Kentucky:  A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 3rd ed.,
1886. Warren County.

REV. HENRY M. FORD, D. D., a presiding elder in the Methodist Episcopal
Church South, was born in the State of Illinois, December 18, 1824.  He is
the son of Dr. Robert Cloud and Margaretta (Smith) Ford, and is of English
and Welsh extraction, his paternal and maternal ancestors having been,
respectively, natives of England and Wales.  His ancestors came to America
prior to the Revolutionary war, and took an active part in that memorable
struggle for independence and liberty.  His father was a native of
Fairfax, Va., and was born in 1791.  He received a splendid literary and
medical education, and became a leading citizen and prominent physician. 
He died of consumption early in life, in the State of Indiana, whither he
had gone from motives of health.  Mrs. Margaretta Ford was born in
Philadelphia, Penn., in 1792, and was a woman of rare intelligence and
culture.  After the death of her husband she removed, with her children
and a number of acquaintances and friends, to the State of Kentucky, and
settled in Logan County.  Here the Rev. Dr. Ford was brought up and began
his education in the common schools of the county.  At the age of nineteen
he entered the Pilot Knob Academy, in Simpson County, then in charge of
the Rev. David R. Harris, a distinguished educator and minister in the
Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  In this school, where he remained two
years, he made considerable progress in the study of the ancient
languages, English sciences and mathematics.  At a later period he entered
Cumberland College, at Princeton, Ky., which was at that time under the
presidency of the Rev. Richard Beard, D. D., an eminent scholar and
clergyman of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  In their ecclesiastical
affiliations his ancestors were Methodists, having been brought into that
church under the ministry of Wesley and Fletcher, in England and Wales. 
To this church his parents belonged, and in it they lived and died.  Dr.
Ford made a profession of religion at the age of fourteen, and, although
he was inclined to the church of his ancestors, yet, on account of strong
social influences, was induced to unite with the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church.  In due time he entered the ministry, and for twelve years
preached in that church, attaining an enviable position in port of ability
and success.  Meantime, reaching the period of mature thought in respect
to questions of doctrine and policy, his convictions led him to return to
the church of his parents, with which he united in 1860.  He immediately
entered the itinerant ranks in that denomination, and has since been one
of the most active and successful ministers, having filled a number of the
most important charges in his conference.  In 1870 he was appointed
presiding elder, which position he has filled with slight intervals ever
since, and is now in charge of the Bowling Green District.  In 1849 he was
united in marriage with Miss Jane E. Smith, a native of Warren County,
Ky., who in every way has proved herself worthy of so distinguished an
alliance.  They have two children:  Ella V. and William H., who promise to
be the pride and sunshine of their declining years.  Dr. Ford is the
author of a book entitled "The Church and the Lord's Supper," which has
received the highest commendation from editors, North and South, college
professors, and the church generally. Two other works entitled,
respectively, "The Baptism of John" and "An Exposition of Romans VI: 3-6,"
will soon be presented to the public.  As a newspaper correspondent his
services have been sought, and for many years he has supplied a number of
the leading religious and secular journals of the country with some of
their choicest reading.  In the papers of his own church he is always at
the front as one of the most fearless defenders of its doctrines and
usages.  He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Trinity
College, North Carolina, one of the finest institutions of learning in the
Southern Methodist Church.  In politics he is a Democrat, but is
conservative in his views, claiming an interest in the common history of
the whole country.  His information is extensive and accurate on all
subjects; he is a fine theologian, a ripe scholar, a fluent writer, and
one of the leading clergymen of Kentucky.

Ford Harris Beard Wesley Fletcher Smith
=
IL England Wales Fairfax-VA IN PA Logan-KY Simpson-KY Princeton-Casey-KY

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/warren/ford.hm.txt