Edmund Ward

1787-1853

Edmund Ward (printer, newspaperman, author, emigrant agent, publishing agent) was born on 24 June 1787 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Ward trained as a printer under William Minns at Minns’ office on Barrington. In 1809, Ward was invited to edit The Royal Gazette newspaper in Bermuda but returned to Halifax in 1815. Ward began the Halifax Free Press in April 1816.  Ward published the Free Press until April 1834, then began the Temperance Recorder.  Ward lost his printing press in 1837 due to low subscription. Ward then travelled throughout the Maritime provinces before finally settling in Fredericton, New Brunswick and began the Sentinel and New-Brunswick General Advertiser, which was first published in December 1837.  The Sentinel was published weekly until 1844. In 1840, Ward was appointed Assistant Emigrant Agent by Lieutenant Governor Sir John Harvey.  He wrote a guide entitled An Account of the River St. John, With Its Tributary Rivers and Lakes (1841).  In 1844, Ward returned to Halifax to begin the Evening Gazette, but soon gave up the paper and left for New York. In New York, he worked as a reprint agent and liaison for the Maritime provinces, first for the Anglo-American newspaper, then for Leonard Scott and Company. Ward returned to Hamilton, Bermuda in 1853 to assist son Robert with the Bermuda Herald.  Ward contracted yellow fever and died on 31 October 1853.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Fredericton