Wayne Co--the smoking guns.

 I have to laugh.  It was simply my intention to show that Meshach Ward's biographical entry about his parents was almost certainly a concoction of his--and, I suppose more importantly, to separate the two Ward lines from each other in Wayne Co.   I didn't figure on getting so drawn into the line from Lincoln Co NC, however. :)

   In his book, Old Wayne, Ellinghouse wrote the following passage:

"Alexander Ward was taken into custody by Union soldiers on October
11, 1862, and charged with aiding guerrillas but released two days later after
denying the allegation and taking the oath of allegiance. His siblings who came
to Wayne County were Susanna (wife of Jacob Douglas Huggins), Iverson,
Meshach, and Lawson H. Ward, according to a published account. They are
said to be the children of William Ward (1780-1812) and the former Delilah
Compton (1785-1812) who, after the deaths of their parents in Orange County,
North Carolina, were reared by guardians."

   Ellinghouse was getting most of this information from previous researchers and publications.  At one point in this book he even admits that real proof of this supposed William and Delilah being related to the Lincoln Co line has never been forthcoming.  I hope that I have already shown that there was, very likely, no William Ward who married Delilah Compton.
   Now I'd like to take on the prevalent notion that Alexander Ward and Lawson H. Ward (mentioned in the passage above) were somehow 1) sons of the mythical William and Delilah and 2) that they were Meshach's siblings.
   In Lincoln Co NC (1831-4) there were a series of what are known as 'love and affection' deeds carried out from Frederick Ward to 4 different people.  Although not always the case, generally speaking a 'love and affection' deed goes to a child of the grantor.  I've certainly seen several where this wasn't so--most of those went to grandchildren.
   Luckily, in the case of two of the parties involved below, Frederick Ward made it very clear as to the relation of the grantee.

              

                                   

   As you can see in the above deeds (Lincoln Co DB 35, pp 385-387), Frederick Ward clearly names both Alexander and Lawson H. Ward as his sons.  
   Hopefully this will put an end to the notion that Alexander and Lawson H Ward were sons of the mythical William Ward.   For genealogists of the Lincoln Co NC Wards, I'm hopeful that it will also bring about a new re-examination of the line.
   For what it's worth, the other two 'love and affection' deeds were from Frederick to Thomas Ward and, also, to Conrad Ward.  I assume this infers they were likely his sons, also?
                                                        (Kevin)