The name of Ward signifies a keeper, one who is a guardian or a defender. The Ward family settled in Virginia in the seventeenth century, and Samuel Ward, born August 27, 1724, emigrated from that state about the middle of the eighteenth century to settle in Morris Plains, in the vicinity of Morristown, New Jersey, where he died April 15, 1799. Left an orphan in his boyhood, he had been reared by an older brother on one of the frontier settlements on a southern branch of the Potomac river. Governor Gooch's offer of free farms in the rich meadow lands of this valley, coupled with the guarantee of religious toleration, had, about the year 1735, attracted thither a great number of immigrants from the colonies of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as from Europe. These colonists not having taken the precaution to secure titles to their farms in the proper form, subsequently found themselves obliged to choose between vacating them or else remaining subject to the most onerous terms as the tenants of Lord Fairfax. This nobleman, an early patron of Washington, emigrating to Virginia after these settlements had been made in good faith, was enabled, by a peculiar construction of the terms of the Culpepper grant which he inherited, to include these farms within the boundaries of one of his great manors. The survey for this purpose was made by Washington in 1748. Following it there was a general exodus of the original settlers who deeply resented what they considered most unworthy treatment. Samuel Ward married Mary Shipman and they had a son, born in 1767, whom they named Silas, see forward.
(II) Silas, son of Samuel and Mary (Shipman) Ward, was born in Morris county, New Jersey, in 1767, died in 1862. He married Phoebe, daughter of Daniel Dod, who was a descendant of Daniel Dod, an early settler of Bradford, Connecticut, about the year 1646. The Dod family has long been noted for its mathematical and mechanical ability. Daniel Dod was the first man to make mathematical instruments in this country, and Dr. Samuel B. Ward has in his possession a clock made by Mr. Dod in 1813, which is still running and keeping the best of time. Albert Dod, son of Daniel Dod, was professor of mathematics at Princeton College. It was Daniel Dod who established himself in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, and erected shops for the construction of steamboat machinery, and in 1818 fitted out the "Savannah," which was the first vessel to cross the Atlantic under steam power. New Jersey was closely identified with the early progress of steam navigation, and her legislature had been the first to encourage Fitch, a former resident, who in 1787 constructed the first practical steamboat, demonstrated on the Delaware river. Stevens, of Hoboken, was working along similar lines at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and Robert Fulton had his workshop in Jersey City when constructing his "Clermont," which demonstrated in 1807 the practicability of steamboating. It was in consequence of these interests centering in that locality that Dod, reinforced by his scientific knowledge and mechanical skill, was called upon to supply machinery for these earliest of steamboats, and shortly won an exceedingly wide reputation. His works were soon the chief ones in the entire country. Children:
- John D., born January 6, 1795, died May 19, 1873;
- Lebbeus Baldwin, April 7, 1801, see forward;
- Shipman, twin of Lebbeus B.;
- Samuel S.;
- Caroline;
- Phoebe;
- Nancy.
(III) Lebbeus Baldwin, son of Silas and Phoebe (Dod) Ward, was born April 7, 1801, died in New York City, June 15, 1885. He received a practical education and was a man of studious habits, of trustworthy judgment and of unusual mechanical ability. It was he who erected the celebrated Hammersley Forge in New York and thereby won a wide reputation as a builder of engines, later as a manufacturer of heavy wrought iron forgings. He was one of the early commissioners of the Metropolitan board of police, a member of assembly in 1851, and his brother, John D., served as chairman of the commission appointed by the municipality of New York to construct the Croton Aqueduct and the High Bridge. In conjunction with his two brothers, John D. and Samuel S., he built the first steamboat and the first railroad ever operated in Canada, their firm conducting an extensive business in Montreal from 1820 to 1838. Lebbeus B. Ward married three times, his first wife being a Miss Dickinson, whom he married in 1828; his second wife was Abby Dwight Partridge, whom he married in 1838, born in Hatfield, Massachusetts, the daughter of a noted clergyman descended from Pilgrim stock; and his third wife was Elizabeth Starr, whom he married in 1848. Children of second wife:
- Dr. Samuel Baldwin, born June 8, 1842, see forward;
- Willard Partridge, October 12, 1845.
(IV) Dr. Samuel Baldwin, son of Lebbeus Baldwin and Abby Dwight (Partridge) Ward, was born in the city of New York, June 8, 1842. He received his early education at private schools, and at the age of fifteen he matriculated at Columbia College, graduating from that institution in 1861 with third honors. He then entered the office of the celebrated surgeon, Dr. Willard Parker, and in 1861-62 attended the course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. He entered the United States service in 1862, and became acting medical cadet in the United States army, In 1864 the medical department of the Georgetown University conferred upon him the degree of M.D. In 1863 Dr. Ward became acting assistant surgeon, United States army, and shortly afterward President Lincoln commissioned him an assistant surgeon of United States Volunteers. Following the termination of the civil war, he went to Europe, there to pursue his studies in medicine and surgery for a year in some of the largest hospitals of the Continent. On his returning from Europe, he was made professor of anatomy and surgery at the Women's Medical College of the New York Infirmary. He also became attending surgeon of the Northern Dispensary, consulting surgeon of the Dispensary and New York Infirmary for Women and Children, visiting surgeon of the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, and in 1872 was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Seventh Regiment, National Guard, State of New York, with the rank of captain, and was brigade surgeon of the Ninth Brigade, National Guard, State of New York. Dr. Ward removed to Albany in 1876, where he has since resided, winning further honors in his profession. At this time he was chosen professor of surgical pathology and operative surgery in the Albany Medical College, and later professor of theory and practice of medicine at that institution, which position he continues to hold. He also became the attending surgeon at both the Albany and St. Peter's hospitals, the leading institutions of the city.
He allied himself with a great number of prominent organizations, such as the Association of American Physicians; the Albany County Medical Society, of which he was made president; a permanent member of the New York State Medical Society, of which he was elected its president; a trustee and president of the Dudley Observatory of Albany; a trustee of the Albany Female Academy; ex-president of the New York State Board of Survey; member and ex-president of the Fort Orange Club; member and ex-president of the Albany Camera Club, and member of the Albany Country Club, Century Association of New York City, University Club of New York City and the Loyal Legion, as well as a number of social and scientific organizations. Dr. Ward is secretary and treasurer of the executive committee of New York State Normal College at Albany; member of the board of governors of Union University; member of the board of governors of Albany Hospital; former president of the medical examining board of the civil service commissioners of the state of New York. The University of Columbia conferred on him the degree of A.M. in 1864, and Union University that of Ph.D. in 1882. To the leading journals of the country he has contributed a number of valuable articles on medicine and surgery, and being recognized as an authority on specific subjects connected with his profession, has repeatedly been called upon to lecture before large bodies. He attends St. Peter's Church, Albany.
Dr. Ward married Nina, daughter of William A. Wheeler, of New York, October 10, 1871, who died October 19, 1883, by whom he had three children, and April 29, 1897, married Grace Fitz-Randolph Schenck, daughter of Rev. Noah Schenck, of Brooklyn, New York, born December 23, 1857. Children:
- Nina, born January 18, 1874;
- Annie Wheeler, September 29, 1875; married Henry M. Sage;
- Samuel Dwight, April 15, 1880, a graduate of Yale, class of 1903; married, June, 1909, Edna Brady, of Brooklyn, New York.
(V) Annie Wheeler, daughter of Dr. Samuel B. and Nina (Wheeler) Ward, was born in New York City, September 29, 1875. She married Henry Manning Sage, of Albany, October 29, 1895. Children:
- Anne Erskine, born January 27, 1897;
- Katherine Linn, June 25, 1898.