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WARE, John (1850-1905)

John Ware

Black cowboy and rancher

John WareBorn: c. 1845 in Tennessee.
Married:  29 Feb 1892 to Mildred Lewis at Calgary, Alberta
Died:
11 Sept. 1905 near Calgary, Alberta
Buried:
Union Cemetery, Calgary, Alberta, Plot J:03:003
Contributor: Jim Benedict

Born a slave in the United States, John Ware became a free man and headed west to opportunity in the west.  He worked cattle drives and became a top bronc rider.  On cattle drives from Texas to Alberta, he loved the north plains and first worked on the Bar U Ranch, then started his own in the Sheep Creek area.  John overcame local prejudice and earned a high level of respect from nearby ranchers.  Upon his death in 1905, his funeral was the largest ever in Calgary at that time.

His Early Years

John Ware was born in 1850 into slavery in South Carolina, the second youngest in a family of eleven brothers and sisters. He won his freedom in 1865 with the Union victory in the American Civil War. After the war Ware left the Carolinas for Texas where he learned the skills of a rancher and became a cowboy.

Alberta Family

Ware’s great stature and dedication to hard work made him a natural and allowed him to work his way up to Canada driving cattle from Texas to Montana and then into the great plains that would eventually become Alberta. Upon his arrival in Calgary he found work at the Bar U and Quorn ranches before starting his own ranch, the “4 Nines” near the Red Deer River. By 1900, he and his wife, Mildred Lewis (1871–1905), had six children; five survived to adulthood, but none bore a grandchild for John and Mildred. Ware moved from the Calgary area to a spot northeast of the village of Duchess, Alberta. In 1902 his first home was destroyed by the spring flood. He rebuilt on higher ground overlooking a stream, now called Ware Creek.

Folklore

There are many tall tales about John Ware, with the accuracy of any story in dispute. According to lore, John Ware once pulled a buggy and three people through 32 kilometres of harsh terrain after their horses were killed by lightning. Another early story tells of the time the plantation owner asked Ware to break a horse and when he tried, he was quickly thrown off. John could not escape the wrath of the owner and wore bull whip scars on his back for the rest of his life, but it would be the last time a horse would ever throw him. Then there is a story of John stepping between the plantation owner and another slave, which may have been one of his sisters, and with a combination of his strength and humour, diffused the situation, which saved his fellow slave from a severe beating.

Alberta Spring Branding – Rescue1

It was the Spring Branding at the Bar U in 1890, and the community had gathered for the festivities. By 1890 there were many hundreds of calves to be branded and the procedure would take several days. My grandfather Frank Patterson had come out from England the year before to live and work with his cousins Agnes Bedingfeld and her son Frank at their ranch adjoining the Bar U. Dozens of cowboys were there, including Harry Longabaugh, famous later as the Sundance Kid. Also teamsters, farmers, carpenters, labourers, livestock breeders, hay contractors, stockmen and horse trainers converged on the Bar U. Agnes Bedingfeld was in the cookhouse helping the Chinese Cook make huge pots of beef stew and mashed potatoes for the hungry crew.
John Ware had come down from his homestead at Millarville. John had quickly become a legend in the years since 1882 when he joined Fred Stimson and crew to bring a herd of 3000 cattleup from the US to stock the newly established Bar U Ranch in the foothills of Alberta. John Ware proved himself over and over to be a savvy horseman with great physical strength and uncanny intuition. They said there wasn’t a horse that John couldn’t ride.
Even though Frank Patterson and Frank Bedingfeld were young greenhorns, they saddled up from the Bedingfeld Ranch and rode over to help with the branding. It was the job of a few handlers to bring the calves one by one into the branding pen. And as these calves were wild and bawling for their mothers, the cowboys had their job cut out for them.
Now young Frank Bedingfeld wasn’t the best roper in the world, but he was in there with the best of them. He was riding a 4 year old black gelding called Lightning, whose name should have given him pause. Frank was doing ok for a while. But all of a sudden, Lightning decided to bolt, and then to buck pretty hard, and threw young Frank up over his shoulders where Frank’s leather chaps got stuck on the horn. And there he was, dangling upside down on Lightning’s neck and being tossed up and down. This was a most uncomfortable, dangerous and inconvenient posture for man and horse!
Well, as luck would have it, John Ware was observing from his horse on the other side of the branding pen. Now John, having broke many broncs in his day, and seeing the predicament of Frank, quickly came to the rescue. John was a man of enormous strength and agility, with a great sense of the temperament of horses and cows, and a keen intuition for what to do next.
So from the sidelines, John Ware ran his horse right into the head of Lightning, no doubt surprising the young bronc quite a bit. Then John leaped onto Lightning’s neck, leaving his own horse to scramble back and away. John then grabbed Frank by the seat of his britches, and lifted him back into his saddle. By this time, Lightning was tired out and quit bucking, and allowed Frank to dismount with a portion of his dignity intact.
After Frank inspected his body from head to foot, and finding no broken bones, he allowed his cousin Frank and a couple cowboys to escort him up to the cookhouse for a much needed meal and maybe a bit of sympathy. So they brought the shaken and bruised, but not broken Frank into the dining room where his mother Agnes was dishing up the plates. One of the cowboys said to her, ‘Miz Bedingfeld, I reckon John Ware just saved your boy’s life.’ So of course Agnes Bedingfeld had a soft spot in her heart for John Ware after that day.
When John came in for dinner, Agnes went up to him and took his big hand in hers, and looked up into his face, whereupon John took off his hat. ‘Thank you, John Ware, for saving Frank today. I want you to know that there’s always a warm welcome and a hot meal for you at the Bedingfeld Ranch, anytime you care to stop by.’

Death

Despite being a master horseman Ware was killed in the fall when his horse tripped in a badger hole crushing its rider and breaking his neck. Ware’s funeral was reported to be one of the largest held in the early days of Calgary.

Buried: Union Cemetery Section J, Row 3, Plot 1.

  1. Millarville Historical Society Facebook March 9, 2023 posted by Louise Patterson Bruns []
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