"Ward and Woodbridge (ante, vol. xxiii, p. 475).- Rev. Ephraim W. Allen, of Haverhill, Mass., informs me that the date of the death of Mrs. Mary (Ward) Woodbridge is found on the town records of Haverhill, corresponding to that on the tombstone at Bristol, R. I., copied by Mr. Woodbridge, of Little Falls (not Glen Falls), N. Y., and printed in the Register. The record containing this date is copied by Rev. Mr. Allen as follows:-
'Mr John Ward & Mrs Alice; Edmunds.
Elizabeth borne April 1: 1647: Died Aprill: 29: 1714.
Mary ----- June 24: 1649: Died Octr: 11. 85.
Mrs: Alice Ward --------- Died Mar: 24: 79 - 80.
Mr John Ward --------- Died Dec: 27. 93.'
In the letter in which he sent the above copy of the record, Rev. Mr. Allen writes: 'The date of the marriage is not given. Nor was it probably known, by the person who made the record of marriage, what the name of Mr. Ward's wife was; for the name 'Edmunds; is, apparently, by a different hand from that which wrote the words preceding it. You will notice the semicolon after 'Alice', as though the writer supposed her surname to have been Alice. The entries appear to have been made by persons living at the several dates.'
A recent discovery, by Col. Chester, of London, of the record of the marriage license of Rev. John Ward, shows that the surname of Mrs. Alice Ward was really Edmunds, as given on the Haverhill records, and that she was the daughter of Nicholas Edmunds, of Alkham in Kent. The marriage allegation is dated May 24, 1636, and represents Mr. Ward to be 'of the parish of Hadleigh ad Castrum in the County of Kent, Clarke, and a batchelour aged about 26 years.' and Alice Edmunds to be a 'spinster, aged about 24 years.' License was requested by Mr. Ward 'to be married in the parish church of St. Leonard in Foster lane, London.' The register of this church previous to 1666 was destroyed with the church in the great fire of that year. See "Historical Magazine, 2d S. vol. v. p. 129.
Rev. Mr. Allen, in the letter before quoted, copies the following entry from the first pages of the records of the First Church of Haverhill: -
'John Ward, first minister in Haverhill was settled in 1641, Obiit Decr 27: 1693, AEtat. 88.'
He writes that this entry was apparently made 'by some one at the close of the last century or the beginning of this. It is not an original entry. Mr. Ward,' he adds, 'left no church records so far as I know. The first book of records of the First Church, now before me and numbered 'No. 1,' was begun by Mr. Rolfe, Mr. Ward's colleague and successor.'
The age of Rev. Mr. Ward on the Haverhill church records agrees with the date of his birth, Nov. 5, 1606, given by Mather in his Magnalia, bk iii. ch. 31, sect. 2, and may have been derived from that book, but it does ot agree with his age in his marriage allegation. It is uncertain which is correct.
J.W.D."
