Story by Ainsley Hall
MARTINSBURG — Timothy Ware is a social studies teacher at Martinsburg North Middle School and is passionate about sharing history with others through both teaching and writing.
Ware published his book, “Maryland in the French and Indian War,” last year as he explored this interesting part of American history.
Ware grew up in Martinsburg and was drawn into history throughout the region at a young age. His grandparents had a sword hanging in their living room that was once used by his ancestor in the Civil War, and, as a child, Ware would ask questions about it. His parents eventually gave him books on the Civil War and his passion for history continued to grow.
“It just sort of took off from there,” Ware said. “As I got older, I knew I wanted to have a career involving history. At the time, I really wanted to be a park ranger at a national park. It really all started with my personal family history.”
Ware decided to pursue a degree in history from Shepherd University. After college, Ware got a job at the Fort Frederick State Park in Maryland, where a British colony was built during the French and Indian War.
As Ware was working on his graduate degree in American history from American Public University, Ware started researching the French and Indian War and Maryland’s involvement for his thesis. When it was complete, his professor encouraged him to publish it.
Ware continued to work at the state park as he wrote his book. During the offseason, however, Ware started substitute teaching. Though he enjoyed working at the park, Ware decided to become a full-time teacher at Martinsburg North Middle School two years ago.
Since then, Ware has taught social studies to students and encouraged their love for learning.
“As I was teaching them as a substitute, I started seeing the light bulb turn on, as they really started to understand the concepts I was teaching,” Ware said. “I thought that was pretty cool.”
Ware’s book was published by The History Press in February 2023. Since then, many of his students were impressed by his accomplishment. Some of his students even showed interest in reading his book.
“Every year, I start the class with an ice breaker game call “Two Truths and a Lie,” where you have to guess which one is a lie,” Ware said. “When I said I published a book, they were surprised.”
Ware tries to encourage his students by telling them that they can write books of their own someday if they work hard on their education. In the future, Ware is interested in possibly writing about Maryland and the Revolutionary War or something on the Civil War, if he finds the right topic. He hopes that his readers enjoy learning about history and find other details to research through his book.