“Walter M. Ware, one of the foremost agriculturists of Putney, is a man of great enterprise, good judgment and undoubted ability. He was born in Townsend, Vermont, in 1855, a son of the late William M ware. Joseph Ware, his parental grandfather, a shoemaker by trade, was for many years a resident of Townsend, Vermont, where his death occurred at the venerable age of eighty-two years. His wife died when about seventy-six years old. They had the following named children: George, a business man in Boston; Bradley, a cattle dealer, resided in Townsend, Vermont; William M., the father of Walter M.; James; Charles, a grocer in Boston; Richard , a manufacturer; John, a farmer in Wardsboro, Vermont; Frank was engaged in seafaring pursuits; Eliza married Mr. Brown, of Watertown, Massachusetts; Laura married Walter Evans, of Watertown; Lucina married John Haley, of Boston; Elmira; and one who died in childhood.
William M. Ware a native of Putney, died at his home in Townsend, Vermont, at the age of seventy-three years. He was a farmer by occupation, and a citizen of prominence, serving ably and faithfully in various town offices. He married Clarissa Harris, a daughter of William Harris, a well-to-do farmer of Townsend, and into their household the following children were born namely: Marcia married William Loomis, of Springfield, Massachusetts, by whom she had seven children … The mother is still living, an active and pleasant woman of seventy-four years.
Walter M. Ware was reared and educated in Townsend. At the age of sixteen years he left school. and the following year began the battle of life for himself. Embarking in business as a teamster, he was engaged in freighting between East Townsend and Battleboro for ten years, keeping busily employed, and accumulating some money. Coming to East Putney in 1883, Mr. Ware managed the Alpin farm on shares for a few years, then invested his savings in land, buying the Lovell farm and adjacent property, his estate comprising six hundred or more acres, four farms, each with it’s own buildings and improvements, being consolidated into one. He is one of the most extensive and progressive farmers in the county, making a specialty of stock-raising and dairying. In 1901 he raised ninety-one acres of corn, and eighty acres of oats, the largest crop of either raised on any one farm in the state during that year. He winters on average two hundred cows, sometimes the number being as high as two hundred and fifty; keeping twenty horses; employs from ten two fifteen men. He is one of the largest cattle dealers in this section; last year selling over thirteen hundred cows, besides which he fatted nearly one thousand dollars’ worth of calves, and realized fully as much as on his hogs. He is considered an authority on all branches of agriculture, and his well kept homestead, with its modern and valuable improvements, bears visible evidence of his thrift and good management.
Mr. Ware married, first in 1876, Nellie Holbrook, of Townsend, Vermont. She died in1886. Two children blessed that union, namely: Walter M., who died in infancy; and Alice, wife of Mr. Woodburn, who assists Mr. Ware in the management of the home farm. Mr. Ware married, second, December 25, 1890, Frances Wilbur of Westminster, Vermont.”
Source: Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont, Vol. 2, by Hon. Hiram Carleton, Lewis Publishing, New York City and Chicago, 1903, page 627
