regiment in Rhode Island, which he commanded in Gen. John Sullivan's campaign in that state. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel in 1779, and retired on 1 Jan., 1781. He was a delegate in 1786 to the convention at Annapolis. Md., for the regulation of commerce between the states. He made a voyage to China in 1788, and in 1790 established himself in mercantile business in New York city. After serving as president of the New York marine insurance company in 1806-'8, he relinquished business, retiring to an estate in Rhode Island, whence he was sent as a delegate to the Hartford convention of 1814. He afterward resided in Jamaica, L. I., and at the close of his life in New York city. — The second Samuel's son, Samuel, banker, b. in Rhode Island, 1 May, 1786; d. in New York city, 27 Nov., 1839, received a common-school education, entered a banking-house as clerk, and in 1808 was taken into partnership, continuing a member of the firm of Prime, Ward and King until his death. In 1838 he secured through the Bank of England a loan of nearly $5,000,000 to enable the banks to resume specie payments, and established the Bank of commerce, becoming its president. He was a founder of the University of the city of New York and of the City temperance society, of which he was the first president, and was active in organizing mission churches, a patron of many charities, and the giver of large sums in aid of Protestant Episcopal churches and colleges in the west. — The third Samuel's wife, Julia Rush, poet, b. in Boston, Mass., 5 Jan., 1796; d. in New York city, 9 Nov., 1824, was a sister of Rev. Benjamin Clarke Cutler, and, through her mother, a grandniece of Francis Marion. She married Mr. Ward in October, 1812. One of her occasional poems is preserved in Rufus W. Griswold's “Female Poets of America” (Philadelphia, 1848). — Their son, Samuel, author, b. in New York city, 27 Jan., 1814; d. in Pegli, Italy, 19 May, 1884, was educated at Round Hill school, Northampton, Mass., and at Columbia, where he was graduated in 1831. He went abroad to perfect his studies, received the degree of Ph. D. from the University of Tübingen, travelled extensively, and became proficient in the modern languages. Returning in 1835, he married a daughter of William B. Astor, and entered his father's banking-house as a partner. After his second marriage, in 1843, to Medora, a daughter of John R. Grymes, he left the firm, and in 1848 went to California, where he engaged in mining. During his stay in the interior he acquired several Indian dialects. He visited Mexico in 1854, acted as secretary of an expedition sent by the United States government to Paraguay in 1858, went on a diplomatic mission to Nicaragua in 1862, securing the renewal of transit across the isthmus, and on his return settled in Washington, D. C., where his powers of conversation, persuasive manners, and skill in entertaining his friends, which extended even to inventing delicate dishes, enabled him to exert such influence over legislators that he was spoken of as “the king of the lobby.” He was also known as “Uncle Sam Ward.” His last years were spent in Europe, principally in England, where he was a social favorite. He died after returning from a journey to Malta from the home of his sister, Mrs. Terry, of Rome, whose first husband was Thomas Crawford, the sculptor. Another sister is Julia Ward Howe. Ward was for a score of years the intimate friend and correspondent of the poets Halleck and Longfellow. His nephew, Marion Crawford, has depicted him in the character of Mr. Bellingham in “Dr. Claudius” (1883). He published a volume of verse entitled “Lyrical Recreations” (New York, 1865). — The second Samuel's grandson, William Greene, soldier, b. in New York city, 20 July, 1832, was graduated at Columbia in 1851, and became a banker. He was lieutenant-colonel of the 12th regiment of New York militia, with which he served in the field from 21 April till 5 Aug., 1861. As colonel of the same regiment he was again in the United States service in 1862, participating as acting brigadier, and personally directing his artillery fire, in the defence of Harper's Ferry, where he was made prisoner and paroled. In 1863 he served again as colonel of the regiment in the Pennsylvania campaign. He partly invented and greatly improved the Ward-Burton breech-loading rifle. After the war he was made a brigadier-general in the state militia service, and served for nearly twenty years. — William Greene's brother, John, soldier, b. in New York city, 30 Nov., 1838, was graduated at Columbia college in 1858 and at Columbia law-school in 1860, then studied medicine at the New York university medical college, taking his degree of M. D. in 1864. During the civil war he served with his brother in the field as lieutenant, and afterward captain, in the 12th New York National guard, taking part in September, 1862, in the defence of Harper's Ferry, under a heavy artillery fire for three days, when surrounded by a large part of Lee's army under Stonewall Jackson, when he was made prisoner and paroled. Subsequently he became colonel of the 12th New York regiment for eleven years, till October, 1877, and for some time he acted as secretary to the National rifle association. He is the author of many historical papers and of “The Overland Route to California, and other Poems” (New York, 1875).