Rachel Ann Cordon was born in Nauvoo, Illinois.  She married William Ward July 24, 1861.  William and Rachel had nine children.  Their oldest, George Alfred Ward, (1862-1898), is our direct ancestor.  William and Rachel raised their family in Willard, Utah except for about 3 years they lived in Bloomington, Idaho.  William was called on a mission to Malad, Idaho, March 10, 1876.  In his labors with the Indians at Washakie, he not only taught them the Gospel, but plowed the land and sowed some of the first wheat raised there.  He was untiring in his labors and worked in all kinds of weather.  He caught cold and had pneumonia in the spring of 1876.  He was very ill and when he was able to be moved they brought him home to his wife in Willard.  He died on September 16, 1876, when he was 34 years old leaving Rachel with eight children and pregnant with their ninth.

    Rachel married Robert W. Herold in Willard, Utah on May 15, 1879.  Together they had three children.  Robert died in 1888 leaving Rachel, now 44, with 12 children aged 26 to 4.

    Rachel married Alfred H. Brandow in Nauvoo, Illinois on November 4, 1888.  Together they had one child.