Freestone County, Texas Communities Ward Prairie Ward Prairie is a community on Farm Road 488 about four miles northeast of Fairfield in central Freestone County. Ward Prairie is about a little over a mile south of the Lake Chapel community. The area farms are drained by Walnut Creek on the west and PinOak Creek on the east. Ward Prairie is a community based on the Ward Prairie Baptist Church that was a foundation for its area residents so long. Ward Prairie is a farming community founded in one of the first areas that was naturally free of trees at the start of the prairie. The reason that the area was naturally free of trees unknown to the early settlers was the coal fields that lay underneath. Ward Prairie Baptist Church's modern address is 341 FM 488. The wooden structure harkens back to a time gone back. The Ward Prairie Baptist Church has a long unbroken history: In 1878, Ward's Prairie Baptist Church was part of the Trinity River Association. Their messenger was D.J. Welch. J.D. William was the pastor with D.J. Welch as clerk. In 1883, Ward's Prairie Baptist Church sent J.M. Chappell and S.S. Orand to the Prairie Grove Baptist Association. Peter E. Kirvin was the pastor and B.F. Griffin was the clerk at the time. The church had 47 members. The next year, 1884, Ward's Prairie Baptist Church sent J.W. Horton and J.C. Griffin to the Prairie Grove Baptist Association. Peter E. Kirvin was the pastor and J.C. Griffin was the clerk at the time. The church grew to 86 members. 1886 was a rocky year for Ward's Prairie Baptist Church. 20 were dismissed by letter reducing the congregation down to 58 members. John D. Sellers and Benjamin Robert Speed represented the church at the Prairie Grove Baptist Association. E. J. Brown of Fairfield became the pastor and James F. Hubbard was his clerk. 1887 was a stable year with the only change being sending C.R. McCormack as the messenger. 1889 was a good year bringing the membership up to 80. E.J. Brown was still the pastor with J.S. Seal as clerk; I.W. Horton, James Lafayette Childs, and E.F. Griffin were the messengers. 1890 was a stable year with no changes of note. On Decemeber 18, 1894, James Aaron Willard sold half of an acre of land for $25.00 to the deacons and trustees of the Ward Prarie Baptist Church and School Commissioners. By 1895, membership had slowly grown to 90. In the 1930s Ward Prairie had a school, a church, two cemeteries, a business, and a number of scattered dwellings. In the 1960s the community had a church, a few cemeteries, and a few dwellings, and in the late 1980s the church and cemeteries still remained. In modern times, the Big Brown Power Plant (a coal plant) is in the area. In 1995, Ward Prairie was raising money for a new fellowship hall. Historical Marker says: "Ward Prairie, named for an early pioneer family, was the site of Lake Chapel Methodist Church as early as the 1860s. The chapel, on land donated by another pioneer family, was used as a meeting place for other denominations, as well. Ward Prairie Baptist Church, officially organized in 1869 under the direction of the Rev. J. C. Averitt, met in the Methodist Chapel until 1893, when land two miles south was given to the church by the J. W. Orand family. The Lake Chapel Methodist congregation had been consolidated with another area church in the mid-1880s, and, according to local tradition, the chapel building was moved here and became the Ward Prairie Baptist Church. Membership in the church has varied over the years. Originally meeting only once a month, the congregation held services twice monthly beginning in 1952, and soon began to worship together each Sunday. Various events have combined to change the structure of the Ward Prairie community, but this church has continued to survive despite economic difficulties and area population shifts. A good example of a rural Texas church, Ward Prairie Baptist Church has been an integral part of the community's heritage for over a century. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986" Churches: Ward Prairie Primitive Baptist church 58 members led by J.D. Williams in 1878 *1* 47 members led by J.D. Williams in 1879 *1* 47 members led by P.E. Kirvin in 1883 *2* 86 members led by P.E. Kirvin in 1884 *2* 58 members led by E.J. Brown in 1886 *2* 57 members led by E.J. Brown in 1887 *2* Elders Ben Parker, Young, and Thomas in 1888. 