Ward, John

• DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Harold E. Wright, “WARD, JOHN,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/ward_john_7E.html
• DCB profile notes:
  • Businessman, militia officer, politician, and jp; b. 8 Nov. 1753 in Peekskill, N.Y., probably the son of Edmund Ward and Elizabeth Strange; m. 1777 Elizabeth Strange, and they had four sons and two daughters; d. 5 Aug. 1846 in Saint John, N.B.
  • During the American revolution John Ward fought on the side of the loyalists. Appointed an ensign in the Loyal American Regiment in 1776, he was promoted lieutenant on 7 Oct. 1777. When Major John André sailed aboard the Vulture in 1780 to meet with the American major-general Benedict Arnold, who had been supplying information to the British, Ward commanded the escort troops, and after André had been arrested by a rebel patrol he took the general to safety. He also commanded the last provincial troops to leave New York for Parrtown (Saint John) in 1783. Owing to the lateness of the season, his men were forced to spend the winter there in tents. A son, John, was born into the Ward family that cold December.
  • On 21 Feb. 1812 Ward and five other businessmen successfully petitioned the House of Assembly for the exclusive right over ten years to operate steamboats between Saint John and the provincial capital of Fredericton. Their project was delayed because of war with the United States, but in 1816 the syndicate, now including Hugh Johnston, succeeded in launching the General Smyth. 
  • Ward was active in public life. In April 1799 he was elected an alderman for Saint John, a position he held until October 1809, when he won a seat in the provincial assembly for Saint John County and City. Returned to the house in 1816 and 1819, he sat until the dissolution of 1820; he then retired from politics.
  • Ward epitomized for his fellow citizens the traditional values of the loyalists. In recognition of his contributions to Saint John he was given the appellation “Father of the City,” and during the 50th and 60th celebrations of the landing of the loyalists he was treated as the guest of honour. After his death in August 1846 the New-Brunswick Courier carried a poem dedicated to him: “Accept this tribute from a bard, / Who deems it justly due – / Peace to thy Ashes, Father Ward – / Hear Patriarch, adieu.” Ward’s personal drive and determination were no doubt missed in the firm he had established for it did not last into the 1860s. Moreover, the prophecy of a writer in 1846 that his name would “descend unsullied to posterity, and be held in reverence by future generations” did not come true – John Ward is all but forgotten in Saint John today.
• Proven United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8806
• Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/167660463/john-w-ward