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This Biography is copyrighted.
Reproduction is gladly authorized for
For those interested in buying a spiral bound hard copy of Virginia Roots in Kentucky Soil – please contact the author at jware3@earthlink.net. The price is $50.00 which includes priority shipping and handling The printed copy comes with an index that is not available on line.
The History of Dr. James Ware II &
The prequel to this is entitled
New Nation/New Home – The Biography of James Ware I and his wife, Agnes Todd Ware, also written by Judy C. Ware Introduction
In 2009, I finished the biography of the first James I of my line in Virginia. It had been a dream of mine to give character to this elusive Ware patriarch. Since his birth in 1714, over 250 years had passed and I knew that information would be hard to find and document. Due the generosity of my husband’s parents, I was given a lot of old papers that dated back to the late 1700’s, but even they did not possess much “first hand” data from prior to that time. Most of my research took over 30 years and I was fortunate to live in places like Virginia where I had easy access to many wonderful resources.
Our particular branch of the Ware family tree descends down from that first American James through his namesake, James Ware II, who was born in 1741. From there, the line continues through the next son, James Ware III, born in 1771. Unlike most of his family who later moved to Kentucky, James III returned to the Old Dominion and left his legacy there. Again, my time in Virginia offered invaluable avenues of research.
It is not surprising then that Kentucky held great intrigue for me. So many members of our Ware family relocated there, and even James III lived there for a while. The link between the two states was strong and binding. With Providence on my side, my husband (an officer in the Air Force at the time) and I were later assigned to Ohio, not far from the Kentucky border. It was as if Kentucky was reaching out to me with her wealth of information, just as she had our forefathers. It was such a delight to visit the remarkable historical societies and libraries that abound in the area. We have since revisited many times and I can see why the land beckoned those early Wares.
Old family letters that had previously left clues to things suddenly became alive with meaning. The missing pieces of the puzzle were coming together to form an incredible story, and what I thought would be a simple biography turned into a 2½ year long labor of love. I hope this biography will serve as a tool to open even more avenues of discovery for fellow family researchers. I thank each and every one of you who has encouraged me in this endeavor.
God bless.
Judy C. Ware |
