Finding John Ward's Origins--The Beginning

It all really comes down to one document.  This is the wedding bond for John Ward's daughter, Rebecca who married Wm "Crumton" (Compton) in 1789:
                   

The obvious question is "Why is Thomas Barton co-bonding the wedding of John Ward's daughter?"

  There are some excellent Barton researchers out there.  Armed with their findings and a bit of knowledge of early Orange Co, NC history, one can move pretty quickly from here.  The Bartons came from Baltimore Co, MD.  And anyone who looks at the various Barton findings (or the Baltimore Parish wedding records) will see that a Thomas Barton married an Elizabeth Ward in  Feb 1732/33 back in Baltimore.  We have the making of a 'cluster' here.

   And so we move up to Baltimore and look at the Land Patent records.  Here we find the following Patents, all grouped together (as you will see) on Deer Creek:

    1734       Thomas Barton, Barton's Chance, 40 acres
    6/25/1742 Thomas Barton, Barton's Folly,  100 acres
    6/24/1742 John Ward, Ward's Purchase, 201 acres
    3/15/1744 Joseph Ward, Mount Pleasant,  67 acres
    4/30/1744 Joseph Ward, Jr. Joseph's Chance, 40 acres (surveyed 1743)
    6/18/1745 Joseph Ward, Ward's Lott, 20 acres

Notice that the Patents from Barton's Folly and Ward's Purchase are only one day apart. And we know from the Barton researchers that a Thomas Barton is married to Elizabeth Ward

   Starting with the Mount Pleasant Patent:
                                 

As you can see here, the land borders Thomas Barton's.  Continuing on:

   

Here you can see another of Joseph's lands in the area, but this time the deed notes that his land borders John Ward.  He is next to Ward's Purchase...and his other lot is next to Thomas Barton....and Thomas Barton is married to an Elizabeth Ward.
  And so we have ourselves a cluster.  Albeit a small one--just two families.  But we have to keep in mind also that it's very well-known that the Crabtrees come from this area as well.  And John Ward's son, Sutton, married a Crabtree in Orange Co, NC.
   It's also worth noting that some of the Barton researchers have Elizabeth Ward as the daughter of a Joseph Ward and Bridget.  And, here we are seeing Joseph Ward Jr next to John Ward and Thomas Barton.   
  Can we document the line back further, is the obvious question.                                           
                                                                               (Kevin)