Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 8-B, 1887
Floyd County

JAMES H. HEREFORD, JR., was born in Pike County, Ky., May 22, 1841, and is a
son of James H. and Meriba (Ratliff) Hereford, natives of Virginia and Pike
County, Ky., respectively.  His paternal grandfather, John Hereford, was
Adjutant of the Loudoun County (Va.) Militia, and served through the whole
of the Revolutionary war.  The maternal grandfather of our subject was
William Ratliff, a native of Virginia, but on coming to Kentucky became
"high sheriff" of Pike County, and died worth considerable property.  He
married Betty Ford, of German descent.  His paternal grandmother was Betty
Patterson, a native of Ireland, and a cousin of Mrs. Patterson Bonaparte, of
Baltimore.  The name Hereford is of English origin, while the Ratliffs are
of Scotch-Irish descent.  James H. Hereford, the father of our subject, was
born in 1796, in Loudoun County, Va., was a physician, served as Surgeon in
the Thirty-ninth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, Union forces.  He settled in
Prestonburg in 1825, was an ardent Whig and admirer of Clay and Prentice,
and for many years was a correspondent of the Louisville Journal.  His death
took place in February, 1885.  Our subject, James H. Hereford, received his
early education at Covington, and at the age of fifteen graduated from the
high school.  In 1861, at the first call for troops, he joined the Fifth
Kentucky Volunteers, commanded by Col. J.S. Williams, was captured November
8, the same year, by Gen. Nelson's men, at Joy Mountain, Floyd County, Ky.,
was paroled, but never exchanged.  He read law with O'Hara & Moore at
Covington, was admitted to the bar in 1862, but did not begin practice until
1870, when he located at Prestonburg, where he has since resided, engaged in
his profession and at farming.  In June, 1869, he married Miss Mary F. May,
daughter of Samuel May, a minister and one of the leading farmers of Floyd
County.  To this union have been born five children, viz: James H., Meriba
F., Samuel May, Thomas Marshall and George P.  Mr. Hereford is a Freemason,
a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and in politics is a
Democrat. 

Hereford Ratliff Ford Patterson May Bonaparte Clay Prentice Williams Nelson
=
Pike-KY Loudoun-VA Ireland MD

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/floyd/hereford.jh.txt