80 members led by E.J. Brown in 1889 *2* 90 members in 1895 [no pastor listed] Baptised by Brother H. L. McKissack (a travelling pastor) at Ward Prairie: On July 30, 1922: Miss Speed, Miss Verta Ritter, Miss Alene Horton, Miss Philipps, Sneed Aultman, Severn Donaldson. On June 17, 1923: (another) Miss Speed On Aug. 5, 1923: Miss Eula Casey, Miss Orand, Miss Fitzgerald, Miss Mattie Willard, Mrs. Oddie Orand, Mrs. Loyd Awalt, Tommie Willard and Bob Casey. On Aug. 5, 1924: Miss Lena Kent, Miss Verna Odom, Miss Louise Day, Miss Lola Tate, Miss Mollie Mae Willard, Miss Speed, Other Orand, Arthur Orand, Lois Vestal, J. V. Vestal, and Travis Speed On July 5, 1925: Miss Vera Orand, Mrs. Charlie Speed On July 26, 1925: Gilbert Gorman On July 31, 1927: Ellis Chappell [many years where Brother McKissack was preaching elsewhere] On July 19, 1936: Miss Ferguson, Miss Black, Miss Speed, Miss Ward, Letha Mae Day, and Winifred Rosser On July 20, 1937: Francis Donaldson, Mrs. Joe Willard, Juanita Willard, Wynima Speed, Mrs. A. C. Calwell, Orand Lambert, Edward Speed, and Odell Ward Schools: Ward Prairie School had 27 pupils in 1887 Social Organizations: Ward Prairie Grange #33 (led in 1874 by J.F. Hubbard, 1881 Benjamin Franklin Odom was Deputy for Freestone County, led in 1888 by Daniel Tomlinson Yates) (a.k.a. National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry) Ward Prairie Farmers Union #2822 (existed in 1902) Cemeteries in the area: Rehoboth/Rehobeth/Young Cemetery Lake Chapel Cemetery Day Cemetery Hickory Grove/Jameson Cemetery Stores: Horn & Huckaby Mill (1880s) Known people in Ward Prairie were: Bell, G. A. Brewer, Dick [moved to Red River County in 1885] Davis, John DuBois, T. N. Dunagan, F. P. (school teacher) Eskridge, Wm. B. [moved to Brady, McCullough County in 1886] Folk, J. W. Freeman, James [moved to Navarro County] Gilpin, Ross Goodwin, George H. & Sarah Elizabeth (Odom) [moved to Navarro County] Grant, David Grant, Will Hatcher, R. J. Hinton, P. A. [moved to Hill County] Histon, Hugh Horn, Henry [moved to Navarro County, returned, then Wilbarger County] Hubbard, James Ingram, Ruben Jemison, J. T. Jemison, T. J. Keaton, W. T. Kirven, Eld. P. E. [moved to Pin Oak near Wortham in 1886] Lake, John Edward Lake, Joseph Wallace Lake, Simeon Lake, Tim Lake, T. D. Lake, Thomas J. Lane, Ben & Mary Ann Strait (moved to Ward Prairie in 1889) Lane, Claude Lane, Crawford Mayo, David Mayo, John McAdams, J. E. McCormick, C. R. Minchew, Jewel Mostellar, Thomas H. Odom, Benjamin Franklin Orand, James William Powell, Ben Robertson, John Sellers, John D. Sr. Speed, Billy Speed, Brown [moved to Wilbarger County] Speed, P. D. Speed, Rufus Steen, James [moved to Navarro County] Steen, J. W. Steen, Robert Steen, Thomas Walker, G. M. [owned place and may have moved to Coryell County] Welch, D. J. (moved to Liberty, Freestone Co.) White, Thad [moved to Navarro County] Willard, Benjamin Willard, Beverly Cantrell [moved to Navarro County] Willard, John Vernon Yates, Daniel Tomlinson ========================================================================= *1* = Trinity River Baptist Association records *2* = Prairie Grove Baptist Association records *3* = The Fairfield Recorder, 22 July 1943 newspaper ‘Old Landmark’ Destroyed By Fire – The dwelling on the “John Lake” farm, on Ward Prairie was destroyed by fire Friday morning at 8:30. The house was occupied by Vernon Willard and family, who lost practically all their household goods. Mrs. Willard and small son were the only ones at home, and succeeded in saving a sewing machine, a cedar chest, and a few bed clothes. Over 500 cans of fruit and vegetables were lost. The building was owned by Mrs. W.O. Keaton of Teague, and there was no insurance on either the building or its contents. The fire originated from an oil stove. The building was a landmark in the Ward Prairie neighborhood. It was built for John Lake, a pioneer settler in 1884, by Lewellyn Johnson, W.D. Pittman, and Jas H. McIlveen, all old time and well known citizens of Fairfield. [NOTES - The house was built for John Edward Lake in 1884. His daughter, Maggie Alice Lake (who married William Oscar Keaton) inherited the house after John's death on Jan 12, 1897. John Vernon Willard and his wife, Laura Dee (Donaldson) Willard, were in their 40s when the house burned. They only had two living sons (Herman and Finis) when the fire occurred.]