William Ward

William Ward, senior, member of the firm Ward & Jackson, the leasing shipsmiths and iron forgers of Cleveland, Ohio, has been quite successful in his business, and has the distinction of having ironed the major part of the new vessels built in Cleveland at the various shipyards when wooden shipbuilding was carried on so extensively at that port. He has won the way to his present comfortable condition by unremitting industry and thrift. Mr. Ward was born in Toronto, Ont., January 19, 1842, and is a son of Christopher and Maria (Day) Ward, his father a native of Norwich, England, whose ancestors had for many generations been farmers. At the time of the father's birth the family was nearly extinct, and when a child he went to live with his grandfather, the only surviving member of their immediate family. In 1830 he crossed the Atlantic, and located on Prince Edward Island, but soon afterward removed to Toronto, Canada, where he made his home until January 24, 1868, going then to the Georgian Bay region, where he bought a farm near Owen sound. At an early age William Ward, the subject of this sketch, removed with his parents to Trafalgar, Ont., where he received a fair common-school education, and on leaving that place resided for a short time in Brampton, in the same Province. Later he lived in Streetsville, Ont., where he learned the blacksmith's trade, and on coming to the United States, in 1862, he located in Cleveland, where he soon obtained employment in the agricultural shop owned by Younglove, Massey & Co. Subsequently he worked in the Mahoning railroad shops, and in the marine works of Blish & Gerlack, and spent one year in Youngstown, Ohio, after which he returned to Cleveland. For a time he was also in the employ of the Cleveland & Pittsburg shops in Wellsville, as foreman, and the Lake Shore shops and the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati shops in Cleveland. On leaving that position he established his present shipsmith and machine forging business, being in partnership with John Blatt for a year. That partnership being dissolved, he has since been connected in business with E.J. Jackson under the firm name of Ward & Jackson, who enjoy an excellent trade, which is certainly well deserved, for both are expert and skillful workmen. They have recently removed their works to more commodious quarters on the same street, a few doors from the old shop. Socially, Mr. Ward is an active and ardent Mason, holding veteran's certificate of Bigelow Lodge, F. & A.M., and fills the office of trustee; a veteran of Thatcher Chapter, of which he is also a trustee, and a veteran of Holyrood Commandery. He is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He holds a certificate as a life member of the Ohio Masonic Home, of which he is also a trustee.

On February 15, 1870, Mr. Ward was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Ansable, of Cornwall, Ontario, and to them have been born four children: Adelbert V., now in the employ of the McIntosh Huntington Company, and who married Miss Hattie, daughter of Enos Jenkins, engineer of the Penobscot; Elizabeth, wife of Francis P. Martin, of Cleveland; William E., a civil engineer now in the employ of the city of Cleveland, and who, like his father, is an ardent Mason; and Catherine E., who became the wife of Dr. Robert C. Droege, a practicing physician of Cleveland, Ohio. The family homestead is pleasantly situated on Whitman street, Cleveland.

Return to Home Port

Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.