An article from the 15 Jan 1950 The Gadsden Times entitled "Andrew Jackson Berry's wife Winnie Ward" says "... the Wards, the Berrys and and the Cannons were all Cavaliers or Roundheads and left England to escape persecution by the Puritans under Cromwell. They were among a large number of Loyalist to settle in South Carolina. Samuel Ward and Ellis Cannon fought in the Revolutionary war. Gabriel Cannon was Governor of South Carolina. He had a daughter named Winifred who married a son or grandson of Samuel Ward. The son was also named Samuel. Samuel and his wife Winifred moved to Centre early in the 19th century. They became the parents of Winifred Ward who married Andrew Jackson Berry. Their daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married Lorenzo Dow Patterson and became the mother of Hugh Samuel Patterson. Obie Ward, father of the late CS Ward of Gadsden, was a brother to Winnie Ward Berry. The Pattersons, the Siberts, the Wards and the Berrys who played such a big part in the cultural and material development of this state were all closely related."

"Samuel Ward Jr. who migrated to Indian Lands in 1834 (which were later Cherokee Co, which combined with St Clair County was formed into DeKalb Co. AL) They owned a farm in "Little Wills (or mills) Valley...near the town of "Center" he brought his children with him, 8 of them... I have Samuel Ward Jr. died and burried on Nov 28 1857 on his homestead in DeKalb, now Etowah County AL. The cemetery was know as the Ward-Berry-Harbour Cemetery, located 4 miles south of Colinsville, AL." posting 17 January 2008, rootsweb

"Other founding fathers who resided here in the 1830s include A.H. Lamar, first DeKalb County Constable, John Napper, who established a store about where George Newman later lived, the first store in the southern end of DeKalb County. James K. Hoge, who was appointed Collinsville postmaster April 21, 1860, Charles Napier, O.P. Fischer, John Russell, T.B. Collins, Samuel Ward, James Reed and Simpson C. Newman." From the Collinsville websiste