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William Ford, II
b.10 Oct 1762 Charles Co., Maryland
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Facts and Events
In his pension papers, there is a statement from his son, Elisha Ford, detailing some of his children. Elisha Ford stated that at the time the deposition was made on 25 Feb 1851, only three children were living, namely Elisha Ford, Polly Woodyard, and Catherine Wilson. However, this was only an assumption on Elisha Ford's behalf. In Order Book 4, Harrison County Clerk's office in Clarksburg, West Virginia, there is a deposition made on Monday, 20 Jan 1840 that describes all of his children with the exception of Cynthia who was mentioned in his pension, but not in the order book deposition. James Warder and Nuton Ford appeared in Court and after being duly sworn according to law do depose that William Ford to whose children a pension has been allowed died in Harrison County, VA on the 4th day of July 1839 and also satisfactory testimony was given to said Court that the following named persons are children and heirs of the said William Ford deceased: Elisha Ford of Harrison County, Polly Ford, now the wife of Lewis Woodyard of said County, Sally Ford, now the wife of Isaac Trader of Monongalia County, Nancy Ford, now the wife of Jams Williarm, Catharine Ford, now the wife of Josiah Wilson of Monongalia County, Elizabeth Ford who married one Andrew Miller who are both dead leaving only three children, to wit, William, James and Margaret Miller, William Ford left Virginia about 28 years ago, has not been heard of for number of years, is supposed to be dead, Lucy Ford another child married John Ford, they both left Virginia about 24 years ago and are both supposed to be dead. Arthur Ford, unmarried left Virginia also about 24 years ago has not been heard of since and is supposed to be dead. Anna Ford another child (this child the witness thinks was forgotten in the testimony given to the Pension office when the Pension certificate was granted) married Solomon Hustead. She died a number of years ago, had no children, her husband Hustead has not been heard of for upwards of 20 years supposed to be dead and also it was proved that the above named persons were all the children and heirs of said William Ford deceased and that the said William Ford left no widow. We know from studying the list of children in his pension and this particular document that those children who had physically left Virginia were assumed to be dead as no one had heard from them in many years. The fallacy in this assumption comes from the fact that in the early 1800s, very often people removed to other places and were not heard from again due to the lack of the ability to communicate over long distances without a postal service. In addition to this problem was that of illiteracy preventing written contact. William Ford (the son), for instance, was illiterate as none of the documents to which he was a signer carried his signature, only his mark. We also find in the 1820, 1830, and 1840 census of Ohio one Solomon Hustead, a resident of Bethel Twp. in Clark County, Ohio and who died between 1840 and 1850 there. This is apparently the Solomon Husted who had married the child Anna and who had left Virginia over 20 years prior to the statement of 20 Jan 1840. With this information, we can see that the deposition only "assumed" those who had moved away were dead when in fact, some were not dead. References
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