William Ward was born at Toorigal House, Kincumber in February 1880, the son of Manasseh Ward and Madeline Geary Henderson. He was the third child in the family, and he had two older sisters, Josephine aged three and Madeline aged one. Josephine was his mother’s child from a previous marriage. William was named after his grandfather, William Ward, one of the first settlers of the Brisbane Water area.
William lived at Kincumber, before the family moved to Balmain when he was about six years old. The following year they moved to live in Gosford where William remained for the rest of his life.
He trained as a shipwright. We don’t know who he trained with, but it is possible it was with one of his uncles or older cousins who were prominent in the shipbuilding trade in the Woy Woy district. As it turned out, it was not a good choice for a trade that would see him through life. By the time William qualified, the building of wooden vessels at Brisbane Water was in decline.
He chose to remain in the Gosford district and in 1903 he took on the contract to move the old stone ‘Christ Church’ from East Gosford to Mann Street Gosford. The stone church was dismantled stone-by-stone and rebuilt on the new site. Each stone was numbered and some of the numbers are still visible on the foundation stones. Several men worked on the project, one of whom was a stonemason.
In 1905 William Married Lillian Swan in Sydney. His mother did not approve of the marriage, and this created a rift between them. He reportedly remained in contact with the rest of the family, but did not talk to his mother.
William and Lillian lived out their married life at Maiden’s Brush where they raised their family. William is listed in official documents as a labourer, but he was well known in the district as an all-round bushman. He would take on any farming or bush work that was available. He also ran a small farm.
In 1835 William suffered a serious accident. In William’s own words, as reported in the local paper:
A cant hook is a traditional tool consisting of a lever handle with a metal hook at one end. It is used for handling and turning logs.
I had been cutting logs to make posts and was standing on the slope of a gully looking for a piece of wood to prevent a log from moving. Before I could jump out of the way the log turned over and caught me across the waist, pinning me down. I could not move. Fortunately my son heard me call and ran across. He picked up a cant hook and was able to pull the log back sufficiently for me to crawl out and away. I tried to get up, but could not rise. The boy ran for his mother, and with their help I got to the top of the gully, crawling on two hands and my left leg. At the top they put me into a wheelbarrow and wheeled me to the house, but when we got there I was done and could not move. We waited to see if I could recover, but finally had to send for the ambulance.
Praise was heaped on his 12-year-old son Jack for his quick-thinking and competent handling of the situation.
A postscript to the story of the accident was William’s stoicism in the face of pain:
Mr. Ward was taken to Dr. Paul's surgery and given medical aid, but he refused to go into hospital and was driven home by the ambulance. Later his condition became much worse and he was again brought into Gosford by the Ambulance and placed in the hospital.
Many of those in later generations of the Ward family would recognise this as a family feature, at least in Manasseh and Madeline Ward’s children and grandchildren.
William played the piano beautifully, although he could not read music.
Lillian died in 1956. William died in 1960 aged 80. They were survived by six of their nine children.
