The Shadrach Ward Papers

   By 1850, you can see two Andrew Wards in Wayne Co. Mo.  This seems to have contributed to a lot of confusion.  Ellinghouse has written the following:
  Raney Ward (1819-1863), died in a Confederate prisoner of war camp in Jackson, Mississippi, while serving in the Thirty-First Missouri Infantry.  He resided in 1850 in the Wayne County home of Andrew J Ward, probably a cousin.  Later married, his widow, Rutha, was a daughter of Luke and Nancy (Bland) White, wed in 1813 in adjoining Chatham County.

  This particular Andrew Ward was no cousin.  And he wasn't from Lincoln Co. NC.  He was, in fact, Raney Ward's brother.  Both were sons of Shadrach Ward.  Andrew Ward married Nancy White back in Guilford Co in the 1840s.  Raney accompanied them to Wayne Co and, eventually, married Nancy's sister, Ruth.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  As previously mentioned, there is a collection of Shad Ward's letters in the Special Collections Dept. at Duke.
  There are a number of letters (mostly written by Raney) from Wayne Co to Shadrach in that file.  So you can get a taste of them, I'm posting the first page of one written a just over a year after Andrew died:

                                                  

  As you can see, Raney discusses things like the disposition of brother Andrew's children.  In his letters, he might occasionally mention someone known from back home--in this case Sela Edwards--and then, in several letters he gives account of Meshach Ward.
   In none of the letters back to Orange Co is there ever a mention of any other Wards living in Wayne Co.   

   The Wards from Orange Co, NC are as follows:
   Meshach Ward--son of unknown
   Andrew Ward--son of Shadrach Ward and Delilah Compton Ward
   Raney Ward--son of Shadrach Ward and Delilah Compton Ward

  A fourth, Yancey Ward, will eventually turn up in Wayne Co.  We'll have to deal with him (and his outrageous biography!) another time...
   Also worth noting is that another of Shad's sons, John A Ward, lived briefly in the county for a time in the mid-1850s.  He is usually referred to by his middle name, Alvis.

                                                                                       (Kevin)