Within a new type of correlated-effective-field theory we calculate the effective-field parameters (including their response to external field), critical temperatures, susceptibility, short-range order parameters, and specific heat associated with an anisotropic, square-lattice, spin-\textonehalf{} Ising ferromagnet. The present formalism, which is shown to recover the Bethe-Peierls thermodynamics for the pure
Z-coordinated-lattice, spin-\textonehalf{} Ising model, yields satisfactory results; in particular, the crossover from a pure Ising ferromagnet on a square lattice to that on a linear chain is reasonably exhibited in the behavior of the susceptibility and the specific heat.