Santa Clara County
Biographies
HON. JAMES P. WARD
HON. JAMES P. WARD has the honor of having named Paradise
Valley, in Santa Clara county, Cal., of which he is a
pioneer settler. He has a handsome residence three and a half miles southwest
of Morgan Hill and owns seventy-five acres of fine farming land, twenty-eight
acres in the valley and forty-seven acres in the mountains. Extensive orchards
of choice assorted fruits cover twenty acres and five acres are devoted to
raising alfalfa. The balance of his land is used for pasturage. An Ohioan by
birth, born in Medina county,
October 23, 1834, Mr. Ward descended from a well-known
Massachusetts family. His grandfather was born in Pittsfield, while his father,
Jacob Ward, was born in Middletown, Conn., September 16, 1789.
The elder man, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, died in his native
town.
The reverence paid to the memory of Jacob Ward is due to
his many years of earnest effort in behalf of the Methodist Church and in which
he was a local preacher. When a youth of sixteen years he was converted to this
faith and a year later became class leader. His education was necessarily
limited, being that received through the medium of the common schools and home
instruction, but a strong desire for knowledge induced him to give much time to
the reading of good books. At the age of nineteen or twenty he filled the
position of clerk in the city of Albany, N. Y. In the spring of 1817 he
migrated to Brunswick, Medina county, Ohio, and there engaged in farming for a
livelihood, while at the same time he exercised the strong religious spirit
which always animated him in the upbuilding and development of the Methodist
Church in that state. Immediately upon his arrival he organized the first class
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, this being two years before any other church
was organized in that county. He continued in a
persevering effort for his church throughout a long residence in Ohio, which
lasted until 1863. During the years of the Civil war he espoused the cause of
the slave and assisted materially in the underground railway system. In the
last named year he removed to Melrose, Jackson county,
Wis., where several of his children had located, and made that his home until
his death, which occurred October 3, 1869. A man of strong, earnest
and forceful character, he had always occupied a prominent place in the public
life of whatever community he made his home. Though not a politician in any
sense of the term, yet he never shirked the duty which was his as a citizen. In
1824 he represented his county in the state legislature and rendered effective
service. December 17, 1818, he married Lucinda Robinson, a
native of Granville, Mass., to which state he returned for his bride. She was a
woman of rare character and intelligence, and made him a loyal and helpful wife
throughout their years of wedded life. Three sons and three daughters were born
of this union, namely: Charles, Sarah G., Rhoda E., Edith,
Z. R., and James P. Only three now survive: Rhoda E. is the wife
of A. M. Noyes and Edith is the wife of E. G. Gaylord, both
of whom reside near Morgan Hill. One son, Z. R. Ward, followed the
example of his father and became a minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The education of James P. Ward was somewhat limited,
obtained as it was in the common schools of those early days. When of a
suitable age he assisted his father in farm pursuits for a time, afterward
serving as clerk and assistant postmaster in a Massachusetts town. He
subsequently returned to the farm in Ohio, remaining there until about 1860,
locating at that time in Melrose, Wis. There he engaged in sawmilling, but was
forced to close down on account of ill health. He then engaged in foundry work
under the firm name of Newberry & Ward, but in 1876 his health
again failed and he was forced to close out this business. The year following
he spent in travel and in 1878 he went to South Dakota and took up a government
claim in that section. Opening up a prairie farm, he made that his home for a
time and subsequently became identified with the public affairs of that
locality. In 1885 he was a member of the territorial legislature and served two
terms, or four years. He later served on the board of regents in South Dakota,
receiving his appointment from Governor Mellett.
In the fall of 1893 Mr. Ward left South Dakota and
spent some time in travel, going to San Francisco and through California to
Mexico. He finally chose a place for a home, selecting the site of his present
location in Paradise valley. Here he built a fine residence and engaged in
farming and orchard pursuits upon the land previously purchased, moving his
family there in August, 1894. His farm was a part of the Catherine Dunne
estate and is located near Morgan Hill. By his marriage, in Berea, Ohio, to Orra J. Hulet, a native
of Ohio, in which state she taught after her graduation from Baldwin
University, he has two children, namely: Wilbur H. and E. Grace. The
latter is a graduate of Stanford University and is now a teacher of art. They
also have two adopted daughters: Gertrude B. and Ruth. In religious views
the accepted faith of the family is that of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of
which Mr. Ward is officiating as district steward. Politically he is a
Republican of the true blue type, and has voted for every Republican since
J. C. Fremont, but has never been an office-seeker nor
active in political affairs. He is public-spirited and charitable and a welcome
addition to the locality.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 26 October 2015.
ญญญญSource: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages
831-832. The Chapman Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marie
Hassard.