Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-11-25
Mr.. AND MRS. IRA WARD.
MORE ABOUT NEW HAvEN's VENERABLE
COUPLE

COOFII'
The Boston Record sent reporter to
the diamond wedding of Mr.. and Mrs.
Ira Ward Of New Haven. which was Gel
ebratcd last week. He whites;
Mr.. Ward was always farmer and
Mrs. Ward attended TO little outside the
routine work ola farmers wife, although !
she is the oldest woman member of the
Congregational church at New Haven.
Her whole life was given over to bring
inc up her ten children, all of whom
reached ripe ages, nine of them being |
alive today. She spun and wove all the |
clothing, linen and wooden for these chill |
dren. besides the clothing of her husband |
and several of the daughters of the old |
homestead. This afternoon she spoke of
their wedding dresses, which were made
on their mothers loom, besides their
home duties. Mrs. Ward became locally
famous for weaving the "blanket shawls'
of 80 years ago, making III all 90 OF these
for customers all over the State where
her fame had spread. The earliest recol-
| lection of two or three OF the daughters
! is of sitting beside their mother as she
wove those famous shawls and throwing
back the shuttle to assist her in their
childish way. There was little diversion
/ in this Woodworking life. The neigh
bors are proud of the part Ira Ward took
in the war of 1872, for he was the first
man to volunteer for hard task. al
though the expedition amounted to little
in the end.
This was at Nergennes, when the Brit
ish were about to occupy the waters OF
Lake Champlain. Two or three thous-
and men had collected from all the coun-
try about; and among them was Ira
Ward. The commander of the combined
force asked for volunteers for "A scouting
expedition to Lake Champaign, and Mr..
Ward was the very first to volunteer
The party to be sent consisted OF dOz-
en- men and their business was to watch
for the arrival of the British and give the
alarm. After the expedition was organ
lied it barely escaped beng abandoned
because nobody would volunteer to carry
the big bag of provisions necessary. AZ
length Private Ward and Private Roswell
Hawkins took the task upon themselves
and successfully accomplished it, After
some time spent at the lake the detach-
ment returned, and transports being
wanting large part of the troops were
for the time dismissed, although 1000
were retained by the governor as minute
men, The battle of Plattsburgh had
meantime occurred, but the minute men
collected at the shores of the lake were
again deprived of their share in battle,
owing to the lack of transportation. Mr..
Ward has never been pensioner. as the
: enlistment of the troops was kept in
the captains hat, which blew of one
night in IA gale, land the papers were
scattered to the four winds. Mr.. Ward,
however, had the usual land warrant Tor
100 acres, but this he sold some 10 wears
900 II i worthy of notice that the bio
. h9am of Commander NcDonough's FLAG
sbin tho SaratoU. which was built in
| 10 davs was emf from - tree ON the edge
q of the old Ward homestead. Until with
in a few months thp old couple have cot
all their own meals and they still cool,
Tho nIainor food themselves i'm their part
of fhe house. II is only within a year
that Mrs. Ward has been Obliged to give
nm ,vritino lottors to nor ohspnf children
nre,,inus to thot time she had writer
bach of the four in thn West three letter,
- ,yaeI, each III Min neat and newsv
rhn AGED connie are i'm comfortable cir.
i rumstanros win thrir farm all uaid fol
ond somntbiuy hnsides The celebration
/ of today was the first formal celebration
ever held of any of their anniversaries.
The following are the names of the
: nine living children: Mrs. Helen Rog
ers. Ferrisburgh, VT, Il; Mrs. llarrie
Robbins, Scion, o., 60; Mrs. liannai
5 Bull, Soloh' o'' % Mrs' 9"r~l Dia a.
/ Aurora, o., TO; II, w. ara New IA
ven, Nt'' 81: MIS- Ci'"ra hIoohS' : nica
i 90, 90; g. W. NarG, New nav t!l
w., %; r. ward brlst0I' L. 80
a? and Mrs EIehora hriSuie' Ni"IlI'"' Ia
=. 10. or these All pul MIS- hVo"lh1 "ll II
Mrs. Fun were present YESTERDAY bo!i
p g. w ana r. l. az" N'lV S"'u'CIs :;