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Marcus L. Ward Papers (ca. 1683 - 1912)
RepositoryNew Jersey Historical Society
Collection IDMG 28
Size16 linear feet (45 boxes plus 7 oversize volumes)
Collection Description
Newark native Marcus Lawrence Ward (1812-1884) was the son of Moses Ward and Fanny Brown Ward, and a descendant of John Ward, one of the founders of Newark. In 1840 Ward and Susan Longworth Morris (b. 1815), daughter of John and Elizabeth (Longworth) Morris, were married. The couple had eight children: Joseph Morris (b.1841), Elizabeth Morris (1843), Frances Lavinia (1844-1846); Marcus L. Ward, Jr. (1847-1920), Catharine Almira Morris (1849-1860), Nicholas Longworth (1852-1857), John Longworth Morris (1854-1855), and Frances Brown (1856-1864). Of the eight children only two, Joseph Morris Ward and Marcus L. Ward, Jr., lived to adulthood and survived their father.
Marcus Ward was a partner in his father's candle manufacturing business and in 1846 became a director of the National State Bank. Active in the cultural and civic life of Newark, Ward was chairman of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Historical Society, a founder of the Newark Library Association and the New Jersey Art Union, and was president of the Newark Industrial Exhibition (1872).
During the Civil War he established Marcus L. Ward's Office for Soldiers' Business, a private bureau in Newark that secured soldiers' pay and pensions, and transmitted the monies to their families or deposited them in savings accounts. He also founded the Ward U.S. Military Hospital in Newark, a forerunner of the New Jersey Home for Disabled Soldiers, and was chairman of the Public Aid Committee of Newark. Ward's efforts on behalf of Civil War veterans and their families continued during the years of Reconstruction, earning him the title: "the Soldier's Friend."
Ward joined the Republican Party in 1856 and served as a delegate to the 1860 Republican national convention, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. Ward's first bid for the New Jersey governorship, in 1862, failed. When he ran again for governor in 1865, he was elected in a Republican landslide. While Governor of New Jersey (1866-1869) he served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, and as Chairman and Treasurer of the National Union Committee. Ward was also elected as a Representative from New Jersey to the U.S. Congress (1873-1875).
Marcus L. Ward died in Newark on April 25, 1884 from complications of malaria, which he had contracted while on a visit to Florida. His imposing white frame house at 49 Washington St. ws sold to the city in 1922 and demolished to provide a site for the Newark Museum.
NOTE: See also, John Livingston, "Marcus L. Ward of Newark, N.J." ([New York: Cornish, Lamport and Co., 1853-1854]). Several pages extracted from Livingston's "Portraits of Eminent Americans Now Living. Held by the New Jersey Historical Society, Call. no. N 040 W215, Vol.10, no.29
"Map of land of M. L. Ward, Newark" (n.p., undated). A manuscript map, colored, covering property running parallel to Oriental St., bordered by North Broad St. and the Passaic River. New Jersey Historical Society, Call. no. MAP 571.
John Younglove, "Hon. Marcus L. Ward, 'The Soldier's Friend,' a eulogy delivered before Marcus L. Ward Post and friends, in Music Hall, Newark, N.J. on December 18, 1884" (31 pages, Newark: Press of the Newark Daily Advertiser, 1885). Note: "Requested for publication by [GAR] Post 88, Department of New Jersey." New Jersey Historical Society, Call. no. N pf 7481
Marcus Ward was a partner in his father's candle manufacturing business and in 1846 became a director of the National State Bank. Active in the cultural and civic life of Newark, Ward was chairman of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey Historical Society, a founder of the Newark Library Association and the New Jersey Art Union, and was president of the Newark Industrial Exhibition (1872).
During the Civil War he established Marcus L. Ward's Office for Soldiers' Business, a private bureau in Newark that secured soldiers' pay and pensions, and transmitted the monies to their families or deposited them in savings accounts. He also founded the Ward U.S. Military Hospital in Newark, a forerunner of the New Jersey Home for Disabled Soldiers, and was chairman of the Public Aid Committee of Newark. Ward's efforts on behalf of Civil War veterans and their families continued during the years of Reconstruction, earning him the title: "the Soldier's Friend."
Ward joined the Republican Party in 1856 and served as a delegate to the 1860 Republican national convention, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency. Ward's first bid for the New Jersey governorship, in 1862, failed. When he ran again for governor in 1865, he was elected in a Republican landslide. While Governor of New Jersey (1866-1869) he served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, and as Chairman and Treasurer of the National Union Committee. Ward was also elected as a Representative from New Jersey to the U.S. Congress (1873-1875).
