Nathan B. Wardner

Notes:

Nathan Wardner was born in Wheatland, Monroe Co., N. Y., April 6, 1820, and died at Milton Junction, Wis., April 6, 1894. His father, Phillip Wardner, was a Baptist deacon, and his mother an earnest Christian worker, zealous in the cause of missions, who dying when he was about two and a half years of age, consecrated him, it is supposed, in his infancy to the gospel ministry and especially to missionary work among the heathen.
When he was about five years of age his father with his family moved to Andover, Allegany Co., N. Y., where the limited resources of the family and the toil and struggle, incident to a comparatively new and undeveloped section of the country, rendered his early life, as a farmer boy, one of busy, yet healthful toil, and one affording very little opportunity for attaining the education which it was his early ambition to acquire.
The influence of a well ordered Christian home early laid the foundation of an upright, truth-loving and morally steadfast life. In the spring of 1839 he became the subject of saving grace and in the following June was baptized into the Baptist Church of Andover, N. Y. After his conversion and baptism came the conviction of duty to preach the gospel and with it the increased sense of his need of education as a preparation for a work of so much importance and responsibility. In the way of effort for the attainment of the needed culture he spent the winters of 1839 and '40, 1840 and '41 in study at Alfred Academy. After the summer of 1841, having attained his majority, with an occasional term out, to earn the means to meet his expenses, he continued his studies at Alfred until 1846.
At Alfred he commenced the investigation of the Sabbath question in the confident expectation that he should find abundant Bible authority for Sunday-keeping and having little, if any, thought of the possibility that he would himself be led to accept, instead of the Sunday, God's sanctified seventh-day Sabbath. The struggle through which he passed was that of the devoutly, loyal Christian man, honestly endeavoring to lay the foundations of a Christian life upon the sure word of God. It ended when at last he surrendered himself of the divine will and authority and conscientiously committed himself to God in the keeping of his holy day. This change of sentiment and corresponding change in his practice of Sabbath-keeping occurred about the middle of January, 1843. About two months later, March 18, 1843, he united with the First Alfred Church. The joy of this second and more complete giving of himself to God, he himself describes as 'exceeding even the ardor of his first love,' and as 'rewarding him a thousand fold for all the sacrifices he had made.'
In September, 1846, he accepted the call of the Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Society to become a missionary on the foreign field. On the 6th day of the following month of October, at a missionary meeting held with the first church of Alfred, he was united in marriage with Miss Olive Brown Forbes, who was also a convert to the Sabbath, and both willing and ready to share with him the self-denial, cares, labors and responsibilities incident to missionary labor on a foreign field.
At Plainfield, N. J., Dec. 31, 1846, he was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry. At the same time himself and wife, Solomon Carpenter and wife were, by prayerful consecration, set apart to the China Mission. Five days later, Jan. 5, 1847, this company of Seventh-day Baptist missionaries set sail from New York harbor for their future field of labor. In the autumn of 1857 Missionary Wardner returned to his native land expecting to go back to the China field within a few months at the longest. From this he was deterred by the condition of Mrs. Wardner's health, who had been in this country for a year or more, seeking the restoration of impaired health and strength, but was not sufficiently restored to go back and take up again the duties of the missionary on the China field.
Since his return to this country Mr. Wardner has spent most of his life in meeting the active and responsible duties of the pastor, and has served with efficiency and acceptance the following churches: Second Alfred, N. Y., 1858-1866; Pawcatuck, R. I., 1866 to 1868; West Hallock, Ill., 1868 to 1875. From 1875 to 1877 he was in the employ of the American Sabbath Tract Society as Sabbath Reform missionary to Great Britain with his headquarters at Edinburg, Scotland. The Haarlem, Holland, Seventh-day Baptist Church and Mission came into existence through the publication and distribution of Sabbath Reform literature at Edinburg by Missionary Wardner. In 1877 he again became pastor, settling with the church at Milton Junction, Wis., in which relation he continued until 1890. From 1890 to 1982 he was busy with certain lines of literary work and frequent preaching. From 1892 until the time of his death he was the pastor of the church at Utica, Wis., thus being permitted, with a good degree of mental and physical vigor, to work up to the margin of an active and useful life.
The companion of his early life and toil in the Master's vineyard, Olive Forbes Wardner, died at Milton Junction, Oct. 5, 1888. There were born unto them two sons, one of whom died in childhood, the other, Dr. M. S. Wardner, is now a practicing physician at Garwin, Iowa. Dec. 4, 1889, he was married to Miss Mattie Harvey, a worthy and devout Christian, who, after a brief and happy married life, is left to mourn him, whose loving ministry in sickness and suffering had brought to her the fuller appreciation of the loss sustained by his death.
He was conscientious and steadfast in his devotion to truth and duty, upright in life and character, incisive and logical in his methods of thought and discourse, and leaves behind him the influence and benediction of a life sincerely earnest in its purpose and effort to walk with God and lead his fellowmen to the knowledge of that truth which makes men wise unto salvation.

