“Robert Ware, father of Ephraim and Ebenezer, both of whom lived to be very old, had a land grant in Rosemary Meadow in 1654, and another beyond the Great Plain in 1662/3.  In his will dated 1698/9, Robert devised land at Maugus Hill and at Chestnut Hill.  In 1730 Samuel Ware of Dedham, ‘Weaver’, sold for L20 to Ephraim Ware of Needham five acres at Maugus Hill, and in the inventory of the former, made in 1736, five or six acres at ‘Magers Hill’ were included.  In the division of Ephraim’s estate, July 22, 1757, son Ephraim had the homestead and eight acres, with the exception of two acres assigned to Robert.  Ephraim was to have all three of his father’s ‘Common Rights’, one half acre in Rosemary Meadow, all the personal property, except that given to Deborah Ware, and he was to pay all debts of his father, as well as give to Hannah Metcalf, ‘the Sister of Wrentham’, L2, 13s.,4d., and to contribute one half of the necessary support for his sister Margaret Frost for eight years.  Robert, besides the two acres of homestead, was given half an acre in Rosemary Meadow, and was charged with one half of the support of his sister Margaret, who was to live at the house of one or the other of her brothers.  Deborah had three acres on the southerly side of ‘Pine Plain’, and was excused from attending the court on account of ‘Great Age’, together with Eleazer Metcalf and wife, and Margaret Frost. The estate was small.  Ephraim Ware died March 26, 1753, in his ninety-fourth year ‘as tis tho’t’, and Mehetable, widow of ‘Aged Ebenezer Ware’, died suddenly November 2, following.

The ancient Ware homestead by Longfellow’s Pond is elsewhere referred to, but mention should be made of the house of Joseph and later of Daniel Ware, Esq., which stood on the west side of Cartwright Street, and was said to be one hundred and forty-five years old in 1858.  It was taken down on July 13, 1885, and the house of the younger Daniel Ware, Brook Street, which was built as early as 1800, was removed about 1900.

The Honorable Enos H. Tucker spoke highly of the widow of Daniel Ware, Esq.  He said that the Reuel Ware house on Brook Street, near the junction with Benvenue Street, was built by Capt. Reuel Ware or by his father; the latter’s widow lived there.  Lieut. Ephraim Ware, who was a benefactor of the First Church, lived in what we know as the Longfellow house on the Turnpike.  The Tucker family then lived in the ancient Ware house, now Mr. Sheridan’s.  Enos H. Tucker, the elder, at one time loved in the house known as the ‘Johnson Place’, and which had once been the home of Capt. Reuben Ware.  The house was on Charles River Street, nearly opposite the driveway of Charles H. Foster, and was burned on May 31, 1886.

The late Emma Forbes Ware of Milton published a Ware genealogy in 1887, and after her decease a greatly enlarged work was printed in 1901 fro her manuscript.”

Reference Data:

History of Needham Massachusetts 1711-1911, by George Kuhn Clarke, 1912, pages 64-5