WILEY G. WARD

The following bio was taken from page 428 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

Three brothers- Joseph A., Wiley G. and John W. Ward- sons of Joseph and Matilda (Wilcoxen) Ward, came to Rusk County from Henry County, Alabama in the mid 1870’s. Joseph (1842-1897) and John (1852-1913) came first, making the trip by wagon. They sharecropped the first few years until they had set aside enough money to buy farms and send back to Henry County for their families. John and Joseph established themselves in the Hickey Community which was then called Short Pone.

Wiley G. Ward (1846-1944) arrived in Rusk County by train in 1877 with his wife Sarah (Smith) Ward and sons, James and Charles Ward. Through misfortune, Wiley was relieved of his life savings by a pickpocket while he slept on the train. The family was left destitute at the railroad station at Overton, Texas and walked the rest of the way to Henderson, following the railroad tracks.

Wiley and Sarah went to work on the John Moss farm at Short Pone. Wiley sharecropped and Sarah made suits for Mr. Moss, who was a bachelor. Wiley Ward’s family grew to include Soni, Luther, and Lillian Ward. Wiley later hauled freight for many various Rusk County merchants. He moved, in his later years, to Van Zandt County, Texas where he died in 1944 at the age of ninety-nine years. His son James Aaron Ward, (1867-1946) remained in Rusk County and married Martha Holloway (1877-1956), daughter of D.E. and Lucy (Hoover) Holloway. James served for twelve years as a justice of the peace for Rusk County. He was the 1^st J.P. to occupy that office in the old courthouse on the square, which was demolished in 1929. A daughter of James and Martha Ward, Mrs. Lida (Ward) Stephens, still lives in Henderson.

Joseph and Wiley Ward were both veterans of the Civil War. Both enlisted, with a third brother, William, in Company "E" Sixtieth Alabama Infantry, formerly Company "A" Third Battalion, of Hillard’s Legion. Joseph was enlisted on March 10, 1862 by Captain Perry at Montgomery, Alabama. He was wounded at the Battle of Chichamauga on September 28, 1863. Wiley enlisted on August 11, 1862 at Abbeville, Alabama and in the company muster roll is recorded present at the Battle of Petersburg.

In 1865, Joseph married Margaret Johnson. They had only one son, John Thomas (1865-1943). John married Margie Curbo. Joseph’s second wife was Angeline Pelham. They had two children, Mollie and Maggie Ward. Mollie Ward (1879-1980) married Walter Hammett.

Joseph’s last wife was Anne McDougal. Their children were: Dollie, Robert Travis, Homer, Edward, Anne Angeline, and Kit Ward. Joseph died in 1897 and Anne sometime after 1900. Both are buried in the Lockridge Cemetery.

The last and youngest brother, John W. Ward, married in Henry County, Alabama, Mary Woolf (1850-1899), daughter of Carey P. Woolf, who came to Alabama from South Carolina. John and Mary Ward had six children: Monroe M., William C., Augustus, Valionia, James Oscar, and Lucy C. Ward.

Submitted by John Dulin