Person:John Ford (45)

Prior to his leaving Virginia for Indiana, John Ford disposed of his land in Virginia by selling out to Nelson Rector in 1836. Unfortunately, by selling his property, John Ford also sold a portion of his property which conflicted with the Daugherty Survey, land which laid to the North of his property. The result of this was the case Lewellen vs. Ford, et. al. recorded in the Harrison County Chancery Court in Clarksburg, WV, the court responsible for equity cases in the Taylor County areas West of the Tygart Valley River up until 1844 when Taylor was erected into a county itself. This case results in fabulous information, which relates many of the early Ford family members to one another. Without this case, many important pieces of information regarding the family would have remained speculation. One of the case papers included in the file envelope is the deed from John Ford to Nelson Rector, a portion of which is given below:

Be it remembered that I, John Ford, am held and firmly bound unto Nelson Rector both of the County of Harrison and State of Virginia in the penal sum of three thousand dollars lawful money of Virginia for the true payment whereof I bind myself my heirs, Executors, Administrators and assigns, jointly and severally by these presents in testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this sixth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty six. John Foard (Seal)

The condition of the above obligation is such that if the above bound John Ford shall and will truly make or cause to be made a good and sufficient warrantee Deed to a certain tract or parcel of land lying and being in the County and State aforesaid and known by the purchases I the said John Ford made; one of Woodyard, one of Spetman and one of O. Middleton, adjoining the lands of said Rector, Henry Warder, Jacob Swayer, Wm Warder, thence up the Valley River to John A. Guesmans, John Cole, Peyton Lake, and Baley Latham containing 500 acres more or less. To him the said Nelson Rector to him and his heirs for ever.

The Deed to be made unto the aforesaid Nelson Rector on the first day of April next when the said Rector is to pay one thousand dollars and pays me the sd Ford seventy dollars in hand, and four hundred and thirty dollars in three years from the first day of April next.

The purchase money shall be paid otherwise to remain in full force and virtue at law and equity. In testamony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this day and year first above mentioned. Notice there is to be given an (Alcas)? on the land untell the last payment is made.

Nelson Rector (Seal) Test. James Tutt

This land is located between the Tygart Valley River and Berkley's Run in current Taylor County, WV near the village of Webster. The exact location of the land is not known, but one passes through the property when traveling South from Grafton, WV to Webster. Elizabeth Bailey, John Ford's first wife, died in 1837 giving birth in Indiana and, as John Ford was to begin payment on the land in 1837, it is obvious that John Ford left Virginia in that year and migrated to Kosciusko Co., IN.

John Ford served as a Private in Capt. John Wilkinson's Co., Virginia Militia, during the War of 1812. In 1880, Anna Ford, John Ford's second wife, attempted to claim his pension due for service in that war. Unfortunately, she died in October of that same year and the pension was never granted.

In her affidavit for the pension claim made in Kosciusko Co., IN on 06 May 1880, Anna Ford, aged 75, gave the description of John Ford as being 5-feet, 10-inches tall, light complexion, sandy hair and blue eyes. She states she married John Ford at his residence "about five miles South of Warsaw, in Wayne Township, of said County, on or about the 14 day of January 1842 by one Orange V. Lemmon who was an Episcopal Methodist Minister." She further states that,

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. 13.
2. ↑ Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   ppg. 13, 24.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} Nagle, Eric C. and Larry L. Ford Society. The Genealogy of the Descendants of William Ford (1722-1821). (Huber Heights, Ohio; revised 2006)
   pg. 24.