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Ward

The Ward name has been in Arbon Valley since 1893. In that year, Joseph W. Ward applied for both a Possessory Claim on Lake Canyon (directly west of the current Ward farmstead) and water rights in the same area, which at that time was called “Lake Creek” (Bannock Valley, p. 9). Joseph was the older brother of Jesse and George, two other homesteaders in the Bannock Valley.

Jesse and Julia Ward are the ancestors of all the current Ward, Williams, and Estep families in Arbon Valley. You can still see the cabin he built on the current Ward farm (it was moved to its present location in 1949). This cabin is sided in white shingles, but the logs are still underneath the siding. Six generations of the Ward family have lived in this house.