General Notes

Ancestor.com ID#173448He brought his second wife and five children.  At that time, one of the most promising settlement sites was the tract, then known as "Musketahquid," signifying "grassy ground" or "grassy brook", and named "Sudbury" in 1639. It had been planned from Watertown and approved by the General Court. It was part of the Concord River region, adjoining Watertown (the part now Weston) on the east and the new Concord plantation on the north. Its attractions incuded the Sudbury River and smaller streams traversing it, a rich acreage of pasture (or "meadow") alongside them, and open woods. Crossing the southeasterly section was the "Old Bay Path," an Indian trail which ran for hundreds of miles inland from the sea and which had already become an accepted route or settlers journeying to the Connecticut River.  The grant for Sudbury was intended to enclose about five miles square, but fell short. A second grant followed in 1640. The native title was obtained by purchase from the Indian "Cato" (known also as "Karte" and "Goodman"). A few wigwams stood within its boundaries. Cato dwelt with his family and retainers on "Goodman's Hill", Tantamouse, a "powwow," or medicine man, on Nobscot Hill, Nataous, or "Indian William," near Lake Cochituate.  Permission by the General Court to "go on in their plantation" was given Sep 6 1638. Many of the settlers anticipated this formal authorization, and were at work with their ox-teams early in the summer, felling trees for their cabins, making rough roadways, and clearing logs and brush from patches selected for the planting of the first "common," or community fields.  The first mention of William Ward in America was in 1639. In that year, the proprietors of Sudbury made the first of three divisions of their lands, and a second and third in 1640. According to the records of Sudbury, William Ward shared in each of these divisions.  Every original Sudbury settler received a share in each land division, but the size of the shares varied greatly. Ward's allotments in the first three distributions of meadow were 4.5, 11, and 7.75 acres, respectively, a total of 23.25 acres. Several of the founders received similar shares. Several received considerably more, the maximum being 75 acres. Many received less. Allotments were based on "men's estates and abilities to improve their lands."  In the table of "third additions" of 1640, 22 of the 49 inhabitants named were given substantially more than Ward, and only five received appreciably less. His house lot has been given as 20 acres, much larger than average, but that tract included a second-addition lot which he bought from Edmund Rice.  In 1642, he was one of the six who signed a contract on the town's behalf for the construction of its first meetinghouse. Ward was the only one of the six neither well-to-do nor a freeman.  He served as representative for Sudbury in 1644.  His first legislative duty was on a committee appointed 1644 Jun 7 to examine a revision of the colonial laws submitted by ex-Governor Bellingham "and returne theire objections & thaughts thereof to this howse in wrighteinge." In 1645, he was appointed a commissioner to hear small cases in Sudbury, along with Peter Noyes and Walter Haynes. The appointment was repeated in 1646, with William Pelham and Edmund Rice as associates.  He served several years as chairman of the selectmen until 1660.  He was one of the petitioners in 1656 for a plantation in Marlborough.  He was assigned a house lot of 50 acres in Marlborough in 1660.  His lot was on the south side of the road, nearly opposite the first meetinghouse, close to where the Gates Academy was later established. His lands after divisions extended westward to what he called Belcher's Pond, near where the Williams Tavern was built.  He served as selectman in Marlborough, 1661-5 and 1671.  In 1664, he signed a petition to the General Court to help resolve a town dispute.  He was Marlborough's representative to the General Court