A most interesting and extensive archive of correspondence of four generations of the Ward family, including business and personal correspondence of John Dod Ward (1795-1873) pioneer iron founder and steamboat builder, including material from his early ventures in Vermont, and the Eagle Foundry in Montreal and the Novelty Iron Works of New York City. A large collection from a pioneer in two key components of the early Industrial Revolution: steam and iron.

The archive includes the following:

John D. Ward archive comprised of Memorandum Book as Mayor of Vergennes, Vermont (1833); Correspondence & Legal Papers for St. Albans Steam Boat Company vs. John D. Ward & Company, dated 1828-1834; 155 letters of incoming business or family correspondence, 1814-1867, but mostly 1830s, includes correspondence from his brothers to whom Ward sold his steam engine business in Montreal; political essays on Civil War, circa 1860s; plus 324 pieces of paper ephemera (cancelled checks, invoices, property deeds, certificates, etc.); one engraved portrait of John D. Ward. Written in ink, in legible hands, dated c. 1814-1872.

Ward & allied family archives comprising friendship book of Jane M. Sprong (mother-in-law of Charles D. Ward), dated 1829; diary -friendship album of Henry L. Davis (father-in-law of Charles D. Ward), dated 1839-1859; notebook of Charles D. Ward (son of John D. Ward) while working as civil engineer in New York, New Jersey, & Ohio, dated 1865-1866; diaries, notebook & sketchbook of Charles D. Ward (son of John D. Ward) from his two trips through Europe and the Holy Land, dated 1873-1880; unsigned album of penciled drawings, dated circa 1880s; various correspondence of Ward & allied families; over 400 pages of genealogical papers for Ward & allied families of Davis, Dod, Hugunin, Roberts, Roburds, Sprong, & others; over 200 pieces of paper ephemera (cancelled checks for Mrs. John D. Ward, property deeds for New York, Canada, & Nevada, etc); plus 7 photographs, engravings, or images; written in ink, in legible hands; the whole dated 1812-1935.

Reminisces of Private Florence M. Griswold, of Company C, 93^rd Infantry Regiment Ohio, who served in Kentucky and Tennessee during the Civil War; 309 mss pages, in ink, in a legible hand, dated circa 1870s. Griswold wound up living in Jersey City, New Jersey, and is connected to the Ward family.

The Ward archive consists mainly of materials relating to John Dod Ward and his son Charles Dod Ward (1838-1915).

John Dod Ward's Eagle Foundry, Montreal, Canada, and Novelty Iron Works, New York, New York

Walter Lewis in his book The First Generation of Marine Engines in Central Canadian Steamers, 1809-1837 (St. Johns: 1997), states that "without question the single most important engine foundry in British North America before 1838 was the Eagle Foundry, founded by John Dod Ward (1795-1873) in the fall of 1819." Lewis states "Ward's credentials as a steam engine builder were impeccable. His uncle, Daniel Dod (1773-1823)... [Was a] patentee of an early form of the walking beam engine. In partnership with Aaron Ogden, Dod challenged the Fulton-Livingston steamboat monopoly in New York state and lost, dragging them both into financial ruin. Supported by friends and family, including the Wards, Dod moved to a new plant in New York City in 1820 where he was killed in a spectacular explosion of a high pressure boiler in May 1823"

Another writer on the topic, Frank Mckey, in his Steamboat Connections, states that, "After James & John Winans helped to build Robert Fulton's Steamboat (later called the Clermont) they moved to Vermont and established a shipyard in association with Joseph Lough, a founder by trade. At Burlington they set to build the first steamer on Lake Champlain. Their 125-foot Vermont was the first steamer engaged in international service and in 1809 they began a 120-mile route between Whitehall, New York and St. John's on the Richelieu River in Lower Canada, linking the Montreal-St. John's stage with the stage line of Whitehall and Troy, New York.

According to Mckey, "the War of 1812 interrupted the Vermont's cross border service, but she returned to the route in 1815. The Vermont's career ended when she sank in the Richelieu River later that year. Three months after the sinking of the Vermont, Joseph Lough, with others, set up a foundry in Montreal, one of the few in Montreal at this time.  Joining Lough was Jahazeil Sherman. As the Montreal foundry started to flounder and lose money he brought in John Dod Ward to help."

John Dod Ward was the son of Silas Ward and Phebe Dod. Mckey tells us that, "John Dod Ward, a resident of Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey, was in Vergennes, Vermont, when asked by Sherman to help out with the Montreal foundry. Ward, only 23 years old, but well versed in the building and fitting of marine engines, skills he learned from his father, Silas Ward, and his uncle Daniel Dod.  Ward first went to Vergennes in the spring of 1816, to work for John Winans, who was then installing the salvaged engine of the Vermont in the Lake Champlain Steamboat Company's new steamer, Champlain.

In the fall Ward moved on to Sackets Harbor, on the New York shore of Lake Ontario, where he installed an engine made by his uncle in the Ontario, the first American steamer on the Great Lakes. Ward returned to Vergennes in April of 1817, "to overhaul the 45 horsepower engine of the Phoenix and place it in the Champlain, the old engine of the Vermont having proved inadequate." During the summer and fall of 1817 Ward worked on the Norfolk, in Norfolk, Virginia, and altered the engine of the Powhatan. Ward may even have worked on the engine of the Savannah, which his uncle designed.

It was at this time that Sherman then prevailed upon him to remain "some time in the character of Superintendent of the boats."

