Ward Lumber Company
Handling and distribution of the varieties of lumber for ship use one of the most im- p rtant enterprises is that of the Adsit-Ward Lumber Company, whose yards, buildings, and siieds occupy a three-acre tract on Pacific Avenue. the Morris Canal and Van Horn Street in Jersey City, N. J.
The business is a partnership, of which Charles E Adsit and A. Lynch Ward are the equal owners. and was established by them November i, 1917. Mr. Ward is a large manufacturer of lumber in Virginia and North Carolina, owning extensive enterprises there and residing in Lynchburg, Va., where he devotes his entire attention to the manufacturing end of the business, while Mr. Adsit, who is also experienced in the lumber trade, is in sole executive charge of the distribution end of the Jersey City headquarters. The rrm manufacture and specialize in oak lumber, which they ship direct in carloads to shipbuilders, railroad companies and contractors, and they are also manufacturers of North Carolina pine (short leaf), white pine and hardwoods, and the firm are the largest specialists in ship knees (hackme- tack), spruce, etc., in the Eastern markets.
During the war the firm shipped much lumber to the Government yards, particularly at Quan- tico, and also at the various naval bases and other points of activity. They do a very large business in direct shipments from the mills, and also from the distributing yards in Jersey City, where there is carried a very large supply of all kinds of lumber for quick delivery, with especially complete iine of shapes and sizes in oak timber and ship knees for shipyards.
Mr. A. Lynch Ward of this company was born in Lynch Station, Campbell County, Va., in 1874, his ancestors dating back to the early days of Virginia and having pioneered the settlement of that part of the country, John Lynch, his first American ancestor on the maternal side, having been the founder of Lynchburg, Va., and the originator of the old Lynch Law of pre-revolutionary lays. On his father's side Mr. Ward is a direct descendant of Patrick Henry, and further back f an early settler to whom the Ward Plantation "as granted by the King of England.
Mr. Ward was educated in the New London (Va.) Academy, the Wentworth Military Academy and the Washington and Lee University. He established in business in 1899, operating a sawmill in Campbell County, Va., in the manufacture of oak lumber, ship stuff, etc., and in 1906 he moved to Lynchburg, Va., starting in the lumber business, which, from the original one small mill in 1899, has expanded until he now operates and controls fifteen well-equipped sawmills in Virginia and North Carolina, which he operates under the style of the James River Lumber Company, of which he is president and practically sole owner. He is a member of the National Hardwood Lumber Dealers' Association, of which he was a director from 1911 to 1915; is a member of the Wholesale Lumber Dealers' Association, the North Carolina Pine Association, Exporters' Association and the Piedmont and Country Clubs of Lynchburg, Va.
The organization of the Adsit-Ward Lumber Company in November, 1917, created a complete distributing department for the products of all the mills owned and controlled by Mr. Ward, and its location in the metropolitan area makes it especially accessible to the demands of shipbuilders and other large users of oak lumber and the other specialties for ships, railroad work, etc., in which they have exceptional ability to meet demands.
Charles Edward Adsit was born in Rensselaer, New York, November 24, 1888, the son of John S. and Carrie R. (Patten) Adsit, and was educated in the Rensselaer schools. He entered business in the Albany lumber district in 1902, as tally boy with C. P. Easton & Co. After three years there he went to Jersey City, and was with his father, who was superintendent of Vanderbeck & Sons, about seven years, becoming inspector, office man, retail salesman and wholesale salesman with lumber concerns, then back to Vanderbeck & Sons as general manager of the wholesale department. He was afterward Associated with Alex Morton until, on November 1, 1917, he joined Mr. Ward in organizing the Adsit-Ward Lumber Company, of which he is in full control. He is a member of the Downtown Club and the Carteret Club of Jersey City.
