Muscogee COUNTY  GA  Ford, Elie

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Ruth Bentley

http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/bios/ford.txt

THE ELIE FORD FAMILY

Elie Ford was born January 1, 1817, died February 8, 1897, and is buried
at Linwood Cemetery. As a youngster he was orphaned and sent to live with
relatives in Georgia and to work on their plantation. He married Nancy
Pollard in Upson County GA on September 18, 1838, but Nancy died very soon
thereafter. He then married Barbara Ann Gibson on April 8, 1841 in Upson
County and they had five daughters. After Barbara's death, he married
Nancy Jane Copeland and they had six children. In the late 1850s Elie
moved, along with Coulters and Copelands, from Taylor County GA to the
Columbus-Girard-Browneville area.

By all accounts Elie was an imposing figure, unusually large and strong in
statue with thick, brown, curly hair, brown eyes and a thick beard. He was
first a farmer and later became a machinist at the Eagle and Phenix Mills.
While reportedly he was a fine family man, one granddaughter remembered him
as stern and gruff. Having reared nine daughters, he probably was not one
to put up with much nonsense from little girls in his old age! His
grandson Louie Coulter remembered him as a man of patience sitting quietly
for hours as he taught him to fish.

Although old by standards of that day, Elie served in Co. A, 1st Georgia
Regiment Light Duty Men. According to family lore, Union troops stayed in
his house which was on the hill overlooking the 14th Street bridge at the
time of the Battle of Girard.

After the deaths of Nancy and Elie and the death of their brother Daniel,
Elie's three younger daughters moved to Florida, all eventually settling in
the Boynton Beach area.
Children of Barbara Ann Gibson and Elie Ford were:
(1) Mary Jane Ford (1843-1914), affectionately known as "Aunt Puss" because
she was afraid of cats, who was a seamstress, never married, and lived near
her sisters Georgia and Louisa.
(2) Georgia Ann Ford (1848-1926) who married Thomas L. Coulter (see article
elsewhere in this volume for details on this family).
(3) Martha Ann Ford (1850-?) who married L.W. Edwards and lived in Phenix
City.
(4) Louisa Holton Ford (1853-1913) who married William Henry Harrison
Coulter and had five children: Melvina who married Wesley Griggs, Esther
who married W.H. Gibson, Mineola who married Martin Z. Gentry, Sadie Mexie
who married William W. Hill, and Edna who married Arch Lee Tillery.
(5) Laura (1856-1935) who married (1) a Mehaffey and had one son Cliff and
married (2) Charlie McCardle and had one son, Elmer. Her family operated
the Eelbeck Mills.
Children of Nancy Jane Copeland and Elie Ford who survived to adulthood
were:
(1) Abby Sophronia Ford, who was always called Jessie, married Wilbur Leroy
Forrey and had no children.
(2) Daniel Ford (1863-1904) was confined to a wheelchair from childhood but
was well educated at home by private tutors, later served as a tutor
himself and Justice of the Peace in Browneville. He never married.
(3) Barbara Ann Ford (1869-1939), called Annie, married David Daniel Lee,
had no children, and operated a popular Victorian inn called Lee House in
Boynton Beach FL.
(4) Catherine Missouri Ford (1879-1934), called Kate, married Abel Augustus
Rousseau, lived in Boynton Beach FL and had seven children: Callie Mae who
married William Hugh Brown, Jesse Ford who married Virginia Keith Powell,
Mabel Claire who married John Martin Tuite, Esther Barbara who married (1)
Richard McSweany Jr. and (2) Merton Raymond McCorkle III, Laura Katharine
who married Joseph Tyler Hogan, Wilbur who died in infancy, and John Robert
who married Margaret Howarth.
Wm M & Martha Coulter 
Author: Ruth Bentley 
Date: 15 Nov 2000 6:00 AM 

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