Married Hulda Ann Munyon 10 Jan 1883 in Kansas
Amos-Cora-Clifford
Died 4 Jul 1909 in New Mexico
Buried in La Union
1870 Census
The following history was written by Cora Ward Merrell, Amos's daughter.
My father was born to Orin James and Caroline Celia Hapgood Ward in Bethel, Fayette, Iowa, on 3 March 1855. He was the sixth son and seventh child of the family. There were also two girls and two boys after him. Orin James was the son of Silas Ward and Phebe Stoughton. Silas was the son of Jesse Ward and Olive Nye, who was the son of Thomas Ward, Jr. and Mary Johnson who was the son of Thomas Ward Sr. His people came from Tolland County, Connecticut, and through Massachusetts and Vermont. They also lived in New York. His mother's people were the first to chop into the forest and build homes and farms in Malone, New York. She was born and lived there until she was married.
My father was one of the kindest people I ever met, but when he told us to do something we knew he meant it. The only spanking I ever remember getting from him was for doing something he had told me not to do. He always took the part of the absent one and was good to the poor, dividing his good things with them. He paid the woman who washed for us in emergencies double what she got elsewhere. He was not a large man, about five foot eight. His eyes were deep blue, his hair dark, and he always wore chin whiskers which were dark auburn. He always clipped them English style. His childhood was spent in Iowa: Bethel, West Union and Waucoma, where he received a good education for those times. He could always help us with any problem.
His mother, Caroline Celia Hapgood Ward had very poor health. Being asthmatic, she suffered greatly. Orin James, his father, moved around a great deal hoping to find a place where she could breathe easier. She came from a religious family and was religious herself. She taught her children to pray and to read the Bible. She would go to her room and pray often, probably for strength and wisdom to care for her large family. My father said she seemed to realize that there was something coming in a religious way that she would not participate in, and he heard her pray that one of her children at least might be led to accept the truth.
They next moved to Geuda Springs, Sumner County, Kansas, where they purchased a large tract of land which had mineral hot springs on it. Here he later built a resort with baths and a large hotel. It was their last move. The children finished their growing up and were married there. Their mother didn't improve with this last move as they had hoped she might but grew steadily weaker until on 22 April 1872, she passed away and was the first person interred in the Geuda Springs Cemetery. (Her tomb stone shows the date of 4 May 1873. Picture in possession of Verla Johnson. Her name was written Celia C., Wife of O. J. Ward.)
Kansas and Nebraska at that time were undeveloped territory, mostly used for cattle grazing. I remember father telling some hair raising stories of Indian troubles. At one time one of his brothers was helping to move a herd of cattle. He was driving the chuck wagon and had to go down the river from the cattle to be able to cross. As he was going up the bank on the other side of the river, an Indian jumped up on the wagon behind him and drew a knife across his throat, cutting the skin of his throat before my uncle could knock him off.
Another time this same brother was surrounded by Indians and barely escaped because he had the best horse. He killed his horse by riding so hard to save himself.
Another story he told was of surveyors. The Indians loathed surveyors because they knew that a bunch of settlers always came after the land was surveyed. The Indians told the men to get out peaceably with instruments or they would be killed. They left but were criticized severely when they reached the fort because they had let the redskins bluff them out. One man offered to send his son back with them to show that there was no danger so they returned. After they were gone the man who had sent his son made a party in their honor because they were brave men. Before the celebration was finished, a runner came in to tell them that all the men had been killed.
Father was cooking for a cattle roundup gang. The Indians were on the war path and they were expecting the soldiers the next day. For some reason, my father was left alone that night and about daylight next morning he heard the Indians coming so he crawled out into the tall grass. The Indians tore up and destroyed everything they could. They put sacks of flour and pillows on their horses, made holes in them and then ran, scattering the flour and feathers to the wind.
What they couldn't destroy, they gathered up and set fire to. Father was lying there breathless, thinking the grass would take fire and he would be at their mercy. Just as the fire was getting good, he heard the welcome sound of the soldiers and the red men fled.
I don't remember of hearing my father talk much about the days after his mother died but he did say that there were so many teasing boys that they could never keep a hired girl. Consequently, the boys had to help with the house work and the care of the younger children.
Their father was a carpenter and millwright by trade, but he was so very exacting that none of his boys learned the trade. I heard their father speak of taking his sister, Hattie, to dances and of how they liked to dance together. Hattie became a school teacher. I know very little of his courtship with Mother, but he was up in that part of Kansas helping his brother with his farm work. He met Mother one day and went home to tell his folks that he had met his future wife. It turned out that way.
They were married in McPherson, Kansas, on the 10th day of January 1882. Father was 28 and mother was 19. Father was operating a rented farm that year and an unusually hard hail storm destroyed their whole crop. They went then to McPherson where he began working for the city with his team and wagon. He did very well at that. It was while there that their first lovely child was born--Franklin Amos Ward. He lived only ten months. The doctor called his trouble brain fever and shed tears at his passing. Next over the years came six girls and another boy. The children were Hattie, Cora, Lena, Mary, Edna, Gladys and Amos Philip. Mary and Edna also lived only nine and ten months.
The next summer Father Munyon came to McPherson and begged father to return with him and oversee his place. He said that he had plenty of help but they were not accomplishing anything and he needed an over seer. He promised Father half they made if he would come. Father thought it over and decided to go, but it was the most fatal step he ever took. He had so much worry and worked so hard trying to get the other fel lows to work, that he had a sunstroke with complications. First, a big abscess on the jaw which was lanced nine times and caused lock jaw. Next, he had abscesses of the stomach from which he suffered terribly
most of his life. He went from doctor to doctor and from place to place trying to get relief, but got none. Finally everything they owned was gone except his team and wagon, his wife and two baby girls.
About that time President Benjamin Harrison sent out his proclamation on the 27th of March 1889, that Oklahoma was open for settlement. On the 19th of April of that year all settlers were allowed to cross the piece Kansas border and enter the Cherokee outlet, or strip as it was called. Then on the 22nd of April at 12:00 noon and at the sound of a trumpet, all were turned loose to run for a 160 acre piece of land. $15.00 was the entrance or registration fee.
My father with two younger brothers, Hubert and Llewellen, and a friend, Mr. House, were in that race. Each had a good outfit. Uncle Hubert had a light rig with a span of mules so he went on and found a section which looked good to him and four came and put their stakes down on the same section. They could sleep and eat together and still be on their own section. They were given just so long to make a building and improvements on the land so they worked together and built log rooms or cabins then sent for their families. I have often heard my father tell how there were 10,000 people took up city lots in Guthrie and established a city in a day which became the capitol before nightfall. People paid as much as five dollars for a drink of water. Some buildings went up and businesses were established such as stores, saloons, lawyers office, etc.
The folks had a hard time establishing them selves on this homestead on account of Father's health. He was not able to follow a plow but they were determined he would do all he could.
Help for the home was hard to get so Mother would go out and help a week for an acre of plowing or breaking the land as they called it. They also rented part of it to get it worked up. His homestead was quite level and proved to be an exceptionally good so it was easy to get renters. It was while we lived there that the Mormon Elders came into that part of the country.
There was lots of opposition and most people were bitterly opposed to them. Father and Mother were Christians at that time. They had tried other religions too, trying to get something that satisfied. Father was always broad minded and listened to both sides before making up his mind, so when the Elders knocked at our door, he invited them in and gave them a chance to explain all their views. Their gospel struck cords within both of them that no other religion had done and the more they studied it and the more the Elders came and explained it, the more sure they were that it was true. They were baptized along with a few others in a little creek on the 4th of June 1893, by D. W. Bowering, being confirmed the same day. Hattie and I were blessed that day.
