William Ward

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.

Early life and family William Ward was born on December 14, 1752, in Augusta County, Virginia, the first son of Irish and 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.

Revolutionary War service Ward fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant. His father, Captain James Ward, died in the battle.

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.

By 1777, William had been promoted to lieutenant and was serving at Fort Randolph and also the Greenbrier area with his mother's brother-in-law Captain Matthew Arbuckle. Ward was stationed at Fort Randolph on November 10, 1777, and witnessed the events leading up to the murder of the Shawnee chief, Cornstalk. In a deposition, also signed by what appears to be his future father-in-law, John Anderson, Ward describes that Cornstalk was murdered by a mob of armed men who were angry with the killing and scalping of Robert Gilmore. It is not clear if these men were militia or settlers. They entered the garrison as a mob. The previous day, Captain Matthew Arbuckle had imprisoned Cornstalk and his three companions. According to Ward, Arbuckle attempted to stop the mob but failed. Four Shawnee, including Chief Cornstalk, were murdered.

In 1781, Captain William Ward was the head of the militia for the Howard's/Anthony Creek area of Greenbrier.

Early settlement of Greenbrier and Mason counties After the Revolutionary War ended, Ward married Rebecca Anderson in Greenbrier. In 1782, he served as a trustee charged with the layout, establishment and organization of a town around the County Courthouse at Camp Union. The town became Lewisburg, West Virginia.

Between 1784 and 1786, he made forays into present-day Kentucky with his uncles, William and Joseph Ward, and staked large amounts of land and redeemed military land grants.

Ward and his family settled in Washington, near the river city of Limestone (later Maysville) in Mason County, Kentucky. He became a business associate with the frontier legend, Simon Kenton, and managed his store. Ward's two younger brothers, James and Charles, also settled in the area and remained there until their deaths.

Ward became an influential person in Mason County during the early 1790s and represented the county in 1792–95 in the House of Representatives in the Kentucky Legislature.

Associate of Simon Kenton Simon Kenton (pictured) and William Ward were friends and business associates for more than three decades. Simon Kenton and William Ward were no doubt the 'odd couple' of the Kentucky and Ohio frontiers. Kenton was an illiterate, buckskin-wearing, rough-talking physical giant who had lived in the frontier since he was 16. Only his contemporary Daniel Boone could possibly know the Kentucky frontier better than he. No one knew the Ohio frontier better than Simon Kenton. To sum up Ward in a phrase, he was a "Virginia gentleman". He was well educated, well spoken, and well dressed, and had a remarkable sense for business. Despite their differences, Kenton and Ward formed a partnership which lasted well over three decades.

In 1788, Ward, in association with Simon Kenton and Robert Rennick, contracted with John Cleves Symmes for large tracts of land in the current locations of Springfield and Urbana, Ohio. Later it was determined that Symmes did not have legal rights to make such sales.

Kenton and Ward started exploring the area of the Mad River Valley of Ohio and making claims as early as 1788. Kenton first saw the area a decade before while he was held as a prisoner with the Shawnees, while Ward was keen to explore the area for signs of his brother John.

In April 1793, his brother, John, known amongst the Shawnee as White Wolf, was killed by a militia group led by Kenton and Ward's brother, Captain James Ward.

In April 1799, Kenton and Ward led a group of families from Mason County, Kentucky to an area between present-day Springfield and Urbana.

Years later, in 1806, the Shawnee chief, Tecumseh, grouped 700 warriors, all painted and plumed for war, at the mouth of Stony Creek, near present-day De Graff in Logan County. Kenton, Ward and Colonel James McPherson rode out to meet Tecumseh to determine his plans. Kenton was spokesman and tactfully declared, "we have plenty of men to greet you." After council with the three, Tecumseh meet with his fellow chiefs and deferred any belligerence.

By 1810, the Ward–Kenton–Rennick syndicate had amassed large holdings in the Springfield vicinity alone (astride the Mad River Valley) which spanned over 25,000 acres, or 40 square miles.

Founding of Urbana In 1805, Colonel Ward appeared at the General Assembly in Chillicothe and successfully lobbied for the establishment of a new county to be made up of portions of Greene and Franklin Counties. Champaign County was formed on February 20, 1805 and extended on the north to Lake Erie and included all of present Clark County on the south.

Ward served on the inaugural board of trustees at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1810.

Colonel William Ward built this house for his son, John Anderson Ward, in Urbana in 1820. It is now known as the John Q.A. Ward House and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

Colonel Ward was instrumental in developing Champaign County's first bank and grist mill in 1814.

Ward died on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1822. He was initially buried with his first wife on the family homestead a few miles north of Springfield but was later re-interred at the Oak Dale Cemetery in Urbana.