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SHERIFFS OF MONTCALM COUNTY
1850 to 2006


ALPHONSUS E. WARD
Sheriff from 1909-1912


   


Alphonsus E. Ward was born in Pine Township, Montcalm County, August 15, 1875. He was the son of Edward and Mary A. Ward. Most of his life was spent in Montcalm County. He married Ruth M. Miller July 8, 1908 and to them were born four children, a baby boy who died in infancy, a daughter, Eleanor, who died at the age of 8 years and two sons, A. Edward and Robert H. Alphonsus served as Deputy sheriff under sheriffs E.O. Bellows and John Wesley Gaffield and when J.W. Gaffield's term ended Alphonsus was elected sheriff and served from 1909 to 1912. He is mentioned as having served, again, as Deputy sheriff under the term of James M. Ford and in 1919 he announced his candidacy to once again run for sheriff when James M. Ford's second term expired December 31, 1920. His Republican opponent was Fred E. Curtis. Curtis won the August 1920 primary and was elected sheriff on the November ballot. He was also a candidate for sheriff in 1924 running in the primary against Franklin B. Henkel; again he was defeated. By 1930 Alphonsus had moved to Lansing where he worked as special investigator and detective for the Attorney Generals office. He was employed by the Government at Trenton, Michigan during World War II. Towards the end of his career in law enforcement he was a guard at the State Office Building at Lansing. On September 18, 1948, at the age of 63, he was struck by a car driven by a 15-year old boy just two blocks from his home in Lansing and killed. His remains were brought to Stanton where funeral services were held; burial was in Forest Hill Cemetery, Stanton.

(Sources: Ancestry.com - census; Stanton Clipper-Herald, obituary, September 23, 1948; campaign ad, Stanton Clipper-Herald)



SHERIFFS OF MONTCALM COUNTY
compiled by Stanton area resident Judy Hardy

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