William Ward (13) was the son of William (11) and Rebecca Davis Ward

William Ward was born September 28, 1760 (page 148 copy of St. Stephens Register).

He lived at Woodlawn and also had "Sheffield" and other tracts of land.

Positions held:

• For many years Vestryman at St. Stephen's Church. 

• He was one of the Members from Cecil County in the House of Delegates in the General Assembly of Maryland 1793, 1794 and 1795. (See proceedings of the Assembly.

He married November 25, 1784 (see page 29 St. Stephens Register) Anne Veazey, daughter of Edward And Elizabeth DeCoursey Veazey of Cherry Grove, in Veazey's Neck, Cecil County, Maryland, granddaughter of Colonel John Veazey, Jr., who was living at Essex Lodge at the time of his death in 1777 and .

He died at Woodlawn, December 4, 1835 and was buried in the Ward lot in St. Stephens' churchyard near the church. A stone marks his grave. He was buried beside his wife, Anne Veazey Ward, who, born April 19, 1766, died October 3, 1826.

He was one of the most prominent and highly respected citizens of the county and the esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries is evidenced by the obituary notice which was prepared by the Rector of St. Stephens Church, the Rev. J. Coleman whose son became Bishop Coleman of Delaware. The notice was dated December 4, 1835 and the following is a copy of the original which is in the possession of the writer (Duncan Veazey). The date referred to Mr. Ward's death as the papers could not have been prepared and issued on the day of his death.

Obituary:

"Death, though generally so awful and alarming, is sometimes beheld stripped of its terrors. When we see the young, the gay, the beautiful, the victims of its ravages, and prematurely consigned to the dark and silent grave, our sensibility is shocked and it is not without painful effort that we are brought to acquiescence in the Divine decree "dust though art and into dust thou shall return". Not so, when the aged and venerable earth worn pilgrim, after many a long and weary step at last descends into the "valley of the shadow of death", in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection. It is Death, indeed, but it is death in a forum which is not painful to contemplate; we may mourn for such; but we "sorrow not as those who have no hope". 

It is with such chastened and subdued feelings of regret that we ____ the demise of William Ward, Esquire of Sassafras Neck, Cecil County, who departed this life on Friday 4th ____ in the 76th year of his age. The deceased was a Christian, a title which at once includes all that is necessary to portray his character, and to designate the source whence sprung the precious hopes and consolations, which afford so rich a solace to his relations and friends. Death to him had lost its sting; he had calmly viewed its gradual approach, and repeatedly declared he was ready for his change. Nor did he fear when he came to die; the God whom he had served in life, was faithful to his promise, and did not desert him in the last trying hour; the powers of darkness were not permitted to assail; but he sunk into death's embrace in all the tranquil peace with which an infant sleeps upon its mother's breast. As the morning of his life had been fair and its noon honorable, so its evening was serene and happy, even amid the bodily sufferings with which it had pleased his Heavenly Father to visit him. His afflictions were borne with becoming Christian resignation; in solitude he was not solitary, his retirement was relieved by books, and the internal resources of a powerful, active, and well cultivated mind, which to the last rendered his society attractive and profitable to persons of all ages. Spared to an age considerably exceeding the years usually allotted to man, and permitted to behold his surviving children happily settled around him; he at last "came to his grave in a full age like as a shock of corn cometh in its season". An appropriate funeral discourse was preached at Woodlawn, his late residence, by the Rector of the Parish, on Sunday the 6th ___from Proverbs 14 - 32 verse. "The righteous hath hope in his death"; after which his remains were interred in the burying ground of St. Stephens Church, according to the rites of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of whose communion he had for many years been a faithful member. A very large and respectable procession accompanied his body to the grave, and the sincere sorrow depicted on every countenance testified their affectionate sense of the virtues of the deceased. Long will his memory be served. "

His will is recorded in the office of the Register of Wills for Cecil County at Elkton and was passed December 16, 1835.