A LOOK AT JAMES BEVERLY WARD, AGENT OF THE BEALE PAPERS

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Did "Junior" grow up to be a PREACHER MAN...? INDEED! Rev. James Beverly Ward...?

No Junior died at the age of 14 or 15 in a hunting accident. He was buried before the Civil War. And yes his grandfather, Deacon Giles Ward and his great grandfather, James Ward lived in Conn. I have the location on a map. They lived on the East side of the North road out of town.
 

OK. "East side of the North road out of town"...? Eh...? !!!

Yes, I will give you the name of the town when I find it in my research. I think his great grandfather ran a tannery. I will have to look it up to be sure. I saw on one of the genealogy forums where it said that Giles Ward came from Leitchfield, Virginia but I believe it should have said Conn. instead of Virginia.
 

"JB" & Harriet Ward had @ 10 kids & 20 Grand-kids; from CAMPBELL CHRONICLES AND FAMILY SKETCHES, "James Beverly Ward married Harriet Emmaline Otey.... they resided on a farm near Forest (Hunter's Hill?).... of this family, only two daughters, Mrs. Emory McVeigh and Mrs. John Wills, remained in the locality; other sisters and brothers moving south; daughters - Ella, Addie, (m. McVeigh), Annie, Julia (m. Johns); sons: John, Otey, Charles (m. Helen Cartwell of Lynchburg), Ferdinand Ward went WEST. HA! Ferdinand Ward WENT WEST! :icon_thumleft: :coffee2: R & I goes on!
 

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As I said I have the 1847 deed to the property but it does not exactly pin-point the location. I do know that it was 306 acres and James Beverly Ward sold about one half of the property. But where it lies I can not say. Can't tell much by trees to another tree and to a branch with no name and other trees. How they kept property without being claim jumped is beyond me. I guess they had to hold it at a point of a gun?
 

Yeah, "JB" Ward got that property from his mother, who got it from HER father James Beverly Risque; STILL looking for that info... :coffee2: I think it was on the JAMES BEVERLY RISQUE "thread" here on TN.
 

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It has been established many times over on these threads, the life of James Beverly Ward and his being the agent and publisher of the 1885 BEALE PAPERS.
Was has not ever been solidly established is the identity of the "unknown author" who presented the finished manuscript to Ward that became the Beale Papers.
The existence of the Beale treasure is predicated upon the "letters" and the cipher contents of the iron box that Morriss had shown to this "unknown author" during the 2nd year of the Confederate War, and, the finished manuscript presented to Ward for publication.
Note that besides Robert Morriss, this "unknown author" is the ONLY other person to have seen the items upon which the Beale story is based.
So the elephant in the Beale threads that needs to be addressed is whether or not this "unknown author" ever received this story from Morriss, ever spent 20 years trying to solve the ciphers, succeeding only with the DOI C2 cipher, ever contacted Ward with the finished manuscript, or for that matter, if this "unknown author" ever existed in the first place.
 

Nah... it coulda been ALL "made up"; NO Letters, NO IRON BOX... Newton Hazlewood had the CIPHERS, PROBABLY after the CONFEDERATE WAR... DUNNO.
 

Newton Hazelwood did have ciphers which he presented to Clayton Hart to make copies.
This is recounted in the Hart Papers.
When Hazelwood brought forth these ciphers, did he mention the Beale Papers to Clayton Hart?
James Beverly Ward and Clayton Hart married into the Otey family, and, to the best of my knowledge, Hazelwood was also related to this family.
It was an Otey who had shown Pauline Innis an iron box with the number covered torn slip of paper which was mentioned in her "GOLD IN THE BLUE RIDGE" book.
Then there is the Thomas Reed massacre by Sheriff Otey that some have claimed is the basis for the Beale treasure story.
There appears to be a nebulous Otey family connection behind the Beale story.
 

Hazlewood told C. Hart that it was ONLY about a treasure buried on his property (he thought) near Monvale/Bufords Depot (Train Station). NO mention of the "Beale Party", Treasure, UNTIL after meeting with "JB" Ward & son LATER in L'burg. N. Hazlewood was 1st Lt. CSA during the CONFEDERATE WAR, and it is thought that the CSA Treasure was code-named "Beale Treasure"; it was for the WESTERN part of the state (L'burg, Lexington, Va. & VMI) Coulda been a "Spy Thing"... dunno.
 

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Hazlewood told C. Hart that it was ONLY about a treasure buried on his property (he thought) near Monvale/Bufords Depot (Train Station). NO mention of the "Beale Party", Treasure, UNTIL after meeting with "JB" Ward & son LATER in L'burg...
That is critical point that many miss.
TY
 

A quick review of those who knew the truth behind the story in the Beale Papers.
James Beverly Ward-copyright agent and publisher
Harriet Buford Otey Ward- his wife
John William Sherman-Ward's cousin who printed the Beale Papers job shop pamphlet
Max Guggenheimer- businessman and friend of Ward who is mentioned in the Beale Papers
Charles W Button- Owner of print shop and LYNCHBURG VIRGINIAN where Sherman worked and advertised the Beale Papers.
F C Hutter-Ward cousin who some have claimed either wrote the Beale story, or created the some of the ciphers before dying.
All these people existed and can be researched, and that can not be said of the Thomas J Beale of the story, which no one has ever been able to prove existed, which has given rise to all the alternative stories behind the Beale story, like the Thomas Read version, that have been presented.

Either the Beale story as presented in the Beale Papers is true, or it is a work of fiction.
When one presents an alterative behind the Beale story theory, that is an admission that the presented Beale narrative story in the 1885 Beale Papers is a work of fiction.
One should add to this list the widow Anzoletta Saunders and two sons at whose house Robert Morriss told his Beale tale to the "unknown author" during the 2nd year of the Confederate War.
"When her face a first just ghostly, turned a whiter shade of pale".
 

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