ROBERT FORD

ROBERT FORD, a native of Bristol, England, was born November 18, 1830, and is the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Davis) Ford. He was reared in his native city and attended the common schools until his fourteenth year. Then, according to the custom, he was apprenticed to learn the blacksmith's trade, and served for seven years. At the end of that time he was employed by Statherd, Staughter & Co., with whom he remained six years, working in the locomotive and marine engine shops at Bristol. Mr. Ford's father was foreman twenty years in the shops in which he learned his trade. After leaving the engine works in Bristol he went to London, and was there employed in the Enfield government works, the shops in which a rifle is turned out every two and a half minutes. He served the government for nine and a half years, with the exception of a short time when he was employed on the construction of the Great Eastern, the largest vessel afloat. In 1866 he emigrated with his family to America, landing July 4; they remained a few weeks in Brooklyn, and then went to New York, Mr. Ford finding employment in the boiler works of Dawn & Nichols; there he remained three years, and in 1869 he came west and traveled through several States and Territories; he finally located in Utah Territory, at Ogden, and conducted a business of his own for a year and a half; he then went to work for the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads, and after six months he entered the employ of the Consolidated Company of San Francisco, engaged in opening coal mines. In six months he came to Omaha, and worked on the great bridge spanning the Mississippi River at this point. In 1871 he came to Grove Township, and purchased a farm in section 7, which he opened and placed under cultivation. He also bought a blacksmith shop, and worked at his trade for a short time, and then he erected a shop on his farm, and continued to conduct his trade and cultivate his land. A part of his farm lies in the town of Manteno, and a portion is divided into twenty-eight lots. In 1882 Mr. Ford came to Earling, and since that time has made this village his home. Here he erected a good residence and a blacksmith shop, and now does all kinds of smith's work, making a specialty of machine work; he also handles all kinds of agricultural implements and harness. He has invented and patented three different articles-barb-wire, cultivator shovels, and automatic wagon-brakes, all betokening, the skill of the inventor. Politically Mr. Ford is a Republican, he has been a member of the school board, and in 1888 he was a delegate to the State Convention. He was married July 18, 1850, to Elizabeth, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Adams) Nicholas, who was born in the town of Cornwall, England, September 24, 1830. They are the parents of seven children-Robert H., William N., Thomas, John, Alfred, Elizabeth (deceased), and Nellie (deceased).

Mr. and Mrs. Ford are members of the Latter Day Saints church, Mr. Ford having been a minister for a number of years.

Source: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby County, Iowa. pp. 592-593. Transcribed and submitted by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs.