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Ward Genealogy and Ward Family History Information

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Profiles

  • 1st wife of William Ward (c.1605 - bef.1638)
    Biography Name: Unknown Unknown Her name is Unknown. Some secondary sources and many internet sources assign her a name, but there is no evidence to support these. Please see errors section below. ...
  • Aaron Montgomery Ward (1843 - 1913)
    The following came from Investor’s Business Daily, Monday, March 31, 2014:=Montgomery Ward Filled Catalogs, Stores, Coffers=So many people told Aaron Montgomery Ward he would go broke trying to sell me...
  • Aaron Ward (1749 - 1838)
    SGT Aaron Ward Like most of the men on the east side of the Hudson near Troy, he served in the First Company of the Sixth Regiment under Captain Christopher Tillman, Lt. Col. Henry K. Van Rensselaer, ...
  • Abiah Albee (1676 - 1722)
    Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy : Mar 12 2017, 23:13:57 UTC (Abiah) Albee formerly Wheelock
  • Abigail Ward (1724 - 1784)

About the Ward surname

origins

Ward is a popular name of both Old English origin and Old Gaelic origin. The two names are completely unrelated, with one being ethnically Germanic and the other being ethnically Celtic.

English

The Old English name derives from an occupational surname for a civil guard/keeper of the watch, or alternately as a topographical surname from the word "werd" ("marsh").

In England, the name dates to before the Norman Conquest/Invasion of 1066. The oldest public record of the surname dates to 1176. A Walter de la Warde was recorded in the 1273 Hundred Rolls of Suffolk and a Robert le Warde was listed in the Oxfordshire Rolls for the same year.

The original coat of arms was born by Sir John Warde of Surrey, at the siege of Calais in 1345. This had the blazon of a blue field charged with a gold cross flory and is one of the most ancient of all arms on record.

Gaelic

The Old Gaelic surname derives from "Mac an Bhaird" ("son of the Bard"), a bard being a storyteller or poet.

In Ireland, Wards are prominent in Galway and Donegal and are said to descend from the earliest Bhaird. The earliest "Macaward" in Ireland appears as bishop of Clonfert, County Galway, in 1179.

In Scotland, a John de Warde was recorded as being a tenant of the Earl of Douglas in 1376.

Americas

The Ward surname was one of the first into the new American Colonies. A John Ward of "Elizabeth Cittie, Virginia" was recorded as head of his muster on February 24, 1624.

other versions of this surname