Thomas Ward paid Moses Cloughlin to build a New England style barn, but it was probably not on the Ward farm; instead, it may have been on the Henshaw farm, an adjacent tenant farm he owned.
The Henshaw farm, which was adjacent to the Ward farm, had been leased to tenants who paid the Wards with a share of the produce. In 1843 this arrangement ended and the main farm took over all agricultural production.