One who takes prominent rank among the professional men of Perry county and who has attained no little popularity in the community in which he has carried on the active practice of his profession since 1879 is Dr. Francis Marion Ward. He is recognized in Tamaroa and vicinity as one of the solid and representative citizens of his district, and in addition to his reputation as a physician the Doctor has become identified with the agricultural interests of Perry county and is a land owner of some position. He has also demonstrated to the farming community thereabouts that there is profit in the breeding of blooded horses and jacks, and has established a growing reputation for fine Percheron horses.

Francis Marion Ward was born in Jefferson county, Illinois, on May 10, 1856. He is the son of Daniel Ward, who came to Illinois at the age of twelve, in company with his father, Owen Ward, the founder of the family in Southern Illinois. Owen Ward did some of the pioneer work of clearing and opening up a farm in Jefferson county, where he brought up a considerable family. His children were

1. Daniel;
2. John B., who followed the vocation of his father and passed away in Jefferson county;
3. William, who performed a like service for Franklin county, finally dying there;
4. Simpson, who died in Arkansas;
5. Edward, who married an eastern lady, moved back to Ohio and died there;
6. Susan became the wife of James H. Junkins and died in Jefferson county, where she was a noted mid-wife for years;
7. Ruth married Jesse Grouch and died in Jefferson county;
8. Mary died as the wife of Joe Kellogg;
9. Sarah married James Chalfant and died in Jefferson county, Illinois.

Daniel Ward was born in 1816, and he passed his life quietly enough until the breaking out of the Civil war, when he gave up the even tenor of the mechanic's life and enlisted in the Thirteenth Illinois Cavalry in 1863, dying a year later while his company was marching from DuVall's Bluff toward Pine Bluff, and was buried in the hostile atmosphere of middle Arkansas. In early life he married Susan Youngblood, a daughter of Isaiah Youngblood and a sister of the distinguished lawyer of Carbondale, Judge Youngblood, and of Judge E. D. Youngblood, of Mt. Vernon, Illinois. The family were residents of Perry county before the Civil war and were prominent in the history of the county. Mrs. Ward passed away here in 1878. The issue of their union were: Jane, who married Garrison Kirkpatrick, and is a resident of Jefferson county; Mary A. became the wife of Sanford Ballard, and died in Perry county in 1906; Emma died in Jefferson county as Mrs. George Blazier; Electa married William Isom and is a resident of Jefferson county, as is Malinda, who is the widow of William S. Strickland; Edward and William L., twins, are both deceased; Dr. Francis M., of Tamaroa; and Charles T., who passed away in the county where the family first settled.

Dr. Ward was a student in the district schools as a boy, and in his youth he attended the Southern Illinois Normal at Carbondale, following his graduating from which he taught for two years in the country and then began his preparations for his medical career. He first read with Dr. White, the country doctor of Fitzgerald, and later took lectures at the old Missouri Medical College, now a part of the Washington University of St. Louis. He graduated from that institution in 1879, immediately locating at Tamaroa, where he has remained continuously since then. Shortly after he became established there as a practicing physician he recognized the great need of the town for a thoroughly modern and up-to-date drug store, and he eventually opened up a store of that kind, fully equipped with everything in the needs of the profession. Three years later, in 1896, he erected his brick store building and his present residence, which constitute the material contribution he has made toward the development of the city. As mentioned in a previous paragraph, Dr. Ward is an enthusiastic agriculturist and horse breeder, and his Percheron and standard breed are his pride. They are properly registered as the Wilkes- Electioneer and Happy Medium strains, and his efforts in this line are a modest contribution to the gradual raising of the standard of horse flesh in the state. Dr. Ward is vice president of the First National Bank of Tamaroa, and is one of the stockholders of the Central National Bank of St. Louis, which would indicate that he is not too absorbed with other interests to give some attention to the financial institutions of his district.

On August 8, 1878, Dr. Ward married Miss Desdemona A. Lovelady, a daughter of Thomas A. Lovelady, who came to Illinois from Tennessee as a young man, here marrying Cordelia, a daughter of Frederick Williams. Dr. Lovelady practiced medicine in Perry county for several years and passed away here in January, 1909, at the age of seventy-eight years. The children of their union who grew to maturity were

1. Haseltine, who married Edward I. Ward, a brother of Dr. Ward;
2. Mrs. Desdemona Ward;
3. Frederick, who died in California;
4. Oscar M., a resident of that state;
5. Dr. Otis E., of Red Rock, Oklahoma;
6. Lula, who married John Dunbar and resides in Montana; and
7. Ethel B., the wife of Marten Alvey, of Los Angeles, California.

The children of Dr. and Mrs. Ward are

1. Parley G., a Perry county farmer, married to Lottie Kammayer;
2. Miss Marian K., a nurse in the government hospital at Tomah, Wisconsin;
3. Leland L., who has been a stenographer for three years and is now attending the Stenographic school of Chicago; and
4. Frances A., a student in Forest Park University, St. Louis.

Dr. Ward is a Master Mason and is a member of the Christian church. He is a Republican in his political adherence, although not active in a political way other than as a lay workman of the party.

Source: History of Southern Illinois George Washington Smith,
M. A. VOLUME I - III ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1912
Page 1082 - 1084
Submitted by Robert W. Loman