Name: Ward, James Thomas (1820-1897)

Variant Name: Ward, James T.

Historical Note: James Thomas Ward was born August 21,1820 in Georgetown, D.C. the son of Ulysses Ward, prominent in the temperance movement in the United States, and Susan Beall Ward. In the late 1820s when the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States split, his father converted to the Methodist Protestant religion. Ward followed his father and converted in 1833. He attended Columbian Academy in D. C. and Brookville Classical Academy in Montgomery County, Maryland, where he graduated in 1838 with the classical prize. He continued to read and study Greek, Latin, philosophy, and history. He was about 20 years old when decided to become a minister. He sought and studied with prominent Methodist Protestant ministers Augustus Webster and Andrew Lipscomb. For the next 26 years he would preach in churches and circuits from Philadelphia to Alexandria Virginia including two stations in Westminster, MD. When he was in Cumberland, Maryland in 1845 he married Catherine Light (1823-1899) of Virginia. They had two daughters Clara (1849-1854) and Mary (1854-1934). For health and political reasons, Ward retired from active ministry and moved to Westminster in 1866. Here he met Fayette Buell and helped him found a small college dedicated to the equal education of men and women. In 1886 after twenty years as President of Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) Ward retired to become president of Westminster Theological Seminary (Now Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.). He died in March 4, 1897. His diaries cover his life from 1840 to 1897 in over 104 volumes of which 55 are in the Library of Congress Manuscript Collection. They are descriptive of his beliefs, his religion, his family, and the times he lived in.

Sources: Collection and obituaries

Note Author: Barbara O'Brien

Records or Manuscript Collections Created by Ward, James Thomas (1820-1897)