Background
Ward was born on January 8, 1810, in Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of George Washington and Ann Alexander Hooe Ward. Little is known of his early life.
300 N Broadway, Lexington, KY 40508, United States
George attended Transylvania University in 1824.
Ward was born on January 8, 1810, in Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. He was the son of George Washington and Ann Alexander Hooe Ward. Little is known of his early life.
George attended Transylvania University in 1824.
George Taliaferro Ward worked as a clerk in the land office for a time and may have briefly practiced law; however, his primary interest was in agriculture, in which he became eminently successful.
By 1860, Ward owned three plantations in Leon County with a total of 4,200 acres, 2,500 of which were under cultivation; and an estate in excess of $200,000. He was a member of the Territorial Legislative Council in 1833 and 1834, a principal stockholder in the Union Bank, chairman of the Committee on the State of the Territory which recommended the adoption of a state government, and a delegate to the Florida constitutional convention of 1838-1839. However, he was defeated in his bid for territorial delegate to Congress in 1841 and, after the admission of Florida as a state, he lost a seat in the United States Senate to Jackson Morton in 1848.
In 1852 Ward lost a close race for governor by only 212 votes. In 1861 he was a delegate to the secession convention. He reluctantly signed the ordinance. when J. Patton Anderson resigned from the Provisional Congress to enter the army, Ward was chosen his successor and took his seat on May 2, 1861, although he cared little for lawmaking. Between sessions, he hurried to his command in the field - the Second Florida Infantry - of which he had been elected the colonel, and which he took to Virginia.
In November Ward was an unsuccessful candidate for the Confederate Senate. His resignation from Congress was accepted on February 5, 1862.
As a lifelong Whig, George Ward was a leader of the so-called "cooperationists" who opposed immediate secession and advocated popular ratification of the step if it were taken.
His only legislative proposals were for the construction of two military roads in Florida. Generally, he supported the modest efforts being made to put the Confederacy on a war basis, the major exception being his typical reluctance to commit state troops, to distant service.
In 1844 Ward married Sarah Jane Chaires. The couple had at least three daughters, Georgiana, Anna, and Mattie. George's wife died in 1859, at the age of 33.