William J. Ward collection

The William J. Ward Collection consists of six major series: 1.) Correspondence; 2.) Legal Documents; 3.) Financial Documents; 4.) Printed Materials; 5.) Diary, and 6.) Miscellaneous. The papers in this collection range from 1725-1911.

Each series is arranged by document type and filed chronologically. All undated material comes after dated material. Large, bulky materials are contained in a folder in a separate, oversized file.

Series I: Correspondence; 1844-1886 (Box 1, 10 folders)

This series includes personal and business correspondence for the Ward family, and is divided into subseries organized by the family members who received the correspondence. The bulk of the correspondence falls between the dates 1870-1886.

Subseries 1: William J. Ward Papers; 1844-1886 (Box 1, Folder 1)

This subseries contains the correspondence of William J. Ward, from 1844-1886. Included in this subseries is a letter from Ward’s wife, Isabella “Belle” Ward; this is the only item generated by her in the collection. The majority of the material is correspondence from William J. Ward, Jr., to William J. Ward, while the son was away at the Virginia Military Institute. Of particular interest is a letter from L. A. Thompson, written in 1866 from Texas, which details several complaints of white Southerners over Reconstruction as well as hintsthat Ward wrote a sermon which is contained elsewhere in this collection.

This subseries consists of 10 letters.

Subseries 2: William J. Ward, Jr. Papers; 1854-1873 (Box 1, Folders 2-6)

This subseries includes the correspondence of William J. Ward, Jr., primarily in letters from his father, William J. Ward, written while William attended school at the Virginia Military Institute, c. 1869. Included is one letter from Annie C. Warner, the sister of George Warner, Jr., and eventual wife of William J. Ward, Jr., from 1854 when the two were courting marriage. The subseries consists of 65 letters.

Subseries 3: George Ward Papers; 1884-1886 (Box 1, Folder 7)

This subseries contains the correspondence of George Ward, and with the exception of one letter from a P.J. Simmons in 1886, concerns the Ward family. Letters from his father, William J. Ward, seem to indicate that the senior Ward had a preference for this son, perhaps because George took up his father’s profession of attorney. Also included are letters from his brother, Charles, in New York City, which collaborated with the letters in Subseries 2 indicate that the Ward family was well-traveled and spread out geographically. The subseries consists of 9 letters.



Subseries 4: George Warner, Jr. Papers; 1841-1873 (Box 1, Folder 8)

This subseries contains the correspondence of George Warner, Jr., a close friend of the Ward family and related through his sister, Annie, who became the wife of William J. Ward, Jr. Warner was a lawyer who worked closely with William J. Ward, who apparently also advised and served the younger attorney on several legal issues. The subseries consists of 6 letters, all involving Warner’s legal cases.

Subseries 5: C. Stokem and Company Papers; 1875, 1876 (Box 1, Folder 9)

This subseries contains the business correspondence of C. Stokem and Company. The letters, written by C. Stokem to Delcher and Barrow, concern business transactions between these persons, and a relationship of creditor, to debtors, respectively assigned. The letters were most likely tied to the Ward family because one member’s law practice dealt with a civil dispute between C. Stokem and Delcher and Barrow. The subseries consists of 22 letters.

Subseries 6: Miscellaneous; 1868, 1886, 1890, n.d. (Box 1, Folder 10)

This subseries contains two letters from William J. Ward to his son, Charles Ward, one of them a postcard in the French language, as well as one letter for Annie Ward from Edwin Higgins. Two letters in this subseries are undated, one from “Rosie to Pa,” perhaps written by Mary R. Ward to William J. Ward, as well as another letter whose author is unknown, addressed to “Dear Uncle” – the content of this last letter does not illuminate who, exactly, this “uncle” was. The subseries consists of 6 letters in total.

Series II: Legal Documents; 1771-1888, n.d. (Box 1, 2 Folders; Box 2, 3 folders; Oversized Items)

This series includes deeds, leases, indentures, depositions, statements of character, official court documents, and land plats relating to William J. Ward’s profession as lawyer in the city of Baltimore, where he flourished 1840-1880. Also included are items related to legal clients of George Warner, Jr. Oversized items in the collection include a series of land plats for locations in Baltimore city, in an area called “Ridgely’s Delight” and “Timber Neck,” near to what is presently Eutaw Street.

Subseries 1: Legal Documents; 1771-1889, n.d. (Box 1, Folder 11; Box 2, Folders 1-3; Oversized Items)

This subseries contains deeds, leases, indentures, depositions, and statements of character for court cases over which William J. Ward was attorney. Of particular interest is a case from 1883, the National Mechanics Bank of Baltimore vs. Annie C. Ward, George Warner, and William J. Ward, concerning unpaid loans on the part of these three individuals. Also contained in this series are files relating to Elisabeth Nagle, a legal client of George Warner, Jr., and a passport for William J. Ward. The subseries consists of 43 items.

