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This site is named in honor Fouques De La Vardes who is believed to be the name of an early Norman ancestor of our surname Ward. He was born in Normandy, France about 975 AD. His descendants settled in England from France. Sons and grandsons of Fouques supported Duke William during the Norman Invasion of England of 1066 and later generations, the settlement of England.

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The ancestral history of my family, once thought to descend from Fouques De La Vardes, actually descends from Clan DalCassian, an ancient clan of Ireland. The DalCassian learned bardic families lived in the Munster region of Ireland where our surname eventually was anglicized to forms such as MacAward, McWard, MacEward, MacEvard, Macanward, M'Ward, and its most commonly used variant today: Ward.

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The Coat of Arms shown here is one attributed to the Irish Clann an Bháird, (Clan Mac an Bhaird), originally of County Donegal and County Galway, Ireland.

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Many lines of Wards immigrated to America in the 17th century. The family of Wards I descend from, likely Scot-Irish from Ireland, came to America settling in Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky. This family's genealogy is currently unknown earlier than my 3x great grand parents, William Ward, born about 1755, British American Colonies and his wife, Memory Larimore, born about 1762, in Queen Anne Parish, Maryland. My DNA testing and matches show a direct relationship with William and Memory of Rockingham County, North Carolina. My DNA also tells me I am not genetically related to the 18th century Wards of Onslow, North Carolina.  My most recent, shared common genetic ancestor, is a man, of R1b genetic lineage, known only as R-BY122665, born about 700-1300CE, in Ireland. 

 

For those visitors who are researching their Ward roots, or anyone else, I would enjoy hearing from you. Please drop me an email at deltadart053@yahoo.com.

 

For those focused on the ancestry of Seth Ward of early Jamestown Colony, I have included unpublished articles about the early generations of Wards in Jamestown Colony, (2017) by Dr. Dana Ward, Ph.D, Professor Emeritus, Political Studies at Pitzer College. Also included are 2024 articles by Richard Warren Davis on the Wards of Cambridgeshire in the 15th, 16th centuries and 17th century Jamestown era.  You may view the files on the File Share page.