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Name: Absolam Ward
Alias: Anselm, Ansalum Warde
Place of Birth: Jefferson KY
Year of Birth: 1841
Occupation: Farmer
Eyes: Black Hair: Black Complexion: Black
Height in Feet: 5 Inches: 8
View Ledger
Enlistment Date: February 28, 1865
Enlistment Place: Louisville
Enlistment State: KY
Document: View
Congressional District: 5th
Company: B
Regiment(s): 125th Regt, USCI
Mustered Where: Louisville, KY
Mustered Out Date: December 20, 1867
Rank at Muster Out: Corporal
Notes:
The 125th was the last USCI regiment to be organized and the last to be mustered out of the US Army. Ward and his unit traveled from Louisville to Fort Union and Fort Craig in New Mexico. In various locations along the way, the 125th were warmly greeted by townspeople, including Topeka and Council Grove, Kansas (more details on their westward travels can be found in the Researcher Notes). Ward was promoted from private to corporal on May 1, 1866, while enroute to Fort Craig. But once the 125th arrived in New Mexico, the African American soldiers were treated with disrespect by many white soldiers and racial tensions were high. While stationed at Fort Craig, Cpl. Absolam Ward was assigned two very different types of duties: duty at coal mines, and serving as an escort for Brevet Major General Randolph Barnes Marcy (1812-1887). Cpl. Ward was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, but other members of his regiment were mustered out about ten days later in Louisville.
Died in war? No
Military Death Date:
Military Death Location:
Military Cause of Death:
Death Date: September 18, 1894
Cause of Death: Organic heart disease
Death Certificate
Obituary
Pension Card Link:
Pension Application Date:
Application No.: Certificate No.:
Alternate First Name: Anselm Alternate Last Name: Ward
Widow Pension Card: Pension Card
Widow Application Date: May 27, 1899 Application No.: 699534
Certificate No.: 588293
Pension Card Link: Application Date: Application No.: Certificate No.:
Pension File:
Pensioners: Margaret/Margarett Ward
Pensioner County: Jefferson Pensioner State: KY
Number of Pages:
Pension Notes:
Margaret (aka Margarett) Ward received pension benefits until her death on July 15, 1927. As of May 1, 1920, her monthly pension payment was $30. She died of tuberculosis at age 52 the Waverly Hill Sanitarium in Jefferson County.
Freedman’s Bank Link:
Freedman’s Bank Notes:
No Freedman’s Bank records were found for this soldier.
Notes from Freedmen’s Bureau Documents:
No Freedmen’s Bureau records were found for this soldier.
Mother First Name: Mother Maiden Name:
Father First Name: Father Last Name:
Siblings:
Wife #1 First Name: Margaret Maiden Name:
Wife #2 First Name: Maiden Name:
Wife #3 First Name: Maiden Name:
Children:
Family Notes:
Absolam Ward’s widow’s first name was spelled “Margaret” and “Margarett.” No maiden name for Margaret was found, nor was a record of their marriage located. Based on Louisville City Directories, she first appears as “Margaret Ward,” living at the same address as “Anselm Ward,” in 1890. No records of other spouses or of any children were found. In the mortuary records and for his death notice in the Courier-Journal, Ward’s name appeared as “Anson Ward”
Family Tree: View
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1870 Census Link: View
1870 Profession: Farm Hand
1870 Live with/near former enslaver? Unknown
1870 Real Estate Value: 1870 Personal Estate Value:
1870 Ability to Read? Unknown Ability to Write? Unknown
1870 Census Notes:
1880 Census information not found
1890 Census information not found
1900 Census information not found
1910 Census information not found
1920 Census information not found
Name: John Burks
Location: Two Mile House, Jefferson County, Kentucky
Previous Enslaver:
Enslaver Notes:
Absolam Ward’s enslaver of record at the time of his enlistment was John Burks (1824-1882). The Burks surname sometimes appears as “Burk,” “Burkes,” and even “Barks.” It is very likely that Absolam Ward (and or/his parents) were enslaved by David Ward, owner of Ward’s Mill on Beargrass Creek. The ruins of this mill can be found today at Cherokee Park in Louisville. Ward’s Mill was purchased by John Burks’s father and passed down through the generations. Another historic property of note that was formerly owned by members of the Burks family is the “James B. Burks/Winchester House,” at 614 Breckinridge Lane in Louisville. James B. Burks was the brother of John Burks. John Burks became the enslaver of record as a result of his role as executor of his sister Elizabeth Burks Tunstall’s (1826-1864) estate. Elizabeth Burks Tunstall died in 1864 and bequeathed her estate to her only child, Addie Tunstall Stewart Lindenberger (1846-1912), but since Addie was a minor child at the time of her mother’s death, her uncle/executor, John Burks, was Absolam Ward’s enslaver of record. Based on Absolam Ward’s death notice that appeared in the Courier-Journal on September 19, 1894, he remained with members of the Burks-Tunstall-Stewart-Lindenberger households for his entire life (see Researcher’s Notes for more details). John Burks accumulated great wealth as a young man mainly through property gained through inheritance. He outlived his parents and all of his siblings. He was active in agricultural and political affairs and was a successful horse breeder (Morgan Horses, trotters). After the Civil War, John Burks squandered that wealth by speculating in gold and the stock market, and eventually had to sell most of his vast real estate holdings in Jefferson County to cover his debts. Fortunately for John Burks, he married a woman from an equally wealthy family. Financially embarrassed, John Burks and family left Jefferson County and relocated to Breckinridge County where his wife’s family had extensive real estate holdings. There are many interesting twists and turns in the enslavers’ family story. Several family members were especially despicable people as evidenced by their cruelty and greed (see Researcher’s Notes for more details). The grim legacy of the enslaver’s family can be experienced today by visiting the Burks Family Cemetery, an island surrounded by a sea of parking spaces in a shopping center in Louisville. John Burks, however, is not buried there. His final resting place is in Addison Cemetery in Breckinridge County.
There are several items to note from the Census:
1. In 1850, John Burks enslaved 15 persons, one of whom could have been Absolam Ward. John Burks lived in the household of his widowed mother, Matilda Covington Ross Burks (1798-1853) enslaved 48 persons, several of whom fit the description of Absolam Ward.
2. In 1860, the Burks extended family household (headed by John Burks’s mother, Matilda Covington Ross Burks (1798-1853), there was one freedman among the Burks–Peter Ward, age 50, Black, and born in Kentucky. He was not present in the 1850 Census. In the 1870 Census, a 62-year old Black man named “P. Jackson” is a farm laborer. I found no further records for either Peter Ward or Peter Jackson after they appeared in their respective censuses but it seems likely that they are one in the same person.
3. In the 1870 Census, the name “John Burks” was transcribed as “Jno. Barks” on Family Search, and as “Jno. Backs” on Ancestry.
1850 Census Link: View
1850 Slave Schedule Link: View
1850 Number of Enslaved: 15
1860 Census Link: View
1860 Real Estate Value: $125,000
1860 Personal Estate Value: $10,000
1860 Slave Schedule Link: View
1860 Number of Enslaved: 29
1870 Census Link: View
1870 Real Estate Value: $120,000 1870 Personal Estate Value: $10,000
1880 Census Link: [if 230 not_equal=””]View[/if 230]
Compensation Applied? No Compensation Received? No
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