Marcus Lawrence Ward

Marcus Lawrence Ward (November 9, 1812 – April 25, 1884) was an American Republican Party politician, who served as the 21st governor of New Jersey from 1866 to 1869 and represented Essex County for one term from 1873 to 1875.

Marcus Lawrence Ward was born in Newark, New Jersey, on November 9, 1812, to Moses and Fanny (née Brown) Ward. His father Moses was a prosperous candle manufacturer and a descendant of John Ward, one of the founders of the city of Newark in 1666.

He attended Newark's public schools and then joined his family's soap and candle making business. The business was operated by Ward's father and uncle, and Ward eventually became a partner. He was also active in other businesses, including serving as a director of the National State Bank and secretary of the Lawrence Cement and Manufacturing Company.

By the 1840s, Ward's business success enabled him to concentrate much of his time and effort on civic causes and philanthropy. He was chairman of the executive committee of the New Jersey Historical Society, director of the National State Bank, and a founder of both the Newark Library Association and the New Jersey Art Union.

By 1856, Ward became interested in the growing movement for the abolition of slavery, which led him to become involved in the new national Republican Party.

In 1858, he traveled west to Kansas, a figurative and literal battleground between pro- and anti-slavery forces, to support the free-state cause. He soon returned to Newark, joined the Republican Party because of its anti-slavery stance, became involved in local Newark politics. He was a delegate to the 1860 Republican National Convention.

During the American Civil War, Ward became identified prominently with the Union cause, primarily as a philanthropic advocate for those serving in uniform. Ward devised and managed one of the first systems in New Jersey for enabling soldiers to set aside monthly allotments of their pay for delivery to their families and gained the nickname "the soldiers' friend." He invested personal funds to create a wartime hospital for convalescing service members, and later helped establish a soldiers' home for wounded and disabled veterans. Ward soon created an office devoted to aiding veterans, which assisted them in procuring pensions, medical care, and other benefits.

Later in his career, Democratic critics and opponents would accuse Ward of making personal profit through his management of soldiers' pay, which Ward and Republicans denied.