Marcus L. Ward died in Newark on April 25, 1884 from complications of malaria, which he had contracted while on a visit to Florida. His imposing white frame house at 49 Washington St. ws sold to the city in 1922 and demolished to provide a site for the Newark Museum.
NOTE: See also, John Livingston, "Marcus L. Ward of Newark, N.J." ([New York: Cornish, Lamport and Co., 1853-1854]). Several pages extracted from Livingston's "Portraits of Eminent Americans Now Living. Held by the New Jersey Historical Society, Call. no. N 040 W215, Vol.10, no.29
"Map of land of M. L. Ward, Newark" (n.p., undated). A manuscript map, colored, covering property running parallel to Oriental St., bordered by North Broad St. and the Passaic River. New Jersey Historical Society, Call. no. MAP 571.
John Younglove, "Hon. Marcus L. Ward, 'The Soldier's Friend,' a eulogy delivered before Marcus L. Ward Post and friends, in Music Hall, Newark, N.J. on December 18, 1884" (31 pages, Newark: Press of the Newark Daily Advertiser, 1885). Note: "Requested for publication by [GAR] Post 88, Department of New Jersey." New Jersey Historical Society, Call. no. N pf 7481
Collection Contents
The Marcus L. Ward Papers consist of correspondence, letterbooks, speeches, and financial records documenting Ward's business and political life, as well as his lifelong devotion to philanthropy, the cause of reform, aid to veterans of the Civil War, and patronage of the arts.
The extensive correspondence files, business records, account books of charitable undertakings, and materials relating to Ward's cultural interests contain many documents and references pertaining to Newark. Also included in the collection are papers, ca. 1683-1817, and genealogical notes on the history of the Ward family; a commonplace book of Anna Eliza Bruen, ca. 1823-1824; extensive correspondence with Nicholas Longworth (1782-1863) between 1841 and 1863; and records of the Montclair Railway Association, 1867-1876.
Newark-related correspondence (fully indexed in a card file in the NJHS Reading Room) includes, but is not limited to, letters to or from: Peter H. Ballantine, Seth Boyden, Joseph P. Bradley, Ezra A. Carman, John J. Clancy, Schuyler Colfax, H. W. Congar, Horace N. Congar, William L. Dayton, Amzi Dodd, Hamilton Fish, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Richard Watson Gilder, Charles Gillespie, George A. Halsey, John Hay, Abram S. Hewitt, Sanford B. Hunt, Anthony Q. Keasbey, John C. Littell, Cortlandt Parker, William Pennington, Julius Pratt, George M. Robeson, F. W. Seward, Samuel Tuttle, Eugene Vanderpool, Marcus L. Ward, Jr., William A. Whitehead, and Edward S. Wilde.
Other Newark-related material includes, but is not limited to:
Box 21: a summary of the history of companies of firemen from 1815-1833 including lists of members of the companies (Folder 11); a brochure of the United States Industrial Insurance Company, Newark; a map of the estate of John Morris, Newark; and a memorial tribute of William B. Kinney (Folder 15); broadsides of the Public Aid Committee of the City of Newark with the Committee's reports, September 6th and 28th of 1861; a typed list of members of the Committee on Exercises, Fourth of July Celebration 1899 (Folder 16); a list of items contributed by the German Industrial School, Greene St., Newark to the Metropolitan Fair, New York (clothing, mats, slippers, pillows, etc.); and Adams Express Company envelopes used to forward soldiers' savings to Marcus Ward in Newark (Folder 17)
Box 22, Folder 1: a list of payments to soldiers' relatives, some in Newark, by Ward through Chaplain R. B. Gaid; a letter from a soldier to Ward requesting a payment to his wife; a letter from an officer requesting a transfer to Ward's hospital in Newark; and a letter from a woman in Essex County Jail explaining her situation and asking Ward to pay her fine
Box 22, Folder 2: a handwritten copy of a stock certificate combining 20,000 shares of the Citizens Gas Light Company of Newark with the Newark Gas Light Company upon their merger
Box 22, Folder 3: a list of payments to relatives of soldiers in Company D of the 13th Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers -- almost all relatives are from Newark; muster roll of Company F, 2nd Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, indicating relatives who are beneficiaries; muster rolls of Company G and Company H of the 3rd Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers listing relatives (most from Newark); Company G of the 2nd Regiment, lists of payments to relatives (most from Newark); notes on two individual cases of soldiers, one who died and one who was separated from his wife
Box 22, Folder 4: a letter from a soldier to Ward requesting him to hold the money that was sent until he returns from his service or to give it to his wife if he does not return; Adams Express Company envelopes used to forward soldiers' savings to Marcus Ward in Newark; a letter from a colonel requesting return of the money deposited by one of his soldiers because the proposed recipient, the soldier's wife, had died; a letter from a soldier to his wife and children; letters from soldiers discussing amounts of money and recipients; a letter from a soldier's wife telling Ward that she had not received the money that her husband transferred to her; and a letter from a soldier discharged for being wounded, asking Ward to collect his bounty for him; a document with amounts distributed; and a list of Captain Leonard's Company
Box 22, Folder 6: a list of Pupils of the Year at Newark Academy, 1862; and a receipt from the Essex County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, for Ward's payment of his life membership fee, 1883
The extensive correspondence files, business records, account books of charitable undertakings, and materials relating to Ward's cultural interests contain many documents and references pertaining to Newark. Also included in the collection are papers, ca. 1683-1817, and genealogical notes on the history of the Ward family; a commonplace book of Anna Eliza Bruen, ca. 1823-1824; extensive correspondence with Nicholas Longworth (1782-1863) between 1841 and 1863; and records of the Montclair Railway Association, 1867-1876.
