Ann lived all her life in Hingham. She was married for thirty-two years and remained a widow as far as we know till her death twenty-five years later.
She and her husband John had nine children: Anne, who died at eleven months old, John, Mary, James (our ancestor), Elizabeth, William, Thomas, Hannah and Robert.
The Wards were a close family, literally: in the 1841 census Ann Ward, her daughter Elizabeth, and her son John are all living next door to each other in Queen Street, Hingham. We can only assume relationships, but from names and ages we can picture their households. Ann has her son Thomas and his family living with her, Elizabeth has her 75-year-old father-in-law with her, and John has his 90-year-old mother-in-law with him. Those were the days before Care in the Community!
Elizabeth had married Robert Ryder in 1833. She died in 1846, a year after her infant daughter Sarah Ann. Perhaps there were complications. She left four children, all girls, whom her husband brought up alone with help from Grandma Ann. In the 1851 census two of the girls are with him, two with Grandma living next-door-but-one. Ann also had three young men lodging with her – asking for trouble, you might think …
Mother of James Ward, daughter of Daniel and Hannah Cooper.
Born Ann Cooper on 15 January 1779 in Hingham, Norfolk
Married John Ward on 15 December 1800
Buried 30 April 1857