While at Vergennes, Ward had married Laura Maria Roburds, whose father and grandfather were pioneers of that place. At one point, Ward became mayor of Vergennes. This archive includes a short memorandum book for that period (1833).

Ward was said to be "sufficiently intrigued by the offer (of Sherman) to plan a trip to Montreal, returning the following summer, partly to collect a debt from Lough." It is not quite known what happened between them, but that fall, Ward was hired by the promoters of the steam ferry Montreal and opened his own foundry."

The Eagle Foundry was established in October 1819 on Queen Street in what became known as Griffintown. Within a month, "for a mere $250, a 30' x 32' building with two blacksmith's fires was erected. Two month's after that, he had a good turning lathe, a punching machine and was anticipating delivery of a set of boiler tools. Ward claimed, justifiably, that when they arrived he would "have all the machinery for making a boiler as well and as conveniently as it can be done at any place."

Ward was an immediate success both in the construction and repair of steam engines. So much so, in fact, "that with the exception of the few engines built by Bennet and his various partners, Ward supplied Upper and Lower Canada with all its marine engines between 1820 and 1829-13 new engines and a wide range of replacement contracts. Most critical for his reputation was the 1823 contract for the Hercules, £4500 for a 100 h.p. engine with a 55" cylinder. At the time it was one of the most powerful single marine engines in North America."

Ward was reluctant to take in outside partners, so he brought his younger brother, Samuel S. Ward (b. 1801) into the business in 1819. By 1826, he invited his other brother, Lebbeus (b. 1801, a twin to Samuel), to join the firm, and the business was called John D. Ward & Co. The company soon expanded and along with the "shipyards in Quebec, it was one of the largest industrial establishments in British North America. Indeed it was on the same scale as some of the major New York foundries." This archive includes a number of letters written by Lebbeus and Samuel to John D. Ward concerning their business association.

In 1832 John D. Ward sold his share of the business to his brothers and in 1837, John, with outside partners, purchased the Novelty Iron Works in New York, building it into "one of the largest foundries on the continent with upwards of 1200 employees by the 1850s." Lebbeus and Samuel Ward would eventually sell the Montreal foundry move to New York and Connecticut respectively to pursue other business ventures. Much of the other correspondence consisting of incoming letters to John D. Ward dates mainly from the period when he had sold off his Montreal operation and was starting his new business in New York; most of these letters are from the late 1830s.

The present archive includes an interesting collection of legal papers concerning the battle between Ward and the St. Albans Steamboat Company. The St. Albans Steam Boat Company built the Steam Boat MacDonough to run as a ferryboat between St. Albans and Plattsburgh, touching at the islands of North and South Hero. Ward was contracted to build its steam engine. Almost immediately the St. Albans Company started to experience financial troubles and soon after Ward completed and set up the engines in the MacDonough, the ship began to experience problems.

St. Albans Company accused Ward & Co of setting up an engine that was not suitable, not of good materials, and not of good workmanship. The St. Albans Company eventually took John D. Ward & Co to court to settle the matter as St. Albans Company had to put out several thousand dollars to make the engine workable and lost the income of their ship for two months. There is much detail concerning the engine that Ward built as well as witnesses' testimonies.

This archive for John D. Ward also includes a number of political essays that he wrote, presumably as a newspaper column or as letters to the editor of a local paper. These essays deal with his various opinions on the Civil War and related topics and are dated circa 1860s.

Charles Dod Ward (1838-1915), son of John Dod Ward

       After John D. Ward married Laura Maria Roburds (1798-1877), he and his wife had at least ten children. Charles D. Ward (1838-1915), his youngest son, became a civil engineer. Charles married Ada Davey, the widow of Augustus Davey of Jersey City. Ada was the daughter of Henry L. Davis and Jane Moore Sprong of Oswego, New York.  This archive includes a friendship book of Jane Moore Sprong, as well as a diary/friendship album of Henry L. Davis and other ephemeral paper documents of Davis. Davis worked originally as a bookkeeper for mills or canal navigation companies, and later went to work for banks, all in New York State. He was later clerk of Oswego, New York, his hometown.

        Charles D. Ward upon his decease was one of the oldest members of the American Society of Civil Engineers. From 1894 to 1910, he was an engineer in the Department of Water Supply of Brooklyn, before which he had done much railroad and water works surveying and designing. He is said to be largely responsible for Gatun Dam on the Panama Canal, which was to have been located at Bohio prior to his report. His wife and daughter outlived him. This archive includes a diary of Charles D. Ward when he was working as a civil engineer in 1865-1866 on water-works projects at Cincinnati, Ohio, and on the Morris Canal in North Jersey, and during which time he also worked for the Utica, Chenango, and Susquehanna Valley Rail Road. Besides this diary, there are a couple of diaries and a notebook/sketchbook for "Grand Tours" through Europe and the Holy Land, during the years 1873-1874 and 1878-1880.

        The Ward family archive would appear to have descended through the wife and daughter of Charles D. Ward. Much of the genealogical material seems to have been compiled by these two women.

        Amongst the various ephemeral items in this collection, is the Manuscript Civil War Reminiscences of Florence W. Griswold, a private in Company C, of the 93^rd Infantry Regiment of Ohio. Griswold's writings are a memoir of his war years and detail the everyday life of a private serving in the Kentucky and Tennessee campaigns. There is much insight into the hardships of life in the army for a private. The memoir numbers over 300 pages and was written during the 1870s. It is unclear how Griswold is related to the Ward family, but he was born in New Jersey and spent his last years in Jersey City, where the Wards lived at that time.       

        A more detailed description plus a complete inventory of the archive can be mailed upon request.