"I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who haunted Edgar Allan Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywood-movie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids--and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me."
- Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man"
Jane Ford
Jane Ford Smith was the daughter of West Ford and Priscella Bell. She was born abt. 1816. Her husband, Porter Smith, worked at the Mount Vernon Estate and as the local blacksmith. The couple is believed to have had eight children: William “Dandridge”, Caroline, Eva “Elizabeth”, Julia “Annie”, John Porter, Emily, Priscilla, West (?). Jane and Porter would go on to farm their land given to them by West Ford for over 50 years and at that time were the most prosperous citizens of Gum Springs. Porter died abt 1880, and Jane passed on January 6, 1879. Both Jane and Porter are believed to be buried at the Mount Vernon Slave Cemetery, per Find a Grave.
