John Ware was an African-American and later African-Canadian cowboy, best remembered for his ability to ride and train horse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

s and for bringing the first cattle to southern Alberta

Southern Alberta

Southern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of the year 2004, the region's population was approximately 272,017. The primary cities are Lethbridge and Medicine Hat...

 in 1882, helping to create that province's important ranching industry.

Ware was born into slavery in South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

. After the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 he left the Carolinas for Texas where he learned the skills of a rancher and became a cowboy

Cowboy

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...

.Ware's great stature and dedication to hard work made him a natural and allowed him to work his way up to Canada driving cattle from Texas up to Montana and then up into the great plains that would eventually become Alberta. Upon his arrival in Calgary he found work at the Bar-U and Quorn ranches before starting his own ranch near the Red Deer river. By 1900, he and his wife, Mildred, had five children. He moved from the Calgary area to a spot northeast of the village of Duchess, Alberta

Duchess, Alberta

Duchess is a village in southern Alberta, Canada, located north of Brooks, across from Trans-Canada Highway, in the County of Newell.The village was named for Duchess Louise Marguerite. It is mainly a ranching community.- Demographics :...

. In 1902 his first home was destroyed by the spring flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

. He rebuilt on higher ground overlooking a stream, now called Ware Creek. Three years later Mildred died of pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 in the spring; despite being a master horseman John was killed in the fall when his horse tripped in a badger hole crushing its rider and breaking his neck. Ware's funeral was reported to be one of the largest held in the early days of Calgary.

Like any folk

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

 hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...

 there are a wide range of tales

Narrative

A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...

 about his ability to eat, ride, shoot, and contribute to Western culture

American Old West

The American Old West, or the Wild West, comprises the history, geography, people, lore, and cultural expression of life in the Western United States, most often referring to the latter half of the 19th century, between the American Civil War and the end of the century...

. It is said that he was never tossed from a wild horse and that he popularized steer wrestling which would then become a highlight of the Calgary stampede. The Blackfoot First Nations people reportedly called him "Matoxy Sex Apee Quin" (bad black white man

White American

White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...

) because of his courage and enormous strength, and wondered if he had connections to the spirit world

Spirit

The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...

. The story of John Ware is that of a remarkable figure in history who helped to lay the foundations of the ranching industry in western Canada and at the same time defying stereotypes. Born a slave Ware worked his way to being one of the most well respected figures in frontier Alberta crossing race lines thanks to his good nature and hard work.

He is the subject of a biography, John Ware's Cow Country by J. W. Grant MacEwan

Grant MacEwan

John Walter Grant MacEwan, best known as Grant MacEwan was a farmer, Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Dean of Agriculture at the University of Manitoba, the 28th Mayor of Calgary and both a Member of the Legislative Assembly and the ninth Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, Canada...

 (Edmonton: Institute of Applied Art, 1960. Second edition, Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books, 1973. Third edition, Vancouver: Greystone Books, 1995.)

Several geographical features near the Wares' ranch are named in their honour:

• John Ware Ridge (formerly Neighbour John Ridge)
• Mount Ware
• Ware Creek

Other namesakes include 'John Ware Junior High School' in southwest Calgary, the John Ware building at Calgary's SAIT Polytechnic, a polytechnic undergraduate college, and the John Ware 4-H Beef Club in Duchess, Alberta. In 1958 the modest log cabin that was the family home from 1900-1905 was relocated from its prairie setting near Millicent, Alberta to the Red Deer River valley in Dinosaur Provincial Park, about 20 km to the east. The cabin was restored and re-dedicated in 2002. Diamond Joe White, a musician from Alberta, has released a song titled "High Rider: The John Ware Story"

None of John and Mildred's five children who lived to adulthood had descendants. Their last surviving daughter, Nettie, died on her ninety-sixth birthday in March 1989 in Vulcan, Alberta. Their last son, Arthur, died in Burnaby, British Columbia in May 1989. However relatives of Mildred Ware still reside in New Jersey and British Columbia.

External links

• "Ware, John" at The Canadian Encyclopedia
• "Who Was John Ware?" from Alberta Parks
• "John Ware - Canada's Legendary Cowboy" Personal account and history of John Ware and his family, including his daughter Mildred Ware.
• http://www.cbe.ab.ca/b603 - John Ware Jr. High School site
• http://www.therealslimshady.com - A true account on the life of John Ware