History of Detroit, a chronicle of its progress, its industries, its institutions, and the people of the fair City of the straits, / by Paul Leake ... [Vol. 3]

HISTORY OF DETROIT

1235

Emily reared fourteen children to years of maturity and also had many
others in her care for periods of several years. What sacrifices she
made to her high sense of duty can never be known, for she made no
protest and seemed to think that her course of self-abnegation was the
one and only way to pursue. Her reverence for the spiritual verities
were of the deepest order, and hers was indeed the faith that makes
faithful in all things. She was a devout attendant of the Methodist
church and "she went about doing good" for all those in any ways
afflicted or distressed. Though literal motherhood was not vouchsafed
to her, yet there were children and children's children who might well
"rise up and call her blessed."
In 1867, Aunt Emily Ward came to Detroit, wtere her brother, the
immediate subject of this memoir, had established his home some years
previously, and in 1869, this only brother manifested his love and solicitude by erecting for her a large, old-fashioned home at 807 Fort street,
West, where she passed the remainder of her long and beautiful life,
whose later years were made happy through the love and kindly ministrations of those to whom she had been a veritable mother.
She was born on the 16th of March, 1809, and she died at her home
in Detroit on August 28, 1891, secure in the affectionate regard of all
who had been privileged to know her.
Sallie Ward became the wife of Malachai Brindel; and Abbie married
Benjamin F. Owen. Both sisters died in early married life, leaving their
young children to the loving care of their devoted sister, Emily, as mentioned previously.
Eber Brock Ward was a boy of about six years when his family
removed to the west, and his early experiences touched the trials and
hardships incident to pioneer life, the while he was carefully reared by
his father and elder sister. As a boy and youth, Eber B. Ward worked
at gardening and farming, fishing and trapping, and it may well be
understood that his educational advantages were limited in so far as
regular attendance at school was concerned. The pioneer schools were
of meagre order and he attended them during the short winter terms
only. His father, a man of excellent intellectual powers, gave him supplementary instruction, and thus he was enabled to lay the foundation
for the broad and accurate knowledge which eventually made him a
man of liberal information and well fortified views. He learned also the
valuable lessons of industry, frugality and honesty in all things, and
was thus worthily equipped for fighting the battle of life on his own
responsibility. He left the paternal home soon after attaining his legal
majority and in 1832, when twenty-one years of age, came to St. Clair
county, Michigan, to enter the employ of his uncle, Samuel Ward. His
father at that time expressed much regret in that he was unable to give
his only son financial aid at the initiation of his independent career,
but he gave to the young man the most timely counsel, in the following
words, which the son ever afterward recalled with sentiments of deep
appreciation: "You are going, my son, without money, but you have
hands hardened with labor, a mind inured to thought, and good and well
established principles. Stick to these, my boy, and your success in life
is assured."
In 1836, Captain Ward secured a one-fourth interest in a small
schooner, and thus he initiated the partnership with his uncle that continued until the death of the latter. In 1840, they built their first
steamer for river service and they soon owned and operated a fleet of
twenty boats. In 1845, Captain Ward placed in commission two steamers, in connection with the western terminus of the Michigan Central
Railroad at Marshall, from which point of transportation was made by