Gov. Richard WARD

Notes:

Name:
He was of Newport; Freeman, 1710; Attorney General, 1712; Deputy ad Clerk of the Assembly, 1714; Recorder or Secretary of the colony, 1714-1733; one of the four commissioners appointed Jan. 10, 1725/6, to settle the boundary between the Colonies of Rhode Island and Connecticut; Deputy Governor, 1740-3. (The Ward family of R.I., p. 16; Vital Rec. of R.I., 4, Newport, p. 74; Austin; Savage, 4, pp. 412,414) In 1716, he and the Governor were appointed by the General Assembly "to revise the whole body of laws relating to the militia". In 1728, he was one of a Committee of four to revise the laws of the Colony "in order to be printed." In 1731, he and Col. Updike were chosen to prepare for the press "all the general laws of this colony." On Jan. 9, 1741, while Governor, he wrote in response to an inquiry by the British Board of Trade for the Foreign Plantations, a carefully prepared and exhaustive report on the emission of paper currency by the Colony of Rhode Island. (R.I. Col. rec., 5, pp. 8-14.)

Family/Spouse: Mary TILLINGHAST. Mary (daughter of John TILLINGHAST and Isabel SAYLES) was born about 1689; died on 19 Oct 1767 in Newport, Newport Co., Rhode Island. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Amey WARD was born on 21 Jul 1717 in Newport, Rhode Island; died on 17 Jan 1792 in Newport, Rhode Island.

Notes:

Name:
He came from Gloucester, England and settled at newport about 1670; was the first of his name to come to America; is first mentioned in Rhode Island history in May, 1671 when he was admitted Freeman, and again in May, 1677, when he was elected General Treasurer of the colony. He was elected to the Upper Chamber of the general Assembly in May, 1679 and was repeatedly chosen a Deputy from Newport until his death. Backus in his history of the Baptists, says he was one of that faith and one of the most useful men in the Colony. He was a merchant.
"Nov. 25, 1690, Amey Ward, widow and Mary Billings, both of Newport, daughters and co-heirs of Samuel Billings, deceased." etc. (R.I.Rec.) "By his wife he had two daughters only, Mary and Margaret, neither of whom left issue that lived to be married, and by his second wife, he had two sons only, Thomas and Richard. (Savage, 4, p. 414.)

Thomas married Amy BILLINGS. Amy (daughter of Samuel BILLINGS and Seaborn TEW) was born on 20 Oct 1658. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]