FORD Family
The Ford family, in upper Marion, were among the first settlers in upper Marion.
In the appendix to Ramsay's History of South Carolina, on page 302, volume 2, he says:
"There have been many instances of longevity in the county between Little Pee Dee and
Catfish Creek, about sixty miles north of Georgetown; six very old men died there since
the year 1800. One of them, James Ford, died in or near 1804 at the age of one hundred
years. The others are James Munnerlyn, Moses Martin, Rockingham Keene,
Michael Mixon and William Watson, who all died upwards of eighty years of age. James Munnerlyn
served in the office of Constable at eighty-six years, walked fifty miles
to serve a process and returned home again in less than three days." Where the Fords
of Marion originally came from, is unknown. The James Ford mentioned above
by Dr. Ramsay, must have been here two hundred years ago; and without better
or other information, the writer will assume that either he or some other contemporary Ford
were the progenitor or progenitors of the extensive family by that name. The first one known
to the writer, in about 1830, was Preserved Ford, universally called Zarv
Ford; he was then seventy-five or eighty years of age, may be older; he lived on
the west side of Gaddy's Mills, then called Ford's Mills. It was at an association
held at the old Saw Mill Church, on the east side of the mills-the church was old and dilapidated.
It was there that I first saw him, and never saw him afterwards.
He was a well-to-do man, and prominent in his day; he had three sons,
Jessee, William and Charles. Major Jessee Ford, the eldest son, represented the
district in the Legislature in the twenties-I do not know the precise date:
He was Major in the militia
--A History of Marion County, W.W. Sellers (1902)
Excerpt transcribed and contributed by Helen Moody, March 2000.
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