Manuscript Group 286, Stafford-Ward Family Papers, 1811-1957 (Bulk dates: 1811-1836)

 

 

Archives

Documents, Manuscripts, Maps, & Photographs

Manuscript Group 286,
Stafford-Ward Family

 

Papers, 1811-1957 (Bulk
dates: 1811-1836), 0.25 linear feet / 1 small box

 

Call Number: MG 286

 

 

Summary

 

 

 

 


Summary:

 

Family correspondence,
documents, and genealogical notes pertaining to the Stafford and Ward families
of Newark, New Jersey.  Includes letters of Hannah Ward Stafford and her
father Thomas Ward (ca. 1759-1842), a Democratic politician and U.S.
Congressman, as well as letters to his son Thomas Ward (1807-1873), a poet and
playwright.  There are letters and documents recommending Rev. Ward
Stafford, signed by Archibald Alexander, DeWitt Clinton, and Theodore
Frelinghuysen.  Ward Stafford moved to Youngstown, Ohio in 1829 or 1830
with his wife Hannah Ward Stafford, accepting charge of a Presbyterian church.

 

 

Biographical
Note:

 

Hannah Ward Stafford was the daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ward (ca. 1759-1842).  She was born on June 25, 1791,
the sixth of eleven children.  Her father, Thomas Ward, was a lawyer,
judge, Congressman (1813-1817), and, until his death, a General in the
cavalry.  The Ward family resided in Newark, New Jersey.  General Ward’s
children were: Matthias (b. 1781), William (b. 1783), Thomas (b. 1786), Betsey
(b. 1788), Isaac (b. 1790), Hannah (b. 1791), Isaac (b. 1793), Sally (b. 1795),
Jane (b. 1797), and Sally (b. 1800).

 

Hannah Ward married the Reverend Ward
Stafford of New York City on March 30, 1819.  Ward Stafford was a
Presbyterian clergyman, who was active in missionary work.  About 1829,
Rev. Stafford accepted the position of minister for a church in Youngstown,
Ohio, and moved his family there.  Hannah Ward Stafford had five children
while still residing in Newark and three more after the move to Ohio.  They
were: Henry Martyn (b. 1820), Mary (b. 1821), Ward D. (b. 1823), Thomas Ward (b.
1825), Julia (b. 1828), Elizabeth Harper (b. 1831), John (b. 1834), and Jane (b.
1836).  Hannah died on December 13, 1836 probably of complications from
childbirth.  The baby, Jane, lived only one day.

 

Rev. Ward Stafford remarried after the
death of Hannah.  His second wife, Mary ( ) died in 1843.  Ward
Stafford died in 1851.

 

Provenance
Note:

 

The source of this collection is unknown.

 

Scope
and Content Note:

 

This collection dates from 1811-1957 with
bulk dates of 1811-1836, and is primarily made up of the correspondence of
Hannah Ward Stafford to her husband Ward Stafford, and to her father, Thomas
Ward.  The letters have been divided by author and recipient and then
arranged chronologically.  The remainder of the correspondence is that of
Ward Stafford and includes letters of recommendation from Theodore Frelinghuysen,
Dewitt Clinton, Archibald Alexander, and H. McCauley.  These letters
include those Ward wrote to his father-in-law upon Hannah Ward Stafford’s
death.

 

There is also one folder of miscellaneous
items.  Of particular interest is a short play in the hand of Hannah Ward
Stafford called, “The Great Assize or Day of Judgement.”  This
folder also contains a small amount of genealogical information.

 

Folder List:

 

 


Folder

Title

Dates
 

1

 

Hannah Ward (Stafford) to Thomas
Ward ( 2 items)

 

–letter fragments commenting on the
wedding of Maria Ogden; the accessibility of newspapers; a great snow
storm; and other matters.

 

1811

 

2

 

Hannah Ward (Stafford) to Thomas
Ward (2 items)

 

–concern her brother Isaac’s
illness; the ill-tempered horses Thomas Ward used to travel to Washington,
DC; brother Thomas’s refusal to go to school.

 

1813

 

3

 

Hannah Ward Stafford – Letters to
father and sisters (7 items)

 

–praises the beauty of the Ohio
countryside; the funeral of a child; a temperance society meeting at
Vienna, OH; remarks on the way married women dress; the premature death of
young Thomas Ward; a trip to Johnstown via railroad and canal and onward
to Pittsburgh; a description of her children’s daily activities;
characterizations of life and routine on the Ohio frontier.

 

1830-1836

 

4

 

Hannah Ward (Stafford) to Ward
Stafford (1 item)

 

–written before her marriage,
Hannah explains that she has not corresponded because she has burned her
finger and has been unable to write.

 

n.d.

 

5

 

Hannah Ward Stafford to Ward
Stafford (3 items)

 

–letters concern the health of the
children; a refusal to take in boarders; the failure to send clothes to
New York (for Ward Stafford) because of the danger of their being lost;
sewing pillow cases for money; reference to the Priscilla Society, a woman’s
organization.

 

n.d.

 

6

 

Hannah Ward Stafford to Ward
Stafford (2 items)

 

–letters concern the health of the
children; a request to purchase scissors; a church service. (ND –
Although undated, these letters were written after 1829 because they
emanate from Ohio.)

 

n.d.

 

7

 

Ward Stafford – letters received
(11 items)

 

–subjects include Ward Stafford’s
forthcoming ordination to the ministry at Middlebury, Connecticut; the
Dartmouth College case debated at Exeter; Hannah’s comments on the
quality of husbands; family matters; the severe heat wave of 1821;
discussions of an individual named Sam, whom Hannah calls the
“enemy,” and who apparently intended to harm the Wards in
Newark, causing great alarm among the household (see letter of September
23, 1822); little Henry’s illness; upcoming Fourth of July celebrations
in Newark including a collection on behalf of the New Jersey Colonization
Society; efforts by the congregation to retain Rev. Dr. Sprague as
Minister; reference (Merwin to Stafford, Sept.25, 1830) to the African
Church in New Haven, Conn.; family matters.  (Correspondents are
Hannah Ward Stafford and Samuel Merwin.)

 

1817-1839

 

8

 

Ward Stafford – recommendations (5
items)

 

–endorsements of Stafford by
Theodore Frelinghuysen, Dewitt Clinton, Archibald Alexander, and H.
McCauley.

 

1817-1835

 

9

 

Ward Stafford to Thomas Ward (3
items)

 

–reporting the death of Hannah Ward
Stafford.

 

1836

 

10

 

Stafford-Ward Family miscellany (11
items)

 

–genealogical data concerning the
family of General Thomas Ward of Newark; legal document of Mary Stafford;
stitched booklet of homilies; manuscript play “The Great Assize or
Day of Judgement” in the hand of Hannah Ward Stafford; marriage
certificate of Amos Lock and Anna Thompson.

 

Various dates

 

11

 

“Of Books and Things-From the
Library,” written by Fred Shelley, published in N.J. Historical
Society Proceedings
1957, Vol.75, pg.285-289.

 

 

1957

 

Processed by Kim Charlton, November 1999 as part of the “Farm to
City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications
and Records Commission.

 

Container list by C.A.L., 1984

 

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