Madison County MsArchives Obituaries.....Ward, Rachel Kidd November 20, 1857
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T.C. THORNTON The New Orleans Christian Advocate July 10, 1858
Mrs. Rachel Kidd Ward
A mother in Israel has departed from these mortal shores, to that land from 
whose borne no traveler returns. Our sister Ward was born in Baltimore County, 
Maryland, near Belle-Air on the 14th of February 1783; her maiden name was 
Kidd. At the early age of fifteen years she married James Ward and immediately 
removed to North Carolina and settled near Guilford Court House, of 
revolutionary fame. In 1801 she professed religion and five years after removed 
to Virginia where she lived for ten years. During this period she visited her 
parents for the last time; thence she removed to Tennessee and resided there 
for twenty-one years. There, two of her sons entered the ministry of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Family considerations induced her to remove to 
Mississippi and settling in Sharon she remained a resident of that place to the 
time of her death which occurred the 5th of November 1857. Though a married 
woman, she was young when she embraced religion and in that illness which 
terminated in death we heard her relate with unspeakable delight her conversion 
to God and adoption into his family. “A friend came and told her of the work of 
God going on in her vicinity; she was deeply affected at the relation and what 
others saw and felt that she forthwith gave up and began to seek the Lord. 
Whilst relating her conversion to the writer, “she remarked I have often heard 
you say the first call you ever had you obeyed and sought the Lord.” “O!” said 
she, “I can say when thou, Lord, said seek ye my face, my heart said thy face, 
Lord, will I seek.” Sister Ward was a consistent Christian. In Tennessee she 
joined the Cumberland Presbyterian and remained a member of their Church until 
the want of Church privileges and the removal of her pastor and brethren 
induced her to become a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Sharon and 
there for many years she was considered an honor to the Church as example of 
piety and a mother in Israel. 
After long and extreme suffering that gradually wore her down, this venerable 
matron, “Dorcas” like in her attention to domestic affairs and who as “Lois” 
and “Eunice” of old taught her children and grandchildren the scriptures and 
true faith of Christ, saw her end approaching and triumphed over death and the 
grave. “O,” said she, “I see before me, dear brother, a world of bliss and 
glory. I know you commit much of the scriptures to memory, repeat for me the 
23rd Psalm.” And whilst it was being repeated, she exclaimed aloud, “The Lord 
is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, 
He leadeth me beside still waters. Though I walk through the valley of the 
shadow of death I shall fear no evil, Thy rod and thy staff they comfort 
me.” “Surely,” she exclaimed, “goodness and mercy have followed me all the days 
of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Gradually she 
declined till the last night came. The sun had set for the last time to her and 
speechless she lay on the bed of death. But during that gloomy night there were 
two, who specially watched by her bedside. Her daughter and a son, minister of 
our Church. Prayer–ardent, anxious, believing prayer ascended to the God of 
Heaven. “Lord let my dear–dear mother speak to me once more and tell the state 
of her mind in this the trying hour.” God heard and answered the prayer of that 
praying minister. The venerable mother, as if aroused by the voice of that son, 
spoke for the last time, only to let the children know that “All was well,” and 
then, as one retiring to rest calmly, but triumphantly, fell asleep, as in the 
arms of Jesus.
“Death is the gate to endless joy, And shall we dread to enter there!”
P.S. – As Mrs. Ward’s relatives live near Baltimore, will the papers of that 
city please copy this notice of her death. T.C. THORNTON The New Orleans 
Christian Advocate July 10, 1858

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