Shadrach, William and X--Orange Co, NC

  Those familiar with the history of the Orange Co Wards know this problem all too well.  Steve Ward has already covered it nicely in his first book.
   Looking at all available records, it looks like sometime between 1800 and 1810, one or two Ward 'widows' appeared in the area.  We can see what appears to be them in the 1810 census.

   Out of this group come two well-known Wards: Shadrach and William.  A third Ward, named Joshua, makes his appearance around the same time as these two.  And then there will be a 4th one--who is currently given the name of X.  Although Joshua's parentage is not certain, we know from a few records like the 1850 census that the mother of Shad Ward was named Ruth.
  Steve deals with all of these people in his first book.  You can find out more there if you'd like.

  The main thing to note, is that since that book was written, the Shadrach Ward papers were 'discovered' in Duke University Library.  Contained in that file is a letter from Leticia Ward Barrow to 'Uncle Shad.'
She inquires about her mother's funeral, asks how grandmother is doing, etc.  She then asks about Uncle William and Aunt Anne.  
   William Ward married Anne Scott in 1811.

    Leticia was left an 'orphan' about 1823.  We can find the following entries in the Caswell Co Court records, just a mile or so North of where the Orange Co Ward's lived:

April Court 1823
   Sylvester Word (or Ward), orphan now 3 years old on 15 of May next bound to James Brown to learn the art of a planter.
   Laticia Ward orphan now age of 4 years on 4th of July next bound to James Heydon.

  To this day, we don't know the name of that missing brother.  But it's clear that since Leticia Ward was the niece of both William and Shad Ward the two men were brothers--and her dad (X) was a third brother--all sons of Ruth.

   We do know this--as Steve clearly has shown--William and Shadrach settle down right by the land of Sutton Ward and his offspring.
   Sutton's son, Thomas, bonded William's wedding.
  Shadrach bonded the wedding of Sutton's son, Archibald.
   Shad also bonded Joshua Ward's marriage.
   You can see both Shad and William witnessing many of the deeds of Sutton Ward and his children. 
 
   As Steve has noted, it's very clear that Shadrach and William were very closely related to the family of Sutton Ward.  Likely their father was Sutton's cousin.  We just don't know his name.  We can show, for instance, that other Ward cousins moved next to John/Sutton Ward from Baltimore, before heading on to other places...but, sadly, after going through almost the entire NC Archives, we still can't tell you who Shad's dad was....

   But a little bit later on, another mystery Ward appears in the records: Meshach Ward.  It would seem obvious by his name that he's somehow related to Shadrach.  But, again, there's no record of his parents. 
   Now we are headed straight into the infamous "Wayne Co Trap..."
                                                                (Kevin)