Samuel Ward. One of the worthy, industrious and progressive agriculturists of Republic County, Kansas, is Samuel Ward, who is engaged in operating a finely-cultivated farm in Belleville Township. He had been a resident of Kansas since 1883, and in addition to being a skilled farmer, had at various times held positions of trust in the gift of the people, in which he had displayed ability and fidelity.
Mr. Ward was born in Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1813, and is a son of H. B. and Elizabeth Martha (Clinkenbear) Ward, who, with their son, came from the Hawkeye State to Kansas in 1880 and located in Republic County. Mr. Ward received a public school education, was reared on the home farm, and on attaining manhood engaged in farming on his own account. He had occupied several farms in this county, had improved much land, and had bettered his own condition through successful investment and able management in the handling of his farm transactions. In 1912 he located on his present property in Belleville Township, a tract of 160 acres, which he had brought to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Ward devotes this land to the raising of corn, wheat, alfalfa and oats, and uses modern methods in his operations. He had installed good improvements upon his farm and it now compares favorably with any in this county, which had become noted for its good homesteads.
In 1893 Mr. Ward married Miss Amanda Connell, daughter of James and Elizabeth Connell, who emigrated to Kansas during the same year that the Wards came. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ward: Pearl, Lula and Sunshine. Mr. Ward is a citizen in whom his fellow-men place implicit trust, as is shown in the fact that he had been honored by election to the offices of justice of the peace, member of the school board and constable, the last named of which he is now filling very acceptably. He belongs to the class of agriculturists to whom the county must look for its agricultural development in the future.