the executive authority. Among the chief causes that induced the people to regard Gov. Wanton with suspicion was, doubtless, his acceptance, in 1773, of an appointment, under the great seal of England, to inquire into the burning of the king's ship, the " Gaspee," by the Whigs. While New- port was occupied by the British he was superin- tendent of the troops, and at the evacuation he followed the royal army to New York. He was a man of amiable disposition, elegant manners, and handsome person.
WARBURTON, George, British author, b.
near Tullamore, County Galway, Ireland, about
1812; d. in 1857. He entered the British army,
attained the rank of major, and resided in Canada
for some time. After his return to England he
was a member of parliament for Harwich. He
died by his own hand. Mr. Warburton published
" Hochelaga, or England in the New World " (2
vols., London, 1846) ; " The Conquest of Canada "
(2 vols., 1849) ; and " A Memoir of Charles Mor-
daunt, Earl of Peterborough " (3 vols., 1853). His
books were edited by his brother Eliot, who became
distinguished as an author.
WARD, Aaron, congressman, b. in Sing Sing,
N. Y„ 5 July, 1790 ; d. in Georgetown, D. C, 2
March, 1867. He received a classical education,
and began the study of law, which he relinquished
to join the army at the age of eighteen. He served
as a lieutenant under Gen. Wade Hampton in the
expedition against Montreal, and was promoted
captain in 1814. After the close of the war with
Great Britain he resumed his legal studies in
Oxford, N. Y., was admitted to the bar, and began
practice in Sing Sing. He married in 1820 a
daughter of Elkanah Watson, and shortly afterward
was appointed district attorney for Westchester
county. He entered congress on 5 Dec, 1825, and
served till 3 March, 1829. After an intermission
of one term he was again elected for three consecu-
tive terms, serving from 5 Dec, 1831, till 3 March,
1837, and four years later returned for a single
congress, which closed its sessions on 3 March,
1843. He was a supporter of the administrations
of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, took
an active part in commercial legislation and in all
measures that affected the interests of New York,
and also concerned himself with the framing of
military bills, and was the special advocate of state
education for soldiers' children. In 1846 he was
a member of the State constitutional convention,
and in 1855 he was defeated as a candidate for
secretary of state of New York. He was a major-
general of militia from 1835 till 1853. Gen. Ward
was the author of " Around the Pyramids," de-
scribing travels in Europe and the East (New
York, 1863). He died at the home of his son-in-
law, Samuel J. Randall. Another daughter married
John R. Thompson, U. S. senator from New Jersey.
— His nephew, Elijah, congressman, b. in Sing
Sing, N. Y., 16 Sept., 1816 ; d. in Roslyn, L. I., 7
Feb., 1882, received a classical education, engaged
in commercial pursuits in New York city, and was
chosen president of the Mercantile library associa-
tion in 1839. Afterward he studied law, was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1843, and practised in New York
city. He was judge-advocate-general of the state in
1853-'5, and was elected as a Democrat to congress,
serving from 7 Dec, 1857, till 3 March, 1859. He
was defeated at the next election, but was successful
in the following two, serving from 4 July, 1861, till
3 March, 1865. On being again defeated, he spent
J;wo years in Europe, and was not again a candidate
till 1874, when he defeated his Republican competi-
tor, but he was beaten in the succeeding election
by a rival Democrat. In congress he took part in
the discussion of commercial questions, advocating
an interoceanic canal, uniform bankruptcy laws,
postal subsidies to steamships, and reciprocity with
Canada, and opposing a paper currency. In March,
1861, he addressed commercial bodies in New York
city in favor of free canals, and in 1871, in response
to a request from members of congress for an ex-
pi-ession of his views, proposed freedom of com-
mercial intercourse betweeen the United States and
Canada, on which subject he published two reports.
Besides single speeches on commercial relations
with Canada, the Geneva award, the Hawaiian
treaty, and the shipping act, there has been pub-
lished a volume of his " Speeches on Commercial,
Financial, and other Subjects " (New York, 1877). —
His cousin, Horatio, banker, b. in New York city
about 1810 : d. in London, England, in April, 1868,
resided in London for many years before his death.
He bequeathed $100,000 to the National soldiers'
and sailors' home, Washington, D. C, and an equal
sum for the education of soldiers' orphans.
WARD, Andrew Henshaw, antiquary, b. in
Shrewsbury, Mass., 26 May, 1784 ; d. in Newton-
ville, Mass., 18 Feb., 1864. He was graduated at
Harvard in 1808, studied law, was admitted to the
bar at Northampton, Mass., in 1811, and practised
till 1829 at Shrewsbury, where, while filling the
office of town-clerk, he transcribed all the records
of births, deaths, and marriages, and was active in
putting an end to the custom of " farming out "
the town's poor. For the period between 1829
and 1853, except during two years, he was employed
in the custom-house at Boston, and from 1837,
when a general bankruptcy law went into force,
till 1846, when it expired, he was U. S. commis-
sioner of insolvency for the district of Massachu-
setts. He was a delegate from Newton to the con-
vention of 1853 for revising the constitution of
Massachusetts. For more than fifty years he was
a justice of the peace, either in Shrewsbury, Bos-
ton, or West Newton, where he settled in 1842.
Mr. Ward was an active member of the New
England historic-genealogical society almost from
its first organization, and a frequent contributor
to its " Register." He published a " History of the
Town of Shrewsbury " (Boston, 1847), containing
a " Familv Register," which was also issued sepa-
rately; "Ward Family: Descendants of William
Ward " (1851) ; and " Genealogical History of the
Rice Family " (1858). See his " Memoir," bv Will-
iam B. Trask " (Boston, 1863).
WARD, Artenias, soldier, b. in Shrewsbury, Mass., in 1727; d. there, 28 Oct., 1800. He was graduated at Harvard in 1748, entered public life at an early age as a representative to the general assembly, and was afterward chosen to the executive council. In 1752 he was a justice of the peace in his native town. In 1755 he served as major in Col. Abraham Williams's regiment, and in 1758 he was major in the one that was commanded by William Williams. He accompanied the expedition under Gen. James Abercrombie against the French and Indians, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and succeeded to the command of the 3d regiment. Afterward he represented his native town in the legislature, where he took an active part in the controversies between the colonial governors and the house of representatives and was one of the regularly chosen members that were displaced by the "mandamus councillors" in 1774. On 27 Oct., 1774, he was appointed a brigadier-general by the Provincial congress of Massachusetts, to which he was a delegate, and on 19 May, 1775, he was made commander-in-chief of the
