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From: MRS GINA M REASONER< >
Subject: LEVI V. FORD - DARKE COUNTY
Date: Sat, 8 May 1999 22:42:42, -0500

A PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF DELAWARE AND RANDOLPH COUNTIES, IND.
A.W. Bowen & Co., 1894 - Page 1105-1106

LEVI V. FORD is a native of Randolph county, Ind.,having been born
here December 17, 1857. He is the only son of Mordecai and Sophia (Hoffman)
Ford. His father came from Darke county, Ohio; his grandfather from
Virginia; the great-grandfather from Scotland,and the great-grandfather
from Scotland, and the great-grandmother from Germany. The
great-grandparents were married in the old Dominion and then emigrated to
Darke county, Ohio, where they they engaged in farming, the
great-grandfather dying while there. The grandparents were born and reared
in Ohio, and were also farmers, and a successful people.
Levi V. Ford's father was born in Darke county, January 5, 1830,
and grew to manhood there, and his mother also grew to womanhood in the
same place. The young people were united in marriage March 17, 1853, and
then moved to Farmland, where he engaged in the saw-mill business for a
period of five years. He purchased eighty acres of land, and then, after a
time, returned to his first vocation, saw-milling, which he engaged in for
three years more. He then returned to the farm, which was an unbroken tract
of timber. He was a good financier, and at the time of his death owned 240
acres of well improved land. Two children were the fruit of this union -Ida
Alice, wife of Saul O. Sumwalt, and Levi V. The father left his children
the legacy of a good education, both having been prepared for teachers. He
died January 15, 1879, and the mother passed away December 4, 1886, and
were both buried in the Hopewell cemetery. The father was a member of the
Masonic order, in which fraternity he
took great pride, and was a good and efficient worker. In politics he was
a democrat, and was a stanch adherent to this time-honored party. The
mother was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a good woman in
every sense of the word. A beautiful monument, erected in loving memory of
them, marks the silent resting place of these two estimable people.
Levi V. Ford passed his early life on the farm, but after his
father's death he was obliged to put up his books and assume the management
of the homestead place. He was married at the age of twenty-five years to
Miss Ella Bartmess, the accomplished daughter of Warren and Eliza (McCarty)
Bartmess. She was of Irish-German descent and one of five children, Ella
being the eldest. The others are named as follows: John, engaged in the
railroad service; William, in the same employment; Edgar, also the same;
Harry, deceased. After the marriage of our subject, he located on a farm of
10 acres, which had been given him by his father, on which he has made many
handsome improvements. Mr. Ford is a scientific farmer and a man fully
abreast of the times in his own peculiar employment, as well as otherwise.
He is a great reader, a close observer, and a good practical thinker. He is
a democrat, and in 1893 ran for sheriff on that ticket. No family in the
country stands higher in the estimati
on of the people than the Ford family, which is a model for any household.
Mr. Ford is business all the way through, and in connection with his
farming, handles farm implements and machinery. His marriage has been
blessed with two children, Lester and Edith.

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• LEVI V. FORD - DARKE COUNTY by MRS GINA M REASONER< