Josephine Antoinette Ward"Library of Congress Name Authority File" http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n94075201.html was born at Sing Sing,The name of the Village of Sing Sing was changed to Ossining in 1901, the Town of Ossinsing was created in 1845 and renamed Ossining the next year Westchester County, New York. She was the eldest child of Aaron Ward and Mary Watson Ward.
Career Ward was interested in history and was the founder of the Princeton chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. This lineage society supported preservation and recognition of sites and properties important to American history.
She was also the first benefactor of the Princeton University Graduate College."Princeton University, The Graduate College", Accessed 05 September 2016 http://www.princeton.edu/~gradcol/perm/hist.htm
With Kate McFarlane, Ward organized the Washington Headquarters Association of Rocky Hill. They helped preserve Rockingham, the final headquarters of General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. After passing into private hands in the mid-19th century, it was bought by a quarry and used for worker housing. Ward and McFarlane raised money to buy the house and move it away from the quarry, which would undermine it."Rockingham Historic Site", Accessed 05 September 2016 http://www.rockingham.net/history.html Marriage and family, private life In 1845 Ward married the widower and US Senator John R. Thomson (R-NJ). He died in 1862. She continued to live in the Washington, DC area.
In 1878, Ward Thomson married the widower Thomas Swann. She was the second wife of the former Governor of Maryland."SWANN THOMSON WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENT; The Times, Philadelphia, PA; Page 2; Friday, 21 June 1878" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3350035/swann_thomson_wedding_announcement_the/ Some of the groom's family said this was a sign of "insanity growing out of dotage." The Governor was 72 at the time of the marriage. The couple separated in 1880."Dissolution of Marriage- Settlement; Thomson/Swann; The Sun, NY, NY; Page 1; Thursday, 5 Feb. 1880" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3350083/dissolution_of_marriage_settlement/
Ward Thomson was a frequent participant in Miss Matoaca Gay's Shakespeare seminars in Washington, DC during the 1880s and 1890s.:File:Matoaca_Gay_-_Shakespeare_clipping.png Unidentified news clipping from January 1894 in the Washington D. C. area.
She died 2 March 1906 in Washington, D.C. and is buried at Princeton, New Jersey.
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