Ware History

Wares of Woodbine
(Click On Any Picture for Their History)

John Ware was born in the year 1818, and died in Ft. Smith, Arkansas. He married Nancy Altum Jul 1, 1841 in Franklin County, Missouri. She was born Jan 17, 1819 in Salem, Marion County, Illinois and died, Mar 31, 1901 in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Woodbine. Nancy was the daughter of James Bulger Altum and Sarah Nichols. John and Nancy were the parents of nine children.

Nancy Ware

No Pics of John (Sr)
Are Known To Exist

A daughter, Lucinda Ware was born April 10, 1843 in Missouri and died in Missouri during infancy.

A son, William Ware was born Dec 15, 1846 in Missouri and died in Missouri during infancy.

An unnamed son was born and died Jan 8, 1848 in Missouri.

James Ware

James (Jim) Ware was born Jan 1, 1845 in Franklin County, Missouri and died Dec 3, 1880 in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, Woodbine, Cooke County, Texas. He was the oldest son of John and Nancy Ware. He married Gabrielle Cochran Apr 15, 1866 in Cooke County, Texas. They had seven children, Joseph (Bill), Amanda, Nancy (Nannie), Mary, John E., Spencer P., and Charles William Ware.

Jim had joined the Confederacy Oct 2nd, 1861 but due to his father, John Wares' involvement in 'The Great Hanging' He abandoned the South and enlisted in the Union forces Sept 13th, 1861. Click on picture to read more

Elijah Ware

Elijah Ware was born Mar 25, 1850 in Missouri and died May 8, 1884 in Woodbine, Cooke County, Texas and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery in Woodbine. He first married Mary Frances Gibson on Dec 1, 1870 and they had four children, Lucy, Melissa, Henry, and James (Jim). Elijah then married Sarah "Sallie" M. Leonard on June 30, 1881 and they had one child, Blanche Ware.

Pat Ware

Henry Patterson (Pat) Ware was born Oct 15, 1855 in Springfield, Missouri and died Dec 1, 1928 in Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas and is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Gainesville. He married Matilda Ellen Anderson on Jan 2nd, 1876 in Woodbine, Texas. She was born Sept 27, 1857 in Fayetteville, Arkansas and died Jan 28, 1934. Pat and Matilda had five children, an unnamed infant who only lived two days, Lillie, Walter H., Rosa B., and George Pat Ware.

John and Nancy headed for Texas from Missouri in a covered wagon with three children, their sons James, Elijah and Pat. They had lost three other infant children, Lucinda, William, and an unnamed son in Missouri. Born later in Texas were Spence, Rad, and John. They settled in the Cross Timbers area on Timber Creek in Cooke County, Texas in 1856. They were early settlers of the area, that now includes Woodbine which was founded in 1879.

The homestead was settled about Jan. 13, 1854. The Ranch is listed in the Texas Family Land Heritage Registry for being in the same family for 100 years. John first paid taxes in Cooke County in 1855 on 320 acres on Timber Creek. It was recorded in 1861 that he paid taxes on that tract, plus 640 acres elsewhere along the stream, 8 horses, and 60 cattle. The Ware Ranch at its height of prosperity was once 3,000 acres.

The Ware family had been settled and working the land for seven years when the Civil War broke out in 1861. The county became a political hot bed.

Spence Ware

Spencer (Spence) Ware was born April 11, 1858 in Woodbine, Cooke County, Texas and died May 10, 1890 in Cooke County, Texas and is buried at Oak Grove Cemetery, Woodbine, Cooke County, Texas. He married Mary F. Diester Sep 12, 1877 in Cooke County, Texas. They had one daughter, Jennie Myrtle Ware Jan 4, 1885 in Cooke County, Texas.

Rad Ware

Radford A. (Rad) Ware was born Mar 1, 1860 in Woodbine, Cooke County, Texas and died May 27, 1925 in Tioga, Texas and is buried at Fairview Cemetery, Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas. He was married four times, first to Lucy A. Walls on Dec 9, 1880 in Cooke County, Texas. The second was to Mattie Nelson on Oct 5, 1885. The third was to Minnie May Mitchell and the fourth was to Lula Cook on Oct 4, 1894. Rad and Mattie had one child born Nov 7, 1886, unnamed who only lived eight days and is buried at Nelson Grove Cemetery in Woodbine. Rad and Minnie had one daughter, Myrtle Virginia who was born in 1886.

John Ware

John Ware was born May 7, 1863 in Woodbine, Cooke County, Texas, and died May 31, 1943 in Gainesville. He was the youngest son of John and Nancy Ware and married Mary Ann Higgason on Apr 12, 1883 in Woodbine. They had two children, Lucy Jane and John Patterson (Little Pat) Ware.