A, general merchant of Cathay, Walter P. Wyard was born in England of Scotch descent. His father was James Wyard, a manufacturer of picture frames and ornamental moldings in the old country. Walter was the third son in a family of seven children. He came to America in 1881 and was employed in a wholesale and retail grocery store in Philadelphia. He left that city in 1882 with his brother J.G. Wyard, and went to Chicago where he worked for a short time and then came west arriving in Fargo May 1882. He and his brother J.G. walked the 100 miles to Jamestown where they were engaged by the large English Sykes-Hughes syndicate which was opening up an extensive farming area in what is now Wells County. The city of Sykeston was named after the senior partner. The boys were employed driving oxen and breaking the prairie sod for the farmers the corning year. They returned east for the winter but decided to return the following spring with their families. They filed on government land near Carrington on the SWI/s of Section 18 in Wyard Township. They lived in a shanty 8' x 14' and farmed with one yoke of oxen. Walter proved up on his claim in 1890 and then went into the mercantile business in Carrington with Farnham, Tenborg and Martin.
In 1893 he and G.L. Farnham operated a store in Cathay for many years.
In 1887 he married Barbara Quarton, who was born in Scotland. They had two children, Barbara born in 1892, died in 1918 and Noel Osborne Wyard born in 1894.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 108B
A, general merchant of Cathay, Walter P. Wyard was born in England of Scotch descent. His father was James Wyard, a manufacturer of picture frames and ornamental moldings in the old country. Walter was the third son in a family of seven children. He came to America in 1881 and was employed in a wholesale and retail grocery store in Philadelphia. He left that city in 1882 with his brother J.G. Wyard, and went to Chicago where he worked for a short time and then came west arriving in Fargo May 1882. He and his brother J.G. walked the 100 miles to Jamestown where they were engaged by the large English Sykes-Hughes syndicate which was opening up an extensive farming area in what is now Wells County. The city of Sykeston was named after the senior partner. The boys were employed driving oxen and breaking the prairie sod for the farmers the corning year. They returned east for the winter but decided to return the following spring with their families. They filed on government land near Carrington on the SWI/s of Section 18 in Wyard Township. They lived in a shanty 8' x 14' and farmed with one yoke of oxen. Walter proved up on his claim in 1890 and then went into the mercantile business in Carrington with Farnham, Tenborg and Martin.
In 1893 he and G.L. Farnham operated a store in Cathay for many years.
In 1887 he married Barbara Quarton, who was born in Scotland. They had two children, Barbara born in 1892, died in 1918 and Noel Osborne Wyard born in 1894.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 108B