One of the earliest settlers was William Ward who came to Poultney from Marlborough, MA. He settled on Finel Hollow Road where he built a log home in about 1775.
He became one of Poultney’s most prominent citizens. He served as town moderator, Justice of the Peace, Deacon in the Baptist Church, Poultney’s representative to the Dorset assembly in July 1776 which declared Independence from Great Britain, and the assembly of September 1776 in which the people declared independence from New Hampshire. Later he represented Poultney in the first General Assembly of the new State of Vermont at Bennington in 1778, and became a judge for Rutland County.
In 1801 he built a home on Finel Hollow Road which housed the first courthouse in Poultney. This home, the Ward Homestead has been occupied by eight generations of the Ward family since that time. William Ward is buried nearby in the Ward Family cemetery in which graves dating from 1798 can be viewed.