"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 50, No 16, p 243, Apr. 19, 1894.
and "The Seventh Day Baptist Yearbook", 1894, p 45.

Family/Spouse: Olive Brown Forbes. Olive was born on 22 May 1822 in Locke, New York, USA; died on 8 Oct 1888 in Milton Junction, Wisconsin, USA; was buried in Milton Junction Cemetery, Milton Junction, Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nathan married Martha S. Harvey in Dec 1889. Martha was born on 6 May 1856 in Milton Junction, Wisconsin, USA; died on 5 Dec 1925 in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA; was buried in Milton Junction Cemetery, Milton Junction, Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Morton Smith Wardner, son of Elder Nathan and Mrs. Olive Forbes Wardner, was born January 14, 1850, in Shanghai, China, and died at the home of his daughter in Chicago, December 20, 1943, being nearly ninety-four years of age.
His parents, with Elder and Mrs. Solomon Carpenter, were the first Seventh Day Baptist missionaries in China, going to Shanghai in 1847. Because of the failing health of Mrs. Wardner, she returned to America with her children in 1856, her husband returning the next year.
After attending Alfred Academy, Morton Wardner went to Williams College, where he received the A.B. degree in 1873, with election to Phi Beta Kappa, and later a master's degree. Having decided to prepare for the ministry, he took the theological course at Alfred, receiving the B. D. degree in 1876. He also taught Latin and operated a shirt factory at Alfred while a student there. For some years prior to his death, he was Alfred University's oldest living alumnus.
His father being then in Scotland in the employ of the Tract Society, he assisted him in the work there, and in the establishment of the Mission in Holland, returning to America in 1877.
He received a call to go as a missionary to China, but arrangements were not immediately made, and he did missionary work in the Western Association, and in 1878 was employed as a preacher in tent work for the Tract Society. In 1879 the call to China was renewed, but was finally declined, and he accepted the pastorate at Little Genesee, N. Y., where he was ordained to the gospel ministry and served from 1880 to 1881. Although never afterward engaged in the full-time ministry, he continued to lecture on the Sabbath and other Biblical topics, and was a life member of the American Sabbath Tract Society.
The field of medicine appealed to him, and after running a drug store in Chicago, and studying medicine with his cousin, Dr. Horace Wardner, he entered Rush Medical College, receiving his M.D. degree in 1884. He continued to practice medicine until his ninety-second year, delivering a child on his ninety-first birthday, thereby missing a neighborhood gathering in his honor at Genoa, Ark.
For about fifty years he made his home at or near Fouke, Ark., and was a member of the Fouke Seventh Day Baptist Church; but he spent his last two years at the home of his daughter in Chicago. Doctor Wardner married Sarah Summerbell in Plainfield, N. J., in 1873, and had four children: Nathan (deceased); Dr. James Forbes of Buffalo, N. Y.; Thomas of Plainfield, N. J.; Rachel (Mrs. P. Caris) of Trenton, N. J.
In 1887, he married Evelyn G. Anderson, and by this marriage had three children: Olive (Mrs. M. S. Campagna) of Chicago; Horace (deceased); and Vera (Mrs. Ronald Dougan) of Beloit, Wis. He had twelve grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren, two of his grandsons being now naval officers on duty in the South Pacific. His widow, Mrs. Ruth Wardner, survives.
He died in complete trust in the merits of the shed blood of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. C. A. B.

