Naaman Ward lived all his life in Scampton in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire. Now home to RAF Scampton, when Naaman lived there it was a rural village. He had seven brothers and one sister – a lively household, no doubt.
We have four census records for Naaman, from the first real census in 1841 to the 1871 census three years before his death.
By the time of the 1841 census he and Sarah had been married for twenty years and their two oldest children had already left home. Naaman was established as a shoemaker and, as well as their seven younger children they had James and Elizabeth Bell living with them. The 1841 census does not give relationships but we can assume they were lodgers.
In 1851 the Bells had left but they had another lodger, an old lady of 92 who was receiving parish relief. Their daughter Dinah had left home but Elizabeth, aged 23, was still with them. Neither she nor her eldest brother Lot, aged 17, have any occupation recorded. This seems unusual but presumably they would help in the home and workshop. Their neighbour is the Rector of Scampton, which seems to indicate they are in the “better” part of the village.
By 1861 all is changed for Naaman. Sarah has died, all his children have left home and he is living alone with his housekeeper. The last sight we have of Naaman is in 1871, when he is still working and still the head of the household. His housekeeper has left and he has his son Noah and daughter-in-law Elizabeth with him. Noah is a farm labourer. The street now has a name, Church Lane, and the neighbours are the same people as ten years before.
Naaman’s life seems to have been a stable, secure and comfortable existence, untouched by the enormous changes in society that other branches of our family tree are going through.
Father of Kezia Ward and son of William and Kezia Ward
Baptised on 29 March 1795 at Scampton, Lincolnshire
Married Sarah Carter on 22 May 1821
Death registered in March 1875