Newark-related correspondence (fully indexed in a card file in the NJHS Reading Room) includes, but is not limited to, letters to or from: Peter H. Ballantine, Seth Boyden, Joseph P. Bradley, Ezra A. Carman, John J. Clancy, Schuyler Colfax, H. W. Congar, Horace N. Congar, William L. Dayton, Amzi Dodd, Hamilton Fish, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Richard Watson Gilder, Charles Gillespie, George A. Halsey, John Hay, Abram S. Hewitt, Sanford B. Hunt, Anthony Q. Keasbey, John C. Littell, Cortlandt Parker, William Pennington, Julius Pratt, George M. Robeson, F. W. Seward, Samuel Tuttle, Eugene Vanderpool, Marcus L. Ward, Jr., William A. Whitehead, and Edward S. Wilde.
Other Newark-related material includes, but is not limited to:
Box 21: a summary of the history of companies of firemen from 1815-1833 including lists of members of the companies (Folder 11); a brochure of the United States Industrial Insurance Company, Newark; a map of the estate of John Morris, Newark; and a memorial tribute of William B. Kinney (Folder 15); broadsides of the Public Aid Committee of the City of Newark with the Committee's reports, September 6th and 28th of 1861; a typed list of members of the Committee on Exercises, Fourth of July Celebration 1899 (Folder 16); a list of items contributed by the German Industrial School, Greene St., Newark to the Metropolitan Fair, New York (clothing, mats, slippers, pillows, etc.); and Adams Express Company envelopes used to forward soldiers' savings to Marcus Ward in Newark (Folder 17)
Box 22, Folder 1: a list of payments to soldiers' relatives, some in Newark, by Ward through Chaplain R. B. Gaid; a letter from a soldier to Ward requesting a payment to his wife; a letter from an officer requesting a transfer to Ward's hospital in Newark; and a letter from a woman in Essex County Jail explaining her situation and asking Ward to pay her fine
Box 22, Folder 2: a handwritten copy of a stock certificate combining 20,000 shares of the Citizens Gas Light Company of Newark with the Newark Gas Light Company upon their merger
Box 22, Folder 3: a list of payments to relatives of soldiers in Company D of the 13th Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers -- almost all relatives are from Newark; muster roll of Company F, 2nd Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers, indicating relatives who are beneficiaries; muster rolls of Company G and Company H of the 3rd Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers listing relatives (most from Newark); Company G of the 2nd Regiment, lists of payments to relatives (most from Newark); notes on two individual cases of soldiers, one who died and one who was separated from his wife
Box 22, Folder 4: a letter from a soldier to Ward requesting him to hold the money that was sent until he returns from his service or to give it to his wife if he does not return; Adams Express Company envelopes used to forward soldiers' savings to Marcus Ward in Newark; a letter from a colonel requesting return of the money deposited by one of his soldiers because the proposed recipient, the soldier's wife, had died; a letter from a soldier to his wife and children; letters from soldiers discussing amounts of money and recipients; a letter from a soldier's wife telling Ward that she had not received the money that her husband transferred to her; and a letter from a soldier discharged for being wounded, asking Ward to collect his bounty for him; a document with amounts distributed; and a list of Captain Leonard's Company
Box 22, Folder 6: a list of Pupils of the Year at Newark Academy, 1862; and a receipt from the Essex County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, for Ward's payment of his life membership fee, 1883
FormatTextual materials
SubjectsBusiness / Commerce; Civil War; Education; Firefighting; Genealogy; Holidays; Medicine / Public Health; Politics and Government; Poverty / Philanthropy / Charities
Time Periods17th Century; 18th Century; 19th Century; 20th Century
LanguageEnglish
Access policyOpen for research
ProcessedYes
Finding AidYes