I'm not sure I can give a definitive answer. "Wards" are political subdivisions of a city. If you know what ward your family lived in, you can narrow down the actual area in which they lived. This knowledge can also help you if you are doing census research. The census information was collected by wards for the larger cities like Cleveland. Unless you want to search through the entire census which can be quite a few rolls, you really have to know the ward where your family lived. I found out that my relatives lived in either Ward 5 or Ward 7 in 1870, so I purchased the rolls of microfilm that covered those particular wards. I actually found the census information for my gggrandparents listing all their children and confirming that they had been born in Ireland. By searching through the films, I also located some other people whom I THINK were relatives and I'm presently trying to confirm that. I hope this helps to answer your question. --Janet