Two lines of Wards

  While I'm certainly no expert on the Lincoln Co. NC Wards, I've seen enough good research about them to understand something of their origins.  Cletis Ellinghouse wrote the following in one of his books:

  "It appears that Johann Carl "Charles" Ward was the granddaddy of the Wayne County families....From what little is known of him, this much is certain: he was married in 1760 Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and lived there, across the Delaware River from Warren County, New Jersey, before moving south about 1773 into North Carolina where, a short time later, he became widely known as a partisan in the Revolutionary War."

   Researchers note that church records state he was married in 1760 to an Anna Catherine Kale--who had been born in Germany in 1739.  Reported names of their children also tend to show Germanic origins: Conrad, Frederick, Melger, Balser/Paulser, etc.
   Further, most reports show that Johann Ward doesn't arrive in Northampton Co until around the mid-1740s.
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   So, how does this compare to the Orange Co. NC Wards?
   As we have shown, Joseph Ward, progenitor of these Wards was clearly in the Colonies by 1707--and likely earlier.  All of his early associations are with well-known former residents of the UK  In many cases, these are names of 'high-flyers' like Sicklemore, Wriothesley and Day.  There are other known UK families like the Gudgeons, Ewings and Groomes as well.  In fact, research in the area of Ipswich has turned up several instances of the names Sicklemore and Ward on the same document.
   Joseph Ward's Joppa Inn looked out across the street at the Episcopal Church next door.  His children's birth records are in the St John's Parish records--as are his death record, along with that of son John Sr.
   The Wards of Orange Co. NC are clearly English in origin.

While I always assert that nothing is impossible when it comes to genealogy, it's pretty certain, isn't it, that these two clans of Wards are of such differing origins and backgrounds as to make it clear that the odds of their being related in any way is incredibly remote.
  It's certainly far too remote, for example, to think that a William Ward of Lincoln Co had anything to do with the Wards of Orange Co--much less to think that he somehow moved over there (married a Compton!?), died and then left a child (Meshach) to be raised there.  Also, given that he's the supposed father of a number of other Wards who ended up in Wayne Co, this seems even more improbable that only one of his sons would stay in Orange, while the others were raised back in Lincoln Co.
   None of it makes any sense.  What's to blame here?   The biographical entry for Meshach Ward, that's what.  It's been taken as truthful...and from there, many attempts have been made to 'force' things to fit.  The sad fact is, they don't.
                                                                          (Kevin)