BIO: Joseph Edward WARD, Centre County, Pennsylvania

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Commemorative Biographical Record of Central Pennsylvania: Including the 
Counties of Centre, Clearfield, Jefferson and Clarion: Containing 
Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Etc. 
Chicago: J. H. Beers, 1898.
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COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, pages  116-117

J. E. WARD, D.D.S., one of Bellefonte's leading dentists, has shown a rare 
degree of foresight and prudence in the choice of a career. It is an 
excellent thing for a young man to take account of his circumstances, 
abilities and inclinations, and make judicious choice of an occupation early 
in life, when he may bend his best energies to his self-imposed task, and Dr. 
Ward's example is worthy of emulation.
  Our subject is a native of Centre county, born October 27, 1858, at Pine 
Grove Mills, Ferguson township, where he was given good educational 
advantages in the district schools and in the Pine Grove Academy. At an early 
age he began to display his characteristic energy and business acumen, and 
while still in his "teens" began teaching school, which occupation he 
followed six years, then became a traveling salesman for an art firm, his 
duties taking him all over the United States and familiarizing him 
incidentally with the various phases of human life, His practical mind 
gleaned many lessons from his experiences and observations, and seeing the 
value of a settled location and profession, he returned to his native county 
and continued his studies for a time. He then took a course in the Baltimore 
Dental College, at Baltimore, Md., graduating in 1888, and after a few months 
located at Bellefonte, where he has built up an extensive and lucrative 
practice. Although devoted to his profession, he is too public-spirited to 
fail in any of the duties of a true citizen, and he is highly esteemed among 
all classes. In his political views he is a Democrat. He is a member of the 
school board, elected in 1895; also one of the stewards in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church; and a member of the State Dental Society. On March 5, 1890, 
he was united in marriage with Miss Belle M. Stiver, who was born in Penn's 
Valley, near Tusseyville, in 1865. Three children have brightened their home, 
of whom two, Thomas A. and Harold Stiver, are living. The third in order of 
birth passed away in infancy.
  The Doctor's ancestors were early settlers in Pennsylvania. His 
grandfather, Simon Ward, was a native of Lebanon county, born in 1802, and 
died in Centre county in 1877. By occupation he was a merchant tailor. He 
married Miss Sellers, and they had ten children: Lusetta, Joseph Simon, John, 
Uriah, William, James K. Polk, Albert, Washington and Jacob. Seven sons 
served gallantly in the Union cause in the Civil war. Two, Washington and 
Jacob, lost their lives, and John was wounded at Gettysburg and had a leg 
amputated. Jacob died at Crab Orchard, and Washington, although young, had 
been promoted from private to corporal, and was killed at Chancellorsville.
  Joseph Ward, our subject's father, was born in Lebanon county, Penn., May 
2, 1825, and was brought to Centre county in his childhood by his parents. He 
learned the carpenter's trade and became a house builder and cabinet maker, 
every carpenter's shop being, in those days, a little factory. His wife, Mary 
Gill, was born in Centre county, May 26, 1827. Her father, William Gill, was 
a native of Bucks county, Penn., whence he came to this section in early 
manhood, and died at Bellefonte, November 21, 1876, at the age of ninety 
years; he was a soldier of the war of 1812. Our subject's parents made

COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD.	117

their home at Pine Grove Mills, and the father breathed his last there 
August, 27, 1895; the mother is yet living at the homestead. They had the 
following children: (1) William Bigler, a carpenter at Pine Grove Mills; (2) 
Augusta, widow of Rev. Joseph King, a Methodist minister; (3) Clara, who is 
at home; (4) James A., who has for sixteen years been a successful teacher at 
Salina, Kans; (5) Lusetta, who is at home; (6) Joseph Edward, our subject; 
(7) John H., a resident of Centre county; (8) George W., a well-known teacher 
at Pittsburg, Penn.; (9) Ira C., a dentist in Chicago, Ill., at No. 1123 N. 
Clark street; (10) Mary E., with her brother Ira C., in Chicago.
  Mrs. Belle M. Ward is the daughter of Thomas and Mary (Bike) Stiver, whose 
children were as follows: Samuel L. is the principal of the Military Academy 
at Bunker Hill, Ill.; William B. is a physician of Freeport, Ill.; Perry O. 
conducts a newspaper at Freeport, Ill.; Roland J. is a physician at Lena, 
Ill.; Thomas J. is a physician at Denver, Colo.; David A. is a dentist at 
Chicago; and Margaret is at home with her mother at Centre, Hall, Centre Co., 
Penn. The father died about 1871.