Individual Details

Birth

Jesse Ward was born in Middletown, Middlesex, Connecticut to Thomas Ward and Mary Johnson on 23 Jul 1765. He was the oldest of a family of twelve children. His father, grandfather and great grand father were all named Thomas Ward and they had all been residents of Middletown, Connecticut.

Event

While living in Massachusetts, Jesse fought three years in the Revolutionary War on the side of the patriots, even though he was only 11 years old at the time.

Marriage

they made their first home in Lee, Berkshire, Massachusetts about 14 miles from Otis to the northeast.

Event

When Jesse was 25 years old they moved from Lee, Massachusetts to Waltham, Addison, Vermont shortly after Chester was born, a distance of 155 miles directly to the North. Waltham is on the western edge of Vermont very near the New York border near Lake Champlain. Jesse and Olive settled on land that had not previously been settled in Waltham. They first built a log house in the northern part of Waltham to live in.

It is very possible that Jesse came to Vermont with his brother Thomas, who was 19, and his brother Amos, who was 11. Both of these brothers show up in the Vermont records later on.

Thomas Ward is listed as having been elected a Hayward in New Haven, Addison, Vermont in 1797. (Hayward was a comical title given to a male who was getting married soon.)

Marriage

At the time of Olive's death, Jesse was faced with raising 4 boys ranging in ages from Chester, who was 13 to Orrin, who was barely 4 years old. Jesse chose to marry Ruth Brooks on 6 Oct 1803 in Middlebury, Addison, Vermont, a nearby town, to help take care of the house and help raise the four boys. They lived together in Waltham until they both died there in 1839.