Biography of Rev. Stephen Brown Ward, page 948. History of De Kalb County, Indiana. Inter-State Publishing Company, Chicago, 1885. Rev. Stephen Brown Ward, one of the early settlers of De Kalb County, Ind., was born in Randolph, Portage Co., Ohio, July 22, 1816, a son of Josiah and Mindwell (Harris) Ward. His parents died before he was four years of age and he was bound to William Jones of Randolph, with whom he lived till his nineteenth years, and had acquired a fair education in the public schools, and by private study, having followed a systematic course of reading. In 1839 he married Miss Laura Atherton Brooks, a daughter of Dr. G. Brooks, of Bath, Ohio. After his marriage he lived in Randolph and Columbia, Ohio, till 1842, when Jan. 22, he removed to De Kalb County, Ind., and settled on a tract of land he had previously purchased in Wilmington Township. He was converted at the age of sixteen years and joined the Congregational church, but in 1841, while living in Columbia became a member of the Baptist church, and was licensed to preach. After coming to De Kalb County, while engaged in improving his land, he had appointments in different parts of the county, traveling through the woods on foot or horseback, often riding twenty and thirty miles a day. In the summer of 1847 he was regularly ordained a minister an since that time has given the greater portion of his attention to preaching the Gospel and pastoral work, till within the fast five years when his age has obliged him to retire to a more quiet life. He moved to Auburn, in 1852. He has probably performed more marriage ceremonies and attended more funerals than any other minister in De Kalb County. In the winter of 1857-’58 he represented his district in the Indiana State Legislative. To Mr. and Mrs. Ward have been born three children---Vesta M., wife of Dr. D.J. Swarts; Harris D., a merchant of Kendallville, Ind., and Mary A., widow of John H. Ehlers, late a druggist of Auburn. Submitted by: Arlene Goodwin Auburn, Indiana Agoodwin@ctlnet.com