Subseries 2: Miltenberger’s Lessee vs. Charles Warner, Jr.; 1862, n.d. (Box 1, Folder 12; Oversized Items)

This subseries contains materials related to what appears to have been William J. Ward’s major court case, Miltenberger’s Lessee vs. Charles Warner, Jr. This case involved contested land in areas of Baltimore City called “Ridgely’s Delight,” and “Timber Neck” and the materials reflecting this include official, printed court appellant’s briefs, depositions, and chiefly, land plats detailing the disputed territory. The subseries consists of 8 items.

Series III: Financial Documents; 1808-1892 (Box 1, 5 Folders)

This series includes receipts, stock certificates, bank checks, and federal, state, and municipal tax information, primarily for persons outside the Ward family, likely related to Ward’s legal cases. The bulk of the material in this series falls between the dates 1833-1892.

Subseries 1: Receipts; 1833-1854 (Box 1, Folder 13)

This subseries contains receipts for rent payments of John Robertson, a receipt for Daniel Pope’s water rent to the Baltimore Water Company, one receipt for William J. Ward, and rental account information for Elisabeth Nagle, a legal client of George Warner, Jr. The subseries consists of 15 items.

Subseries 2: Receipts; 1854-1892, n.d. (Box 1, Folder 14)

This subseries contains receipts for rent payments of clients of William J. Ward and George Warner, Jr., and William J. Ward’s personal accounts, as well of lists of expenditures that appear to have been written in Ward’s hand. Of particular interest in this subseries is a dentist’s bill for William J. Ward and his daughter, which upon inspection shows that the young lady had seventeen dental operations within the span of a single month. The subseries consists of 20 items.

Subseries 3: Miscellaneous; 1808-1878 (Box 1, Folders 15-17)

This subseries contains stock certificates from the Mechanics’ Bank of Baltimore, bank checks from the Commercial and Farmers’ Bank of Baltimore, and municipal, state, and federal tax records, chiefly for individuals not in William J. Ward’s family. The stock certificates are from the summer of 1808, and the bank checks from 1816, and have a possible connection to legal cases dealing with the failure of Baltimore City banks in the early nineteenth century. The subseries consists of 22 items.

Series IV: Printed Materials; 1725-1911 (Box 1, Folders 18-19; Box 2, Folders 4-6)

This series includes an incomplete fragment of The Family Dictionary, vol. II, From H to Z, by M. Chomel, edited by R. Bradley (Cambridge) from the year 1725; an 1866 copy of Sermon by a Layman, presented to the Ladies Association of Baltimore for Southern Relief, by William J. Ward; a 1783 copy of the Treaty of Paris; a c. 1870 edition of Zell’s Hand Atlas of the World, Part 2, edited by J. Bartholomew George; and a 1905 copy of May Manton’s Bazaar Glove-Fitting Patterns, Spring & Summer Catalogue, a book of early twentieth-century dress patterns.

Series V: Diary; c. 1850 (Box 2, Folder 7)

This series includes a “garden journal,” c. 1850, by William J. Ward. The incomplete fragment of the diary contains daily information on weather, family and social gatherings, garden work, and recipes.

Series VI: Miscellaneous; 1840-1911, n.d. (Box 1, Folders 20-21; Oversized Items)

This series includes a c.1840 college diploma, in the Latin language, for a Mandeville Thum; an 1867 college catalogue for the Virginia Military Institute, presumably for William J. Ward, Jr.; a c. 1889 grocer’s account book for “Mrs. Ward;” a calendar and a holiday shopping brochure from a Baltimore City company, Stewart & Co., both from 1911; a color drawing of a bridge; an unsigned certificate for stock in the Washington Monument Society; a certificate of membership for the Society of American Whigs; two calling cards; and two sheets of what appears to be math notes, taken by William J. Ward, Jr., during his time as a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute.

Subseries 1: Poetry and Religious Exercises; c. 1861, 1867, n.d. (Box 1, Folder 21)

This subseries contains an anonymous, though presumably written by William J. Ward, poem to “Edith,” a fragment of the poem “The Bay of Biscay,” notes for religious, devotional exercises, and notes for biblical references, which are possibly related to William J. Ward’s anonymous 1866 Sermon, found in the fourth series of this collection. Of particular interest is a c. 1861 song, credited to B. F. Butler, concerning the April 19 Civil War riot in Baltimore City. The subseries consists of 5 items.