Michigan have been the foundation of many of the vast fortunes that have been amassed within the space of several generations by men of business sagacity. Gifted with prophetic foresight, they came into the wilderness of trees and their eyes beheld something beyond the waving of branches and fluttering of leaves. Cities made prosperous by their trade in timber; noble ships of this soil's product riding the waves of every sea ; thousands of mouths being fed by the labor of preparing thistimber for its final uses, these are a few of the visions that mayhave come to these men, and perhaps they saw also the establishing of homes, factories, busy marts of trade, the introduction of the culture and com fort of civilization where in their day the forests sheltered only the wild creatures that are men's enemies. The pioneers in the timber business in Oakland county were not always men capable of land selection, and the opportunities afforded their chosen agents were sometimes so fav orable, according to their contracts, that men of good business capacity, college bred and professionally prepared, were willing to accept the hard ships and dangers of the life for a time, subsequently reaping rich returns. In this way Dr. David Ward, the father of the subject of this review, and the well known capitalist and timberman in Oakland county, became connected with that industry.

Dr. David Ward was born in New York state, and the family is one of the oldest in the United States , with the best blood of the nation in its veins. On his mother's side Dr. Ward is a descendant of the Puri He was the grandson of George L. Perkins, who was born at Plymouth , Massachusetts, within stone's throw of historic Plymouth Rock, and the house in which he was born stands there to this day. His grandmother was born on the corner lot directly oppo site the Perkins mansion, and both were descendants of families who came over in the Mayflower. The names of these families may be read on the quaint old tombstones in the Plymouth cemetery, from the earliest settlement of Plymouth.

In 1850 Dr. Ward married Elizabeth Perkins, who was born in Romeo, Michigan, and they became the parents of eight children: Henry Clay of this review; two who died in infancy; Charles W., a resident of Queens, Long Island; Flora , the wife of Fred H. Fay, New York; Willis C., who now lives on a farm at Orchard Lake, Oakland county; Helen, the wife of Louis Pelouze, residing on the old homestead at Orchard Lake, and Pearl, the wife of George K. Root, of New York City. David Ward had just one hundred dollars in cash when he married Elizabeth Perkins, and the young couple made their home with the parents of the bride until after the birth of their first child, Henry Clay. David Ward had worked his way through college, studying medicine, although all his earlier years had been devoted to surveying, and after his gradua tion he hung out a shingle and undertook the practice of medicine. The loss of a patient in the outset turned him against his profession, and he closed up his office without ado and took up his former work of surveying. He engaged in the locating of pine lands in Michigan for Tom Merrill, Francis Palms, A. F. Dwight, and many other capitalists of his time, and through his efforts many of his business associates be came millionaires . When he was but a lad, his father, Nathan Ward, located and surveyed an immense tract of timber lands in the Saranac Lake region for John Jacob Astor and Peter Smith, the father of Gar rett Smith. At that time these men were business partners and the land thus located cost them fourteen cents per acre. At that date the lands were heavily timbered with cork pine, a noble and valuable tree of the American forests. During the years that Dr. Ward was engaged in this work he received as his remuneration one third of the lands he located for his clients, and it was in that manner that he secured his start in the lumber business. He finally located on Pine river and engaged in the manufacture of lumber, and here his faithful wife bore her full share of the burden of that life, accompanying her husband the first two years to the scenes of his activities and cooking for the men he employed in his work. Dr. Ward died on May 29, 1900, and his widow survived him until April 1, 1906.

