“We sail the ocean blue,
And our saucy ship’s a beauty!”
That is all about the cradle.
My mother writes thus of Great-grandfather Ward, her own grandfather:—
“He had been a lieutenant-colonel in the war of American Independence. A letter from the Commander-in-Chief to Governor Samuel Ward (of Rhode Island) mentions a visit from “your son, a tall young man of soldierly aspect.” I cannot quote the exact words. My grandfather had seen service in Arnold’s march through ‘the wilderness’ to Quebec. He was present at the battle of Red Bank. After the close of the war he engaged in commercial pursuits, and made a voyage to India as supercargo of a merchant vessel belonging to Moses Brown, of Providence. He was in Paris at the time of the king’s death (Louis XVI.), and for some time before that tragic event. He speaks in his journal of having met several of the leading revolutionists of that time at a friend’s house, and characterizes them as ‘exceeding plain men, but very zealous.’ He passed the day of the king’s execution, which he calls ‘one of horror,’ in Versailles, and was grieved at the conduct of several
Lieut.-Col. Samuel Ward.
Born Nov 17, 1756 Died Aug. 16, 1832.