Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1889, volume 6).djvu/377

Rh the executive authority. Among the chief causes that induced the people to regard Gov. Wanton with suspicion was, doubtless, his acceptance, in 1773, of an appointment, under the great seal of England, to inquire into the burning of the king's ship, the " Gaspee," by the Whigs. While New- port was occupied by the British he was superin- tendent of the troops, and at the evacuation he followed the royal army to New York. He was a man of amiable disposition, elegant manners, and handsome person.

WARBURTON, George, British author, b. near Tullamore, County Galway, Ireland, about 1812; d. in 1857. He entered the British army, attained the rank of major, and resided in Canada for some time. After his return to England he was a member of parliament for Harwich. He died by his own hand. Mr. Warburton published " Hochelaga, or England in the New World " (2 vols., London, 1846) ; " The Conquest of Canada " (2 vols., 1849) ; and " A Memoir of Charles Mor- daunt, Earl of Peterborough " (3 vols., 1853). His books were edited by his brother Eliot, who became distinguished as an author.

WARD, Aaron, congressman, b. in Sing Sing, N. Y„ 5 July, 1790 ; d. in Georgetown, D. C, 2 March, 1867. He received a classical education, and began the study of law, which he relinquished to join the army at the age of eighteen. He served as a lieutenant under Gen. Wade Hampton in the expedition against Montreal, and was promoted captain in 1814. After the close of the war with Great Britain he resumed his legal studies in Oxford, N. Y., was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Sing Sing. He married in 1820 a daughter of Elkanah Watson, and shortly afterward was appointed district attorney for Westchester county. He entered congress on 5 Dec, 1825, and served till 3 March, 1829. After an intermission of one term he was again elected for three consecu- tive terms, serving from 5 Dec, 1831, till 3 March, 1837, and four years later returned for a single congress, which closed its sessions on 3 March, 1843. He was a supporter of the administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, took an active part in commercial legislation and in all measures that affected the interests of New York, and also concerned himself with the framing of military bills, and was the special advocate of state education for soldiers' children. In 1846 he was a member of the State constitutional convention, and in 1855 he was defeated as a candidate for secretary of state of New York. He was a major- general of militia from 1835 till 1853. Gen. Ward was the author of " Around the Pyramids," de- scribing travels in Europe and the East (New York, 1863). He died at the home of his son-in- law, Samuel J. Randall. Another daughter married John R. Thompson, U. S. senator from New Jersey. — His nephew, Elijah, congressman, b. in Sing Sing, N. Y., 16 Sept., 1816 ; d. in Roslyn, L. I., 7 Feb., 1882, received a classical education, engaged in commercial pursuits in New York city, and was chosen president of the Mercantile library associa- tion in 1839. Afterward he studied law, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1843, and practised in New York city. He was judge-advocate-general of the state in 1853-'5, and was elected as a Democrat to congress, serving from 7 Dec, 1857, till 3 March, 1859. He was defeated at the next election, but was successful in the following two, serving from 4 July, 1861, till 3 March, 1865. On being again defeated, he spent J;wo years in Europe, and was not again a candidate till 1874, when he defeated his Republican competi- tor, but he was beaten in the succeeding election by a rival Democrat. In congress he took part in the discussion of commercial questions, advocating an interoceanic canal, uniform bankruptcy laws, postal subsidies to steamships, and reciprocity with Canada, and opposing a paper currency. In March, 1861, he addressed commercial bodies in New York city in favor of free canals, and in 1871, in response to a request from members of congress for an ex- pi-ession of his views, proposed freedom of com- mercial intercourse betweeen the United States and Canada, on which subject he published two reports. Besides single speeches on commercial relations with Canada, the Geneva award, the Hawaiian treaty, and the shipping act, there has been pub- lished a volume of his " Speeches on Commercial, Financial, and other Subjects " (New York, 1877). — His cousin, Horatio, banker, b. in New York city about 1810 : d. in London, England, in April, 1868, resided in London for many years before his death. He bequeathed $100,000 to the National soldiers' and sailors' home, Washington, D. C, and an equal sum for the education of soldiers' orphans.

WARD, Andrew Henshaw, antiquary, b. in Shrewsbury, Mass., 26 May, 1784 ; d. in Newton- ville, Mass., 18 Feb., 1864. He was graduated at Harvard in 1808, studied law, was admitted to the bar at Northampton, Mass., in 1811, and practised till 1829 at Shrewsbury, where, while filling the office of town-clerk, he transcribed all the records of births, deaths, and marriages, and was active in putting an end to the custom of " farming out " the town's poor. For the period between 1829 and 1853, except during two years, he was employed in the custom-house at Boston, and from 1837, when a general bankruptcy law went into force, till 1846, when it expired, he was U. S. commis- sioner of insolvency for the district of Massachu- setts. He was a delegate from Newton to the con- vention of 1853 for revising the constitution of Massachusetts. For more than fifty years he was a justice of the peace, either in Shrewsbury, Bos- ton, or West Newton, where he settled in 1842. Mr. Ward was an active member of the New England historic-genealogical society almost from its first organization, and a frequent contributor to its " Register." He published a " History of the Town of Shrewsbury " (Boston, 1847), containing a " Familv Register," which was also issued sepa- rately; "Ward Family: Descendants of William Ward " (1851) ; and " Genealogical History of the Rice Family " (1858). See his " Memoir," bv Will- iam B. Trask " (Boston, 1863).

WARD, Artenias, soldier, b. in Shrewsbury, Mass., in 1727; d. there, 28 Oct., 1800. He was graduated at Harvard in 1748, entered public life at an early age as a representative to the general assembly, and was afterward chosen to the executive council. In 1752 he was a justice of the peace in his native town. In 1755 he served as major in Col. Abraham Williams's regiment, and in 1758 he was major in the one that was commanded by William Williams. He accompanied the expedition under Gen. James Abercrombie against the French and Indians, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and succeeded to the command of the 3d regiment. Afterward he represented his native town in the legislature, where he took an active part in the controversies between the colonial governors and the house of representatives and was one of the regularly chosen members that were displaced by the "mandamus councillors" in 1774. On 27 Oct., 1774, he was appointed a brigadier-general by the Provincial congress of Massachusetts, to which he was a delegate, and on 19 May, 1775, he was made commander-in-chief of the