Born in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

in 1856, Charles Willis Ward was a noted American businessman and conservationist. Ward operated the Cottage Gardens Nurseries in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, Long Island, New York. As a leading grower of

carnations ''Dianthus caryophyllus'' (), commonly known as the carnation or clove pink, is a species of '' Dianthus''. It is likely native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years.M ...

, he helped to establish the American Carnation Society. He also helped to create the American Peony Society, over which he presided for many years. Ward also was involved with the American Breeders Association, later known as the

American Genetic Association The American Genetic Association (AGA) is a USA-based professional scientific organization dedicated to the study of genetics and genomics which was founded as the American Breeders' Association in 1903. The association has published the '' Journ ...

. According to documents in the

Harry S. Truman Library The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum is the presidential library and resting place of Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States (1945–1953), his wife Bess and daughter Margaret, and is located on U.S. Highwa ...

, Ward "explored the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of tropical wetlands in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Florida, comprising the southern half of a large drainage basin within the Neotropical realm. The system begins near Orlando with the Kissim ...

for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

about the turn of the century." Around 1910 he teamed with businessman and conservationist E. A. McIlhenny to purchase of Louisiana coastal

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

for the purpose of establishing a wildfowl refuge. Ward and McIlhenny deeded of this land in 1911 to the state of Louisiana, which dubbed it the Ward-McIlhenny refuge, now known as State Wildlife Refuge. Ward authored ''The American Carnation: How to Grow It'' (1903) and ''Humboldt County, California: The Land of Unrivaled Undeveloped Natural Resources on the Westernmost Rim of the American Continent'' (1915). He purchased the magazine ''Recreation'', which he merged with ''Outdoor World'', a magazine he previously founded. "The entire purpose of this great magazine," noted one observer about ''Outdoor World'', ". . . is to further the game bird refuge movement." Ward was known for travelling the coastal United States in his luxury

motor boat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

, the ''Ethel M. Ward'', built in 1910 at Port Clinton, Ohio . From 1917 to 1919 the boat, temporarily renamed the ''USS Rickwood'' (SP-597), served the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

as a patrol, ferry, towing and rescue boat at the Naval Air Station at

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

, Florida. In 1919 the Navy returned the boat to its owner. Toward the end of his life, he resided in California, where he operated "large nursery interests at

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

" Ward died June 24, 1920, in Eureka, California. San Francisco Genealogy
Obituaries and Death Notices
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Charles Willis 1856 births 1920 deaths American horticulture businesspeople Businesspeople from Michigan American conservationists American naturalists People from Eureka, California