WARD, Samuel [1725-1776] -- American colonial leader

He was born in Newport, R. I., May 27, 1725; son of Richard and Mary (Tillinghast) Ward; grandson of Thomas Ward and of John Tillinghast and great-grandson of John Ward who emigrated from Gloucester, England, in 1661 and settled at Newport, R. L, where he died in April, 1698. Samuel was graduated from Cambridge college, England, in 1743; was married in 1745, to Anna, daughter of Simon and Deborah (Greene) Ray of Block Island, and settled in Westerly, R.I. He was a representative in the state legislature for several years; chief-justice of the colony, 1761-62, and was elected governor in 1762, serving successive re-elections in 1765 and 1766. He was one of the founders of Rhode Island college, and a trustee, 1764-76; refused to enforce the Stamp Act, and took a decided stand against the agressions of England; was chosen as colleague with Stephen Hopkins as a delegate from Rhode Island to the Continental congress, 1774-76, and was chairman of the committee that reported in favor of appointing Col. George Washington as general of the American army. He died of smallpox at Philadelphia, Pa., and was buried in the churchyard of the first Baptist church in Philadelphia, where a monument was erected to his memory by the Rhode Island legislature, and in 1860 his remains were removed to Newport, R.I. The date of his death is March 25, 1776. BDNA