Henry Clay Ward was born October 6, 1851, at Richmond, Macomb county, Michigan, and even in his youth displayed a keen interest in his father's lumber and timber interests, as well as in farming and horti culture. As an example of his willingness to work, it is cited that when he was ten years of age he drove a cow two hundred miles, his remun eration for the servicebeing one dollar. Prior to that time he had never realized what the possession of such a considerable sum might mean, and had been rather a spendthrift, buying Judas Paste candy with his pennies , but after earning that first dollar and saving it , he concluded that spending was very poor business, and from then on practiced a rigid self-denial in the matter of his pennies. He was but fourteen years old when he bought five hundred and thirteen acres of land from the government in Crawford county, Michigan, paying for it two and a half dollars the acre . He has since increased his holdings in this sec tion to two thousand, one hundred and forty acres, twelve hundred acres of this being cleared land and eight hundred of it being in orchards, re puted to be the finest in the world, with some sixty-six thousand apple trees in bearing. He is also the owner of an orchard of one hundred and ninety-five acres and a farm of two hundred and fifty-eight acres on Square Lake, in Oakland county, and at one time he owned twenty one acres in the city of Pontiac. This tract he improved, laying out Franklin boulevard and setting out all the trees along that beautiful thoroughfare. This boulevard is named in honor of his eldest son, Franklin B. Ward, and two of the other streets in Pontiac are named for members of his family ; Henry Clay avenue named for himself, and Mary Day avenue, in honor of his wife. Forest Lawn is also his addition, and he planned and carried out the improvements here also. His orchards are his greatest pride, and are indeed a credit to the state. He attributes his splendid success to the fact that he saved his money as a boy and invested it safely in the land which formed the nucleus of his immense fortune, and he feels that he would like to have every boy and girl in the United States see these orchards, as an object lesson to them upon the value of early thrift. There are rows of apple trees in these orchards two and a quarter iniles in length, the whole presenting a mag nificent sight in either flowering or fruit season.

Mr. Ward's first venture in active business on his own responsibility was between the ages of fourteen and twenty, when he was engaged in the manufacture of cider vinegar. He would load one hundred bushels of apples, take a piece of bread and a glass of milk for his breakfast, haul the apples from Orchard Lake to Auburn and get there before day light; when Mr. Adams went down to his mill in the morning he usually found Henry Ward there waiting to unload his apples. Mr. Adams was an honest man, and he took an immense pride in Henry Clay Ward, calling him "his boy" and remarking once that "Henry Clay Ward was the only boy of his acquaintance who delivered apples to his mill before he arrived to commence his day's work.”

Mr. Ward as a boy was not unfamiliar with the routine of work connected with his father's surveying business, and when he was four teen years old accompanied his father on a trip along the broad waters of the Manitou river. The route was from Chicago via Hannah & Lay's propellor to Traverse City. There they took ferry to Dexter & Nobles Mill on the upper end of the bay, where they witnessed the sawing of large cork pine logs that had been cut near Kalkaskia, hauled by teams a distance of twelve miles and dumped into Torch Lake, rafted and deliv ered in rafts to Deits & Nobles water mill . The logs were immense in size and sawed out wide, clear lumber. They then took boat up Torch Lake, a beautiful stretch of water whose depths were so clear that the eye might penetrate from sixty to a hundred feet. They finally landed, put their luggage on a wagon, and walked to the head waters of the Manistee river. It was a new and wild country, consisting of immense tracts of hardwood and pine timber lands, with usually rolling soil and somewhat sandy. For six weeks young Henry Clay traveled on the firing line and carried a pack of forty pounds on his back the greater part of the time. Sixty pounds was then considered a fair load for a man and eighty pounds was regarded as a heavy load for a man to carry on his back through the woods all day. On that trip they entered six thousand acres of choice pine lands on the head waters of the Manistee river, their share of which afterward made a fortune for them. They returned via Traverse City, thence to North Port, and by boat to Detroit, and it is but taking Mr. Ward at his word when we say that he was tired out and glad to find himself at home again.

For fifteen years Mr. Ward shipped lumber to South Water street, Chicago, and several cargoes were always sold ahead of its manufacture. His lumber was generally conceded to be the finest that entered the Chi cago market, and one plank which brought him especial notice being sixty inches wide, sixteen feet long and four inches thick, without a blemish on either side. This plank was cut from a leaning cork pine stub, seven feet in diameter, and the five logs cut from it scaled nine thousand feet. He has had many and varied interests during his business career, and in whatever direction his mind turned he ranked among the leaders in that especial field. At one time he had three hundred thousand sheep feeding in Oakland county, and was known as the largest sheep feeder east of Chicago. He is the owner of a lumber mill at Birmingham, Washington, and is interested in the Hansen-Ward Veneer Company at Bay City, Michigan, as well as being the owner of another large mill at DeWard, British Columbia. In California and British Columbia he is the owner of about one billion, two hundred million feet of standing timber, and also owns thirty gold, silver and copper properties throughout the west, most of them producing mines. He owns some eight thousand bearing apple trees in Michigan. At the present time, although not as active in business as he has been in former years, he can not by any means be said to have retired, and is now engaged in laying out a boulevard on Ward's Point , at Cass Lake with two or three beautiful parks. The place is ideally located for summer homes , and the land will be let to builders on long term leases of ninety-nine years. The grounds will be planted to ornamental shrubbery and flowers, with electric lights and every improvement that will tend to make for comfort and pleasure. It is designed for a resting place to which the tired and energetic business man may come and escape the confusion of the city. At the time of the death of his father an estate of six million dollars was left to be divided among the heirs. Mr. Ward has added very materially to his share, having been extremely successful in every business venture that has claimed his attention and being a man with an eye for an opportunity, possessing much of the same business keenness that made his father a multimillionaire.

