WARD, Rev. Charles Edward - 1912 Bio (1861-1935)

WARD, BARNES, BATES, WARNICK, KOCH

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 10/4/2007 at 20:00:24

History of Jefferson County, Iowa -- A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol II, Published 1912, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago
Pages 285-287

That C. E. WARD deserves to be numbered among the prominent and representative citizens of Fairfield is due to the fact that he contributes to material progress through the successful conduct of a lumber business, to general improvement as a public-spirited citizen and a member of the city council, and to the moral development through his untiring zeal in behalf of the Methodist church, of which he is a local minister. Conscientious in all that he does and holding to high principles, his work in the world is of genuine worth. He was born in Waverly, Illinois, May 20, 1861, a son of J. D. and Mary E. (BARNES) WARD. The father served for three years as a soldier of the One Hundred and First Illinois Volunteer Infantry during the Civil war and after the cessation of hostilities removed to Missouri and subsequently to Lineville, Iowa, where he died when his son C. E. WARD was but twelve years of age. Mrs. WARD also spent her last days in Lineville but death came to her when she was in Chicago.

C. E. WARD was at that time nineteen years of age. He was reared in Lineville and Allerton, Iowa, careful home training developing him in an admiration for high hprinciples which he has inculated in his life, while the public-school system promoted his intellectual training. While a resident of Allerton he was married and since that time has resided for various periods in Des Moines, Omaha and Fairfield, coming to the last named city in 1893. His first employment after entering business circles was at the printer's trade, which he followed in Princeton, Missouri, and at Allerton, Iowa, spending six months in newspaper offices. He had to abandon that business, however, on account of his health and in order to enjoy the benefits of outdoor life he took up the building business and in time became a contractor and builder, entering the business circles of Fairfield in that way. In the different cities which he has lived he has done considerable important work in connection with building operations but about thirteen years ago withdrew from that field of activity and established the lumberyard, of which he is now proprietor. In its conduct he has met with success, owing to his reasonable prices and his fair and honest dealing.

Business interests, however, by no means comprise the extent of his activities, for he has ever been alive to personal obligations and duties and has been a helpful factor in the work of public progress. He is now serving for the second term as a member of the city council of Fairfield, to which he was elected on the republican ticket, and for one year he served as chairman of the Mayors' and Councilmans' Association of the state of Iowa, having been elected at the annual meeting of the League of Iowa Municipalities at Fort Dodge in 1909. He likewise served for one year on the sewerage and sanitation committee of the state, representing Fairfield in the sessions of that body held at Fort Dodge and Waterloo, and acting as chairman of the water and light committee. He has long been closely associated with the membership and with the active work of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he is a local preacher and now as a regular pastor at Hillsboro.

In 1881 Mr. WARD was married to Miss Razilla J. BATES, who was born in Salina, this county, in 1864, a daughter of Jackson BATES. Their children are seven in number: Coy, the wife of N. M. WARNICK, of Wapello, Iowa; Raye, the wife of the Rev. J. H. KOCH, of Lovilla, Iowa; C. E. J., district agent for the Central Life Insurance Company of Des Moines, lives in a home of his own at Fairfield; Harry L., was in the navy and went around the world with the Atlantic fleet; Frank D., Frederick I. and John W., all yet at home. Frank D. and Frederick I. are attending Parsons College and John W. is in high school. Mr. WARD has fraternal relations with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Masons. He has at all times manifested a progressive spirit. He has never, as some ministers do, regarded life as most men know it, as a thing apart from him; on the contrary he has felt it his duty to be a factor in the life of the community, working for the best interests of the many, and his labors have been attended with excellent results and have won for him the appreciation and regard of his fellowmen.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.