'The Sabbath Recorder', Vol 136, No 22, p 350, May 29, 1944.

Morton married Sarah Lawshe Summerbell in 1873 in Plainfield, New Jersey, USA. Sarah was born on 17 May 1846 in Quakertown, New Jersey, USA; died on 3 Dec 1926 in Plainfield, New Jersey, USA; was buried in Hillside Cemetery, Scotch Plains, Union County, New Jersey, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Morton married Evelyn Grace Minerva Anderson in 1887. Evelyn was born on 26 Nov 1864 in Ontario, Canada; died on 14 Jul 1930 in Chicago, Illinois, USA; was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Ruth Ann Clough. Ruth was born in 1872 in Metamora, Michigan, USA; died in 1957 in Toledo, Ohio, USA; was buried in Toledo Memorial Park, Sylvania, Lucas County, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Georgia Alberta McKee. Georgia was born on 26 Feb 1880 in Friendship, New York, USA; died on 7 Apr 1948 in Lackawanna, New York, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Used the name Lee Lawrence in his work as a professional photographer. His sister Rachel named her son Lawrence Lee Bailey for her brother Thomas, "her dearest friend and boon companion of her childhood". (Buck, Carolyn Wardner."Wardners in America". Portland, Oregon: third printing, November, 1997, page
100)

Family/Spouse: Alice Florence Bishop. Alice was born on 26 Nov 1883 in Springfield Township, Ohio, USA; died on 30 Jan 1970 in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, USA; was buried in Hillside Cemetery, Scotch Plains, Union County, New Jersey, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Percy Warner Caris. Percy was born on 11 Oct 1893; died on 23 Jul 1973; was buried in Chattanooga National Cemetery, Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Olive married Michael Salvatore Campagna on 18 Sep 1909. Michael was born on 21 Apr 1887 in Cook County, Illinois, USA; died on 19 Nov 1949 in Illinois, USA; was buried in Mount Emblem Cemetery, Elmhurst, DuPage County, Illinois, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Olive married Sanford S. Trilling on 18 Aug 1951. Sanford was born on 2 Dec 1884; died in Oct 1973 in New York, USA; was buried in Acacia Park Cemetery & Mausoleum, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Discharged from the Army 6 March 1919. Admitted to the National Soldier's Home in Danville, Vermillion, IL on 1 Jan 1930. This is where he died. He was listed as a drug addict: morphine. His sister, Olive, took care of shipping his remains back to Chicago and burying him.

Family/Spouse: Ronald Arthur Dougan. Ronald was born on 20 May 1902 in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA; died on 12 Mar 1996 in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA; was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Cremated: Durham, North Carolina, USA; Ashes interred at Mt. Bethel Presbyterian Church

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Mary Stow. Elizabeth was born on 24 May 1903 in Southington, Connecticut, USA; died on 4 Jul 1990 in Durham, North Carolina, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Cremated: Mosinee, Wisconsin, USA; Ashes scattered on Marathon County Land, Burma Road

Family/Spouse: Marion John Cauger. Marion was born on 12 Oct 1901 in Granite City, Illinois, USA; died on 27 Jul 1979 in Wausau, Wisconsin, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Cremated: Lake Erie; Ashes spread over Lake Erie during a family ceremony.

Family/Spouse: Norman James McIntyre. Norman died in 1945. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Royal A. Kettel. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]