Richard Ray Ward's father was Samuel Ward. "Samuel Ward was born November 17, 1756 in Westerly. He graduated from Rhode Island College (Brown University) in 1771 at the age of fifteen. His military career began when he was commissioned a captain in the Army of Observation in May, 1775, at the age of eighteen. Col. Ward married Phebe Greene in 1778 while on leave from military duties at Valley Forge; she was the daughter of Governor William Greene and Catherine (Ray). In early 1781, Congress ordered the First Rhode Island to merge with the Second Rhode Island, and several officers, including Ward, were forced to retire. Ward went into business as a merchant in Warwick, where he remained until about 1787. During 1788 and 1789, Ward sailed to China for the Providence firm Brown & Francis as supercargo for the vessel General Washington, the first Rhode Island ship to engage in the China trade. He moved to New York in late 1790, doing business with his brothers Richard and John under the firm name Samuel Ward and Brothers. Ward returned to Rhode Island in 1804; then went back to New York in 1807, though his wife Phoebe remained in Rhode Island. He was president of the New York Marine Insurance Company until about 1808. He returned to Rhode Island in 1809 and stayed until about 1816, then made his permanent home in New York: first in Jamaica, Long Island, then in New York City, where he died in 1832."