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Title: Eileen Bandle
Date: 1880
Collection Number: 2016-P-043
Quantity: 10 items
Abstract: Digital scans (jpgs and tiffs) of portraits of William Oscar Ward and his family.
Provenance: The collection was donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota by Eileen Bandle.
Property Rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to this collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to materials in this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U.S. Code and an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
Related Collections:
00124 Ben Belk
MSS 10168 Ben Belk
00188 Mary Louise Finney
00193 Pauline Shoemaker
10190 Will Family papers
HISTORICAL SKETCH
William Oscar Ward was born May 3, 1839 in Albion, Pennsylvania to Jeremiah and Emma Jennette (Loomis) Ward. He had nine siblings: Albert Leroy, Fanny Mary, Nancy Elizabeth, Aza Zerah, Louisa Roxy, Henry Rhodolphus, Ellen Lois, Martha “Mattie” Evelyn, George Edward Ward. William Oscar Ward attended public school in Erie, Pennsylvania and later some schooling in Minnesota. He spent a year working in Iowa and then in 1857, William Oscar Ward moved with his parents and siblings to Freeborn Minnesota. There in Bancroft, his family worked on their farm and his father also worked as a Mason. His brother Albert Leroy died in 1860.
William enlisted in the U.S. Army Corps in 1861 and served two enlistments for a total of four years and three months. Enlisted in Company F, Minnesota 4th Infantry Regiment on October 11, 1861. He was mustered out on December 22, 1864. He enlisted a second time in Company F, 2nd Infantry, U.S. Veteran Volunteers. He served in the siege and battle of Corinth, siege and capture of Vicksburg; the battle of Chattanooga; the battle of Altoona and participated in the battles and skirmishes that marked the march to the sea with Sherman. He was honorably discharged February 13, 1866.
William married Florence Jane Manley (1849-1938) on December 1869 in Albert Lea, Minnesota eldest child of H. M. and Jennette Roper Manley. Her father was born in Philadelphia and her mother in New York. The Manley family came west settling first in Wisconsin and later in Minnesota. They celebrated their first daughter’s birth on September 16, 1870. They moved to Dakota Territory in 1872, staying in Jamestown for a year and then moving to the neighborhood of Bismarck staking a homestead on Apple Creek. He began a dairy farm and commenced raising stock.
In 1876, he journeyed to the Black Hills where he lost his stock and saw his brother George killed by the Sioux. He returned to Minnesota, raised money to buy stock which he drove to his ranch on Apple Creek. He sold his Apple Creek homestead and took a pre-emption on Burnt Creek where he lived until 1908. He then moved with his family to Bismarck and built a home at Seventh Street and Rosser Avenue.
William Oscar Ward was an active figure in the public life of Burleigh County, serving in the legislature and spending time promoting the interests of the public schools. Ward was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, McPherson Post No. 2 and a substantial contributor to the Methodist Church. He was also the vice president of the North Dakota Wool Growers Association in 1900,
William Oscar and Florence Jane Ward had a total of seven children: Emma Jennette (1869-1949) who married J. C. Calloway and lived in Montana with three children, Steven W., Cally M., and Virginia; Laura Isabella (1871-1953) who lived with her parents; Ralph David (1873-1951) who lived in McLean County; Aldyth (1876-1947) who lived at home with her parents; Milan George (1879-1964) married to Eleanor Logan with one child, Logan Oscar; Elber Verde (1881-1883) who died at two years of age; and Birlea Oscar Ward (1883-1959) married to Mae Wallace, lived on the old ranch on Burnt Creek.
He died on February 22, 1910 in Bismarck and is buried in Fairview Cemetery in Bismarck, North Dakota. His wife Florence died March 7, 1938 and is buried next to him.
PHOTOGRAPHS INVENTORY
2016-P-043-00001 Asa and Oscar Ward-retouched tin type
2016-P-043-00002 William Oscar Ward by Chappell Oil City (Penn.)
2016-P-043-00004 William Oscar Ward by Chappell Oil City (Penn.)
2016-P-043-00005 William Oscar Ward with grandson Logan Oscar Ward by Butler Studio Bismarck (N.D.)
2016-P-043-00006 William Oscar Ward
2016-P-043-00007 William Oscar and Florence Manley Ward family-Aldyth, Milan, Ralph, Birlea, Laura Belle, Jeanette Emma
2016-P-043-00008 William Oscar Ward home place at Bismarck (N.D.) photo by W. H. DeGraff
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