We attended Sunday services at the home of Holts. I don't remember their given name, but they lived about three miles from our place and we enjoyed the ride in the early morning. We always took pot luck and all had dinner together. There must have been 15 to 20 people when we were all together.
Father was ordained to the Aaronic Priest hood and the office of Priest by Elder John H. Vincent on 10 February 1895 and to the office of Elder by Elder D. W. Bowering on 28 April 1895. Later Llewellen Ward joined the church and my sister, Hattie, was eight at that time and was baptized on 28 March 1895.
No sooner had the folks joined the church than the relatives and old friends and neighbors turned against them. Even Father's brother told him to never darken his door again for he had disgraced the family. One of our neighbors filled one of our horses with shot but she recovered. The Elders wrote to President Wilford Woodruff telling about conditions and he advised us to sell our property and go to Mexico to help with the colonization down there. Our 160 acre farm was all in the clear and all in crop except one little corner that was used for pasture. A little creek ran through it and wild blackberries and plums grew on the banks. He sold this for $800.
(An interesting note: The deed to that land was granted by the United States to Amos P. Ward, Territory of Oklahoma, Logan County, on 12 February 1895 and signed by Grover Cleveland, President of the United States. The warranty Deed was granted to Bartholomew Murphy and signed by Amos P. Ward and Hulda A. Ward on 9 May 1895, for the sum of $1200. Murphy paid $800 down and they never received the balance. Copies in possession of Verla Johnson.)
He fixed up a covered wagon with a bed spring built in on the top box so we had a bed right there all the way. There was lots of room under it for food, clothing, tools, etc. We had a little stove lashed on one side and a big water barrel on the other. Our washing machine stood right behind the spring seat, and when we stopped by a river to wash, it was used by everyone.
There were five families in our caravan. Our outfit was somewhat better than the others and we had fewer passengers--only three small children. We left our home in early June and arrived in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico, sometime after the 19th of September. I had my birthday on the road. Nothing of too great importance happened on the way. We had one tornado, once we were terribly thirsty, and twice Father dislocated his shoulder and had to travel a long distance for help. The Lord blessed us all with good health.
When we arrived in El Paso we found Apostle Teasdale there to meet us and Father asked him for a blessing for his health. Brother Teasdale did bless him and said that if he were faithful, he should receive a new stomach. He had to be tried a lot before receiving that blessing but it came.
He bought a farm but was not able to run it so he sold it and bought some cattle--sixty or seventy and a blooded bull. He didn't have range enough to keep them so he took them to a good brother who had a good pasture and got him to pasture them for him. They were in the pasture for a year and when Father went to get them there were only twelve of the old stock and no young ones. The man kept the twelve for pasture bill and asked for the full amount for a year.
Several men told Father they had been killing his brand for the butcher shop. Some time later that man was sentenced to a prison term for selling hides for which he had no bill of sale. After that he was shot in the face by an unknown foe. It didn't kill him then, but later a cancer came in the scar which caused his death.
Mother's father came to Mexico from Kansas and offered each of his three girls a farm, cow, and team of horses if they would come back home. It was no temptation to my parents, but the other two girls finally went back. Father tried everything from photography to broom-making to try to provide for his family and finally started freighting. He could ride when it was impossible to work. His stomach gradually healed and one day he said his blessing had been fulfilled and he could digest nails if they were chewed up. Later he started doing carpenter work and was very strong. He could lift planks that usually took two men to carry.
When he was home he never sat down with out a book in his hand--usually a standard church book. I learned more about the gospel principles through hearing them discussed by him with neighbors and friends than in any other way.
Through all his years of suffering he never complained, and as soon as he could get up, he would go to work. Through his years of sickness his heart was weakened so that he had black-outs quite often. He was away from home when the last one came and he passed away on the Fourth of July, 1909.
(Verla has possession of the Fourth of July card he sent to Cora that year. It is colored and pictures children waving a United States flag.)
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