An Illustrated History of Central Oregon, Western Historical Publishing Company,
Spokane, WA. 1905, page 401.

JOSEPH W. WARD is to be numbered with the oldest pioneers of the Wasco country,
and he is descended from a family of pioneers. He is at present handling a
thriving business in Dufur, where he does undertaking and deals in building
material. He is also interested in sawmilling, and owns seven hundred and sixty
acres of choice wheat land besides two hundred and forty acres of timber land.
He has a choice cottage residence in Dufur and a large one story business block,
where he has his headquarters. Mr. Ward is a successful business man, as well as
a substantial citizen and valuable member of society. He was born in Noble
county, Ohio, on February 25, 1852, the son of William L. and Hannah (Potts)
Ward. The father was born in Ohio, his parents was also natives of that state,
and his grandparents were born in Ireland. The mother descends from an old and
prominent Pennsylvania Dutch family. Pottsville, of that state, was named from
Mr. Pott, who came from Germany and was a blacksmith for General Washington at
Valley Forge, in Revolutionary days. The first coal in Pennsylvania was
discovered on the old Pott homestead. Mrs. Ward was born in Ohio. Our subject
was brought by his parents across the plains with ox teams in 1859. Settlement
was made near where Dufur now stands, on Fifteenmile creek. Later they rented a
farm on Eightmile, then they went to The Dalles. After that they spent some time
in Vancouver, Washington, and later dwelt for seven years in the Hood River
valley. The old homestead there is now owned by Mr. Button. Our subject attended
the schools which his father helped to establish, assisting also to erect the
buildings, both on Eightmile and Hood Rivers. Then the father took land ten
miles out from The Dalles and there died, December 28, 1897. He was born on
March 26, 1826. The mother now lives in The Dalles. In 1870, our subject started
for himself and assisted to construct the telegraph line from Umatilla to Walla
Walla, the first one in this part of the country. In 1873, he was one of six who
took up land out from Dufur on the ridge. The stockmen laughed at them, but they
soon demonstrated that the land would produce the best of wheat and the result
is that Mr. Ward has continued in the enterprise, until he is today one of the
well-to-do men of the county. In September, 1899, he took up his present
business in Dufur and since then has resided here.      

At The Dalles, on March 2!, 1887, Mr. Ward married Mrs. Josephine E. Endersby,
who was born in Iowa, on March 30, 1862, the daughter of Hamlin Starkey, a
native of Pennsylvania and descended from an old and prominent American family.
He died in Iowa, in 1898. He had married Sophia Fee, a native of Pennsylvania
and descended from French Huguenots. She died in Oklahoma, in 1901. Mr. Ward has
four brothers, Frederick H., John C., Samuel P., and Victor T., and two sisters,
Mrs. Alice Kelly and Mrs. Margaret J. Neal, deceased. Mrs. Ward has four
brothers and one sister, John L., William B., Grant F., George W., and Mrs. Anna
Truitt. Mr. Ward is a member of the I.O.O.F. and the A.O.U.W., while his wife
belongs to the United Artisans and the Women of Woodcraft. To Mr. and Mrs. Ward,
four children have been born, Joseph W., Edward L., John S., and Violet M. By
her former marriage Mrs. Ward has one child, Mary, the wife of James Robbins,
who lives in Iowa.

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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. 
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.