Person:William Ford (39)

Notes from two genealogists who lived in West Virginia state William Ford was born in Wales, however, the name Ford is not usually associated with Wales, but instead with England.

Remarkably little is known of William Ford. It is known that he lived for a number of years in Charles County, Maryland as his name is found on the early tax records for that area and his sons Jesse Ford and William Ford both make reference to their births in that county, but beyond this information, his early existence in Charles County remains rather mysterious.

He is known to have been living in Fauquier County, Virginia at least by 1787 as he is listed, along with several of his sons, in the personal property tax rolls of Fauquier County in that year. In addition, he is made reference to in some debt cases in the 1770s and 1780s in that county in which he was named as a defendant. A number of his children were married in Fauquier County and he gave permission there for his daughter Elizabeth to marry John C. Woodyard. However, close study of Fauquier County's records reveals that he did not own any land in the county. A family relation, Lewis Woodyard, also lived in the county and probably lived near William Ford. Many Woodyards married Fords, which leads us to this deduction. As Elisha Ford {Elisha, John, William} states that his father Elisha Ford was born in Loudoun County, Virginia, we are led to believe that the family must have lived in the Northern section of Fauquier County which borders Loudoun County. William Ford's sons Jesse Ford and William Ford served in the Revolutionary War from Fauquier County, which places the family here during that period.

Around the turn of the eighteenth century, many of the children of William Ford migrated up into Monongalia and Harrison Counties, then sparsely settled. Some of the families settled in Monongalia County that later became the East side of the Tygart Valley River South of Grafton, WV in Taylor County, WV. William Ford's son George Ford took up residence about two miles South of present Grafton while his younger son, Henry Ford, settled about ten miles East of Grafton in the area currently called Oak Grove in Taylor County. According to family records, the elder William took up residence with his son George with whom he lived until his death, which, according to genealogical records compiled by Guy Tetrick, late of Clarksburg and Eva Carnes, late of Charleston, occurred in the year 1821.

1. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   pg. 8.
2. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   Pg. 2.
3. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   pg. 7.
4. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   pg. 8.
5. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   pg. 14.
6. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   pg. 2.
7. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   pg. 2.