Charles Willis Ward (1856-1920) was born in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and was a noted American businessman and conservationist. Ward operated the Cottage Gardens Nurseries in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

, New York. As a leading grower of

carnations ''Dianthus caryophyllus'' ( ), commonly known as carnation or clove pink, is a species of ''Dianthus'' native to the Mediterranean region. Its exact natural range is uncertain due to extensive cultivation over the last 2,000 years. Carnations ...

, he helped to establish the American Carnation Society. He also helped to create the American

Peony The peony or paeony () is any flowering plant in the genus ''Paeonia'', the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. Peonies are native to Asia, Europe, and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguish ...

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 US-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, Ward "explored the

Everglades The Everglades is a natural region of flooded grasslands 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 K ...

for the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

about the turn of the century." Around 1910 he teamed with businessman and conservationist

E. A. McIlhenny Edward Avery McIlhenny (March 29, 1872 – August 8, 1949), son of Tabasco Company founder Edmund McIlhenny, was an American businessman, explorer, bird bander and conservationist. He established a private wildlife refuge around his family est ...

to purchase of Louisiana coastal

marshland In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

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 or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard motor, inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, contain ...

, 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 Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

as a patrol, ferry, towing and rescue boat at the

Naval Air Station A Naval Air Station (NAS) is a military air base, and consists of a permanent land-based operations locations for the military aviation division of the relevant branch of a navy (Naval aviation). These bases are typically populated by squadron ...

Pensacola Pensacola ( ) is a city in the Florida panhandle in the United States. It is the county seat and only city in Escambia County. The population was 54,312 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Pensacola metropolitan area, which ha ...

, 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 refers to: * Eureka (word), a famous exclamation attributed to Archimedes * Eureka effect, the sudden, unexpected realization of the solution to a problem Eureka or Ureka may also refer to: History * Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 g ...

" 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