Seth Ward was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South

Methodist Episcopal Church, South

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South, or Methodist Episcopal Church South, was the so-called "Southern Methodist Church" resulting from the split over the issue of slavery in the Methodist Episcopal Church which had been brewing over several years until it came out into the open at a conference...

, elected in 1906.

Birth and family

He was born in a log cabin

Log cabin

A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...

 near Bryan, Texas

Bryan, Texas

Bryan is a city in Brazos County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 76,201. It is the county seat of Brazos County and is located in the heart of the Brazos Valley . It shares its border with the city of College Station, which lies to its south...

, a son of Samuel Goode and Sara Ann Ward. His parents educated him at home. Seth married Margaret E. South of Bryan 5 January 1886. They had three children.

Ordained ministry

Seth was ordained to the Methodist ministry in 1881. After serving as a junior preacher on the Corsicana Circuit, he was appointed successively to Centerville

Centerville, Texas

Centerville is a city in Leon County, Texas, United States. The population was 903 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Leon County.Centerville was so named as it is near the geographic center of Leon County...

, Kosse

Kosse, Texas

There were 205 households out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.5% had someone...

, Calvert

Calvert, Texas

Calvert is a city in Robertson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,192 at the 2010 census, a 16.4% decline from the 2000 census. It is part of the Bryan-College Station metropolitan area.-Geography:...

, the St. James Church of Galveston, Huntsville

Huntsville, Texas

Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas, United States. The population was 35,508 at the 2010 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area....

, the Houston Circuit, and the Shearn Church of Houston. He was Secretary of the Texas Annual Conference

Annual Conference

An Annual Conference in the United Methodist Church is a regional body that governs much of the life of the "Connectional Church." Annual conferences are composed primarily of the clergy members and a lay member or members from each charge . Each conference is a geographical division...

 of the M.E. Church, South (1898-1900). He was appointed Conference Secretary of Education in 1900. As head of field work for the Twentieth Century Commission on Education, Rev. Ward succeeded in securing an average of a dollar per member for Methodist educational work. After the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, he united St. John

John the Apostle

John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...

 and St. James churches into the First Methodist Church of Galveston. For four years he was also Assistant Missionary Secretary of his denomination.

Episcopal ministry

The Rev. Seth Ward was elected to the Episcopacy by the General Conference which met in Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

. He was the first native Texan

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 to become a Bishop in the Methodist Church. As Bishop he was twice elected to preside at Missionary

Missionary

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...

 conferences in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

, and Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

. On his second visit to the Orient

Orient

The Orient means "the East." It is a traditional designation for anything that belongs to the Eastern world or the Far East, in relation to Europe. In English it is a metonym that means various parts of Asia.- Derivation :...

, Bishop Ward died 20 September 1909 at Kobe, Japan. He was buried in Houston.

Seth Ward College in Seth Ward, Texas

Seth Ward, Texas

Seth Ward is a census-designated place in Hale County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,926 at the 2000 census.-History:It is named for the Seth Ward College which was founded in 1910 by Seth Ward who took over Central Plains College and Conservatory of Music to form Seth Ward College...

 a suburb of Plainview, Texas

Plainview, Texas

Plainview is a city in and the county seat of Hale County, Texas, United States. The population was 22,336 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Plainview is located at ....

, and Ward Memorial Church at Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

were named for him.

Biographies

• Frontier Times, March 1942.
• Hotchkiss, O.T., "Memoir of Bishop Seth Ward," Journal of the Seventieth Annual Session, Texas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 1909.
• Houston Post, 21 September 1909.
• History of Texas Methodism, 1900-1960, Austin, 1961.
• Who Was Who in America, Vol. 1.

External links