JULIA WARD HOWE, LL.D.— Wise-hearted men and women, not a few, in the half-century now closing, have given earnest thought to the solving of social problems, have wrought for love's sake and truth's in various fields of helpful endeavor. Eminent among them may be named the author of the "Battle Hynm of the Republic." She was born in New York City, May 27, 1819, daughter of Samuel and Julia Rush (Cutler) Ward. It is not unreasonable to suppose that Mrs. Howe's dominant characteristics, her broad philanthropy, her love of study, aptitude for language, predilection for metaphysics, her fervid patriotism, deep religiousness, and strong sense of justice, are derived, in part at least, from some of the colonial worthies, her ancestors, mentioned below.
Samuel Ward, third, father of Mrs. Howe, was son of Lieutenant Colonel Samuel and Phebe (Greene) Ward and grandson of Governor Samuel Ward, of Rhode Island, Governor Samuel being the son of Governor Richard, who was a grandson of John Ward, of Gloucester, England, and Newport, R.I., said to have been an officer in Cromwell's army. Richard Ward married Mary, daughter of John and Isabel (Sayles) Tillinghast. Her father was son of Elder Pardon Tillinghast, who came from England when a young man, and during the greater part of a life of more than ninety years, closing in 1718, was a citizen of influence in the civil and religious affairs of Providence, R.I., where he was a merchant and for many years the unsalaried pastor of the First Baptist Society, to which in 1711 he gave a meeting-house. Mary Tillinghast's mother was a daughter of John and Mary (Williams) Sayles and grand-daughter of Roger Williams. Of this pioneer of religious tolerance in New England, Mrs. Howe is thus shown to be a descendant of the eighth generation.
Samuel Ward, first, son of Richard and Mary, born in Newport in 1725, served three terms as Governor of Rhode Island. He died in Philadelphia in March, 1776, during the session of the Continental Congress, of which he was a valued member — in the words of John Adams, "a steadfast friend to his country upon very pure principles."
He married Anne Ray, daughter of Simon Ray, third, and his wife Deborah, daughter of Job and Phebe (Sayles) Greene. Phebe and Isabel Sayles, named above, were sisters. Simon Ray, third, was the son of Simon, second, and grandson of Simon, first, of Braintree. Simon Ray, second, was one of the sixteen original proprietors of Block Island. Influential and honored, a "lovely example of Christian virtues," he lived to enter his one hundred and second year. He married Mary Thomas, daughter of Nathaniel and grand-daughter of "William Thomas, a Welsh gentleman," who joined the Plymouth Colony about 1630, served three years as Assistant Governor, and died at his home at Green Harbor, Marshfield, in 1651. "A well-approved and well-grounded Christian," wrote Secretary Morton, "one that had a sincere desire to promote the common good, both of church and State."
Samuel Ward, second, born in Westerly, R.I., in 1756, a college graduate at fifteen, served nearly six years in the Continental army, rising from the rank of Captain to Lieutenant Colonel; was in Arnold's expedition to Canada and taken prisoner at Quebec; later was with Washington at Valley Forge, and after the war was engaged in mercantile business in New York City. He married his cousin Phebe, daughter of Governor William and Catherine (Ray) Greene. Her mother is remembered as a youthful friend and correspondent of Franklin.
Mrs. Julia R. Cutler Ward, Mrs. Howe's mother, was a daughter of Benjamin C. Cutler, of Boston and Jamaica Plain, sometime Sheriff of Norfolk County, and his wife Sarah, daughter of Thomas and Hester (Marion) Mitchell, of Waccamaw plantation and Georgetown, S.C. Mrs. Cutler's mother was a sister of General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of the Revolution, and grand-daughter of Benjamin Marion, a Huguenot, who settled at Charleston, S.C, a little over two hundred years ago.
Mrs. Howe's grandfather Cutler was son of John Cutler, third, brass-founder, a well-to-do citizen of Boston in his day and a prominent Mason, being Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, 1792-93. David Cutler, father of John, third, was the youngest son of Johannes Demesmaker, physician and surgeon, who came
