West Ford and Priscella Bell

2nd Sketch of West Ford

2nd Sketch of West Ford

This is a drawing from an unnamed source of an older West Ford from the Ford Archives. Ford again signed his name at the bottom of the sketch. West Ford's name is more than a signature; he was a man who survived slavery and lived to tell his story to his children and his grandchldren.

William Ford

William Ford

William Ford was the son of West Ford and Priscella Bell. William was born abt 1814-1817 on the Mount Vernon Plantation. He married Henrietta Bruce on September 3rd, 1840. Henrietta was the child of Daniel and Hannah Bruce, a well-to-do free family who resided in Virginia. Henrietta was born on June 7, 1819. The couple had George, John, Elizabeth “Constance”, Hannah, Matilda ? (Believed to have died as an infant). Drawing rendition by J. Madama.

George Washington, older

George Washington, older

A painting of George Washington around the age of 60. In the Ford oral history, the father of the country was also the father of West Ford and a slave named Venus. For almost 56 years, Washington bought and sold slaves, yet at the end of his life, he freed the ones he still owned. West Ford would have been around 14 years old.

A Young George Washington

A Young George Washington

A painting of a young George Washington around 25 years of age. The world into which George Washington was born in 1732 was a comfortable one and wholly dependent on the "peculiar institution" of slavery. Washington's ancestors had been practicing slavery in Virgina for almost a century and throughout his young manhood he accepted the institution without question. He was born into a time when slavery was the mores of the old South. Washington owed more than 300 enlaved black men, women and children that provided the labor force required to run his plantation. 

Property of West Ford

Property of West Ford

 

*West Ford was willed 160 acres of land adjoining Mount Vernon in 1829, making him the richest black man in Virgina at that time.  He later sold his land and purchased 214 acres adjacent to it which he later divided into four, 52-3/4 acres for his children.  Before, during and after the Civil War his property became a refuge and depot for the newly freed enslaved. The area is known today as Gum Springs and West Ford as the founder and father of Gum Springs. 

The Pittsburgh Courier Sat Aug 19 1961

The Pittsburgh Courier Sat Aug 19 1961

Article stating that West Ford was known as the Negro son of George Washington.