Cleland Ward Meets Ted Roosevelt


This interesting item is a portion of an interview my great-grandfather, Cleland A. Ward, gave to the Lockport paper. A little background :

Joseph A. Ward moved to Lockport, in Niagara County, but sent his son, Cleland, to Herkimer County to spend summers with his grandparents Ward. They lived next to what is now the Russian monastery. The house is still standing on a bluff overlooking the Mohawk. I saw it in 1977. One summer's day when Cleland was about 7 he saw a strange boy running across his grandmother's lawn.
Marcie Ward Richie, January 1997



"Childhood with President Recalled by Octogenarian"

From "Union Sun & Journal", Lockport, NY 17 Dec 1943

...Mr. Ward was born in the Town of Warren, Herkimer County, April 26, 1862, at Ward's View, near the Mohawk River. The home was purchased by his great-grandfather in 1815 and in possession of the family until 1911.

In that year T. Douglas Robinson, a nephew of Theodore Roosevelt, and then Under-Secretary of the Navy, acquired the house after purchase by his father.

"I remember the first day I saw young "Ted" Roosevelt," Mr. Ward said. "He was running across our front yard, and I asked my grandmother who he was. I met him later and we played together for two summers when he came to stay with his sister, our neighbor. "Ted" was a frail youngster and needed country air to regain his health."

"In 1906 "Ted" returned to that section as President of the United States and dedicated a library in nearby Jordanville in memory of Mrs. Emmaline Robinson, a former resident and niece of President James Monroe."

"He took off his hat and waved to me as he passed by. That night I was present at the reception held in his honor and attended by many government officials and friends."

"Secret Service men surrounded the President constantly, but I could see that the "Ted" I knew years before had not changed after his sudden rise to fame."


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