BACKGROUND
INFORMATION ON HENRY WARE
Researched
& written
by
Judy
C. Ware
March 2009
©
Judy C. Ware
Henry
Ware was born on July 29, 1813 in Green County, Georgia.
In his own letter, he stated that his “father was Thomas Ware and his
only uncle on his father’s side was John Ware.”
Henry’s mother was Sarah Jemison who wed Thomas Ware in Georgia in
1793. Thomas was born around 1773 and died in
1859 in Texas.
Henry
Ware married Martha Ann Everett in 1837, and “the couple settled in Chambers County, Alabama,
where the first four of their five children were born.”
They later moved to Harrison County, Texas where Henry established a
plantation and soon became known as one of the most prosperous planters in the region. He also had success in many manufacturing ventures
and made quite a name for himself.
Although
Ware initially supported the southern cause in the Civil War, he shocked his neighbors in
East Texas when he later claimed that he believed secession was wrong and even advocated
that the black population eventually be given the right to vote. After the war, he ran for election as a delegate to
the convention to bring Texas back into the Union, but he was defeated by John Burke.
Around
1870 Henry Ware moved to Iberville Parish, Louisiana where he established a sugar
plantation, and then eventually he settled in Pass Christian, Mississippi where he spent
his remaining days by the ocean. During his
colorful life, Ware was known as a Texas Democratic politician and a strong prohibitionist
who gave a considerable amount of his wealth to supporting organizations that endorsed
those beliefs. He died in 1898.
The
following is a list of four of his five children: Frances Asbury Ware, Margaret Elizabeth
Ware, Thomas Parks Ware, and William H. Ware. Henry
Ware was obviously interested in genealogy and preserving family history. His letter to Mrs. Hayes was an attempt to find out
more facts about his lineage, probably knowing that her roots came from Virginia and Kentucky
as well. The fact that his note is written on
White House paper would make one believe that he possibly was visiting the Executive Mansion
and left this request for Lucy Hayes with her secretary.
References:
Christopher
Long, A Southern Community in Crisis: Harrison County, Texas 1850-1880
by: Randolph B. Campbell (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1983). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University
of Texas at Austin
Letter
from Henry Ware to Mrs. Lucy Hayes written around 1879.
Original copy belongs to Jane & Scott Dudgeon |
