Frank Hawley Ward family papers
Biographical / Historical note
Clara Louise Werner, known as Clayla, was born in 1889 to Judge William E. Werner and Lillian (Boller) Werner of Rochester. Her father was a lawyer with an eminent career, becoming a Justice of the State Supreme Court and later of the Court of Appeals. He died on March 1, 1916. Clara Louise was the eldest of three daughters, the others being Caroline (Mrs. Frank Ernest Gannett) and Marie (Mrs. Douglas Townson). Clara Louise attended a private school in Rochester, and, as a reward for writing a prize essay on Charles Dickens, was sent to Paris, France for the academic year October 1908-June 1909 to finish her education. Her parents then joined her for some months of travel on the continent, followed by a further year of study in Germany. As a result, she was fluent in French and German. In 1912, she accompanied Charlotte Whitney and her father, Warham Whitney, to Egypt, Italy and France. After the outbreak of the First World War, she became involved in the administration of the Women's Land Army, coached soldiers in French, and drove trucks transporting wounded. In the summer of 1921, she again accompanied Charlotte Whitney to Europe. Upon her return, she went to New York City in the Fall of 1921 to attempt a career on the stage. She abandoned her projected career, however, to marry Frank Hawley Ward in February 1922. F. Hawley Ward was vice-president, under his father Frank A. Ward, of Ward's Natural Science Establishment, and a distant cousin of the founder, Henry Augustus Ward. He was also a widower with one daughter, Elizabeth Milne Ward, by his first wife, Ruth (Milne) Ward. Clara Louise was apparently not well in the following years, and spent the summers of 1924 and 1925 taking rest cures at Hillbourne Farms, Katonah, N.Y., and at Miss Tyree's, Baltimore, Maryland. Her first son, Hawley Werner Ward, known to the family as Mike, was born in 1927, after which she spent the period of February to April in Bermuda. Her second son, Addison Werner Ward, was born in 1930.
Hawley Ward's daughter Elizabeth married John Adams in 1933. They had two daughters. The two Ward boys attended Allendale School in Rochester, and then were sent to St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H. Hawley began in the Fall of 1941, and Addison began in the Fall of 1942. Hawley Werner Ward entered the U.S. Navy in the Summer of 1944, and served two years. He was trained in radio electronics, and was eventually sent to the Pacific after the declaration of peace. Both Hawley and Addison attended Princeton University, Hawley entering in the Fall of 1946, and Addison in the Fall of 1947. Addison continued on to graduate school at Yale, and received a doctorate in English. He eventually obtained a teaching position at Oberlin College in Ohio, where he lived with his wife and three children at the time of his death in the Palm Sunday tornado of April 11, 1965. One son, Peter, was also killed.
Clayla Ward was active throughout her life in civic affairs in Rochester. Among her activities were the Chatterbox Club, the Junior League, the Community Players, the Memorial Art Gallery, the Civic Music Association, the French Alliance, and the Municipal Museum, later the Rochester Museum and Science Center. She served as officer or board member of all of these organizations. In 1944 she joined Sibley, Lindsay and Curr Co. as public relations consultant, and was responsible for many of the special events at the department store. After the death of Frank Hawley Ward in 1958, she maintained the Ward family home at Grove Place, and gave it to the Landmark Society in his memory in 1967. In 1965 the Rochester Museum presented her with the Civic Medal for her contributions to Rochester. She died August 27, 1973.
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of correspondence, business records, ledgers and account books, notebooks and diaries, and blue prints.
The personal correspondence is principally addressed to Clara Louise (Werner) Ward from friends and family. This correspondence includes letters written by William E. Werner and Lillie (Boiler) Werner from Europe in 1905, letters from Clara Louise Werner to her parents from school in Paris, 1908-09, letters from Clara Louise from Egypt and Italy, 1912, letters from Frank Hawley Ward to Clara Louise, 1921-1930, while she was away from Rochester, letters from Hawley Werner Ward from St. Paul's School, the U.S. Navy, and Princeton, 1941-1950, and Addison Werner Ward from St. Paul's School, Princeton and Yale Universities, 1942-1954. There is also a large group of letters of condolence on the deaths of Addison and Peter Ward, April-May 1965, and letters of congratulations on the presentation of the Civic Medal to Clayla Ward in November 1965. The principal non-family correspondent is O'Donnell Iselin, New York financier, and son of Columbus O'Donnell Iselin. He married Urling Sibley, daughter of Hiram W. Sibley.
Letters from George Eastman, George Gershwin, Frank Ernest Gannett, and William Meredith are indexed.
The business records and ledgers pertain principally to the affairs of Frank A. Ward, especially in his capacity as trustee for other members of the family in the administration of family property. This property included investments in stocks and bonds and real property in the city of Rochester, including Grove Place. The largest group of business records pertains to the Lucky Strike Gold Mining Co. of Gunnison, Colorado, of which Frank A. Ward was president, and Frank Hawley Ward was treasurer. The company was chartered for twenty years in 1894, and owned several mining claims in the Green Mountain Mining District of Colorado. After the expiration of the corporation in 1914, and the death of Frank A Ward, the property passed to his wife, Mary Hawley Ward, and she endeavored to sell the property. Her son, William Douglas Ward, corresponded with numerous people trying to lease or sell the mine, from 1927 until his death in 1936. After his death, his brother Frank Hawley Ward continued to try to sell the property, apparently finally disposing of it around 1938.
The blueprints are copies of surveys of the area now known as the Grove Place Preservation District, and building plans for houses in the Grove Place area.
Creator
- Ward family (Family)
- Ward, Frank Hawley (Person)
- Ward, Clara Louise, 1889-1973 (Person)
- Ward, Frank A. (Person)
Dates
- Creation: 1894-1965
Language of Materials
English
Extent
10 box(es) (10 boxes, 12 volumes, 1 oversized folder)
Access
The Frank Hawley Ward Family Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books, Special Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.
Use
In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Hawley Werner Ward, September 1973.
Preferred Citation
[Item title, item date], Frank Hawley Ward Family Papers, D.92, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
Subject
- Ward family (Family)
- Ward, Frank Hawley (Person)
- Ward, Clara Louise, 1889-1973 (Person)
- Ward, Frank A. (Person)
- Lucky Strike Gold Mining Company (Organization)
- Title
- Frank Hawley Ward family papers
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
- Date
- undated
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Library Details
Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library