Walter R. Ward, D. D. S.

    The name of Walter R. Ward is familiar to the residents of Sullivan County through his membership with one of its most honored families and through his identification with its professional life. He now has the distinction of b4eign the only practicing dentist in Hymera. He received his dental training in the Louisville College of Dentistry, in which he matriculated in 1900, and in 1903 he completed the course and graduated. On the 15th of may of the same year he opened an office in Hymera, and in addition to being its only practicing dentist he also has an office at Coalmont in Clay County, where he practices on Mondays of each week. He is rapidly winning for himself a name and place in the front rank of his profession, and his well known ability has brought to him the success which he now enjoys. He is identified with the fraternal life of the city through his membership with the Knights of Pythias order, and he is a member of the Elks at Linton, this state. He is also a worthy and acceptable member of the Methodist Church.

    Rev. John A. Ward, who has also been long and prominently identified with the professional life of Sullivan County as a Methodist Minister, is the father of the doctor and was born in Rock Island County, Illinois, December 25, 1839, of Scotch and English descent. He received his early educational training in the common schools of this state, and in 1847 moved with his parents, Steven and Adeline (Baxter) Ward, to Putnam County, this state. the mother was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1816, near Cincinnati, and was of English descent, while the father was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, in 1812, and died in 1881. He came north when but twelve years of age and located in Wayne County, Indiana, from whence he moved to Illinois, and was a farmer and miller there, having worked on a number of patent rights. He was living in Morgan County, Indiana, at the time of his death.

    Rev. Ward began his professional career as a school teacher at the age of twenty-one years, and after teaching in the district schools of Morgan County for two terms he enlisted for service in the Civil War, entering on the 12th of August, 1862, the Seventieth Volunteer Infantry as a private, and his services continued until the 12th of June, 1865, meanwhile taking part in the battles of Russelville, Kentucky, Dallas Woods, New Hope Church, Peach Tree Creek, the Atlanta campaign, and was under fire in all about one hundred days. Rev. Ward was in the same division with Captain William T. Crawford, and General Harrison was their colonel. After returning from the army he entered the Methodist ministry, having been ordained at Bloomington, Indiana, in the fall of 1870, and during his ministry he has served as pastor at Francisco, Shoals, Fredericksburg, Corydon, Greenville, Salem, Sullivan, Washington, New Albany and College Corners. In October, 1906, he retired from active ministerial work, and he and his wife are living in Hymera. She was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, April 5, 1838, and they became the parents of seven children -Laura, Charlie, Ella, Frank, Harry, John and Walter, but Frank is now deceased.

    Rev. Ward is loved and honored for his nobility of character, his integrity and his promptness in all things, and his life and achievements worthily illustrate what may be attained by painstaking effort. He has been a life long Republican.

Source: A History of Sullivan County, Indiana. Closing of the first century’s history of the county and showing the growth of its people, institutions, industries and wealth. Thomas J. Wolfe, Editor. The Lewis Publishing Company, 1909, page 370-371.