Meshach Ward

According to Meshach Ward of Wayne Co. Mo., he was born in Orange Co. NC.    As previously mentioned, nobody knows who his parents were--that is unless you want to go with the entry in the well-known book of regional biography:

                         

  This is the entry that has caused so much trouble.  To be sure, Meshach was apprenticed out to Caleb Wilson in Orange Co NC in 1816.  You can see that bond here:
                                                  

 1) Caleb Wilson is well-known in Orange Co genealogy.  At this time he lived in the Union Ridge area--a couple of miles to the West of where the main body of Wards were living.  He would eventually sell out and move back a bit east to live right by the Wards.
  2)  All the Orange Co apprentice bonds have been surveyed.  Meshach is the only Ward to ever have been apprenticed.
  3) There is no wedding bond for Meshach's marriage.  But there is really no reason to doubt the truth of who he married.  Caleb Wilson's niece is accepted by Orange Co genealogists.  When Caleb Wilson sold out his land in the Union Ridge area, much of it went to his brother.  This is quite possibly Elizabeth's father.
  4) What isn't accepted by Orange Co genealogists is 'the rest of the story...'
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   The progenitor of the Compton line in Orange Co NC is Aquilla Compton.  He's known to have moved to Orange Co from the area of Frederick, MD, sometime around 1780.  There were no other Comptons in Orange before this time.  He bought land within 1/4 mile of John Ward's property. These Wards and Comptons intermarried heavily.
   1) Shadrach's brother, William, bought his first parcel of land from one of Aquilla's sons.
   2) While Aquilla's son, William Compton, first married John Ward's daughter, Rebecca: marriage records make it pretty clear that somehow she had died by 1792 and William Compton remarried to Mary Freeland.  In 1794, William Compton and Mary had Delilah Compton.  She went on to marry Shad:
                        Shadrach Ward married Delilah Compton in 1818.
  3) Even though there are amazing records about the Comptons, there is no record of a Delilah older than this one in Orange Co.

   So what we have is Meshach Ward spinning a story to the regional biographer.  He's totally honest about his indenture and his wife--he has to be, she's still around.  The problem is Meshach's mom and dad:

            Meshach says he's the son of William Ward and Delilah Compton.

1)  After years of acquiring just about every available record, there is no mention of a William Ward in Orange Co prior to the marriage of Shad's brother in 1811. 
2)  And this is where we go for the obvious regarding Meshach's stated parents:  William Ward is Shadrach's brother,  Delilah Compton is Shadrach's wife.  It would appear that Meshach is just borrowing the names in his story from relatives.  The 'coincidence' of names here is just a bit too much.
3)  I do realize that this still leaves open the question of declared father, William Ward, coming from the Ward cluster in Lincoln Co. NC.   We'll get to that shortly.
   But first, let's take a moment to discuss regional biographies...