WARD, ARTHUR

WARD, DILLON, FORD, JOSELYN, DAVIS, FALK

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/8/2003 at 20:40:35

Biography reproduced from page 534 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Arthur Ward owns and cultivates an excellent farm of three hundred and ten acres located in Wesley and Buffalo townships, and is numbered among the representative agriculturists of his community. He was born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, on May 22, 1857, and is a son of Alsinus and Anna Liza (Dillon) Ward. The father was born in Vermont, but he subsequently moved to Pennsylvania, and there he met and married the mother, who was a native of Ireland, whence she emigrated to the United States in girlhood. They resided in the Keystone state until 1850, when they removed to Jo Daviess county, Illinois, which was their home for nineteen years. In 1869 they continued their journey westward to Kossuth county, making the trip with a wagon and six yoke of oxen. They arrived here in June 1, 1869, and the father filed on the north half of the south-west quarter of section 8, Wesley township, and there resumed his agricultural pursuits. He built a slab house with sod outside to insure warmth and a sod stable, on which he subsequently placed a slough hay roof. Mr. Ward cut the hay for this purpose from his place with a hand scythe, during the first year of his residence. As his circumstances warranted he erected more comfortable and modern buildings, continuing to devote his energies to the further improvement and cultivation of his land until his death in 1882. He was one of the enterprising and progressive men of the pioneer period in Kossuth county, and took an active and helpful interest in all things pertaining to the welfare or development of his township. He was survived by the mother, who passed away in 1894, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Wesley, where the father is also buried. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ward, our subject being the youngest. In order of birth the others are as follows: William, deceased; Maria, the wife of J. H. Ford, a resident of Ottumwa, Iowa; Byron, deceased; two, who died in infancy; Liza, deceased; Chandler, who resides in Wesley township; Charlotte, who is a resident of Idaho; Samuel, deceased; and John, who is living in Minnesota.

Arthur Ward was a lad of twelve years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Kossuth county, where he has ever since resided. He completed the education begun in his native state in an old school house, where the youths of Wesley township have been instructed for nearly forty years, and while engaged with his studies began preparations for an agricultural career by assisting his father during his spare time. He remained at home until he was married at the age of nineteen years, when he began farming for himself. On the 4th day of July, 1877, he and his wife removed to his present farm and began housekeeping in the residence now occupied by his tenant. During the intervening years, Mr. Ward has wrought extensive improvements in the place, including the erection in 1900 of a large, modern house. He is a man of practical methods and progressive ideas as is evidenced by the appearance of his fields and condition of his buildings and stock. Eighty of the three hundred and ten acres comprised in his farm are located in Buffalo township, but he is a resident of Wesley township. In connection with the cultivation of his fields, Mr. Ward engages in the raising of stock, making a specialty of Poland China hogs, and it meeting with more than average success in both lines of his business.

Mr. Ward has been twice married, his first union being with Miss Carrie Joselyn in 1876, and to them were born the following children: Ida, who is the wife of Frank Davis, of Butler county, Iowa; Le Roy, Byron R. and Ray, who are also residents of Butler township; and Maybelle, who is deceased. In 1893, Mr. Ward married Miss Lizzie Falk, and they are the parents of six children, all of whom, with the exception of the eldest, are at home. In order of birth they are as follows: Frank, who resides in Hancock county, Iowa; and Ellen C., Walter J., Sylvia, John H. and Nellie.

The family attend the Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally Mr. Ward is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He votes the republican ticket and has been a school director in his district for over fifteen years. Mr. Ward relates many interesting experiences of his boyhood and youth in Kossuth county during the pioneer period, when the woods abounded with wild game and deer were still plentiful.