On December 18, 1872, Mr. Ward was united in marriage with Miss Mary Day Scott, daughter of Robert D. and Elizabeth (Day) Scott, born in 1854, in Ontario, Canada. Mrs. Ward's father was a native of Scot land, and descended from a line of Scottish chiefs, while her mother, who was a native of England, has royal blood in her veins. During the money panic that occurred at the close of the Civil war, Robert Scott became almost penniless, and arrived in Pontiac with his family in 1866 with about thirteen dollars in money. The family spent their first night in Pontiac with Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe, in the old Thorpe homestead, near the State hospital . The daughter, Mary Day, who had been educated under private tutors, displayed her loyalty to her family and her coura geous spirit as well by accepting a position in a millinery store, and it was while acting in this capacity that she met Mrs. David Ward, who became attracted to the firm minded young girl and invited her to her house to spend a week. She had previously met the son, Henry, at a social gathering, and the two families became friends from their first association. Through H. C. Ward, Robert Scott was enabled to start in the carriage building business, which he did under the name of Scott & Company, his daughter Mary, who turned over all her earnings to her father, constituting the " company," and in consideration of this she owned a half interest in her father's business. The latter died on April 28, 1905. In their family were eight children, the first being twins, one of whom was still-born, the other, Elizabeth, is now deceased. The others, in the order of their birth, are: Maria, a resident of Pontiac ; Mary Day, the wife of Mr. Ward; William R. and Louis D., both of Pontiac; Phoebe, the wife of Howard Stevens, of Pontiac; and Helen, the wife of John E. King, of Grand Junction.

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Ward have had three children, of whom Franklin B. was the first born, on November 1, 1873. He is now in the lumber business at Bay City, Michigan. He married Elizabeth Bonsfield, and has five children : Mary E., Barbara, Bonsfield, Virginia and Scott. Frederick L. Ward, the second son, born September 22, 1876, is now en gaged in the lumber business in British Columbia. Dolores Ward was born August 11 , 1879, and is the wife of Captain 0. G. Collins, of Fort Totten, Long Island. Both sons were graduated from the lichigan Military Academy at Orchard Lake, after which both wished to enter college. They were promised that their wishes would be granted if they would work and secure the money necessary to pay their first year's tuition . They at once applied to their grandfather for positions working in his timber tracts, at chopping down trees, logging and similar labor, but the old gentleman , although greatly pleased with their ambition and enterprise, ridiculed the idea of their being able to do this kind of work. However, he eventually gave them a trial , and they immediately demon strated that the sturdy characteristics of their forbears had been inher ited by them in a large degree, and that they could hold their own with the best men in the camps. Subsequently, after the completion of their college courses, the sons entered their grandfather's employ and for two years prior to the death of the old pioneer, Franklin B. Ward had charge of the entire lumber interests of the old gentleman.

Henry Clay Ward votes the Republican ticket, although he has never interested himself in politics to any extent. Mrs. Ward is a member of the Alethodist Episcopal church, supporting its movements and contri buting to its welfare. The old home at Orchard Lake, now a center of gracious hospitality, culture and refinement and the scene of numerous brilliant social functions, marks the site where years ago a tribe of Indians had their camp, and on the beautiful island lying in the lake is still to be found an old Indian burial ground, all that remains to remind the present generation of the savage hordes that made this vicinity their home during the early days when such pioneers as David Ward blazed the way for the present civilization.