Lydia Ward

"A Genealogical History of The Rice Family: Descendants of Deacon Edmund Rice", by Andrew Henshaw Ward, Boston, 1858). Her birth is not listed in the Sudbury or Marlborough Vital Records, as is the rest of the children born to Samuel and Lydia. However, her marriage to Richard Ward is listed in the Sudbury Vital Records. There are two clues that she is the daughter of Samuel Wheelock and Lydia Rice. The first is her name, Lydia. The second is the fact that she is married on the same day as her presumed brother, Gershom Wheelock, in the same town, Sudbury. Furthermore, the Sudbury Vital Records refer to both of them as being "of or Near Joyning to worscester" (Shrewsbury), rendering it plausible that they were siblings. The Ward Genealogy states that after the death of Richard Ward, Lydia Wheelock "as supposed" married Aaron Hardy of Southborough, 4 May 1768. However the Southborough VRs contain no such record, instead showing a marriage between Lydia Woods and Aaron Hardy, 11 May 1763. (Source: "Ward Family; Descendants of William Ward, Who Settled in Settled in Sudbury, Mass., In 1639", by Andrew Henshaw Ward, AM, published by Samuel G. Drake, Boston, 1851.) Notes for Richard Ward: Richard was the son of Obadiah Ward (Richard, William) and Joanna Harrington. (Source: "Ward Family; Descendants of William Ward, Who Settled in Settled in Sudbury, Mass., In 1639", by Andrew Henshaw Ward, AM, published by Samuel G. Drake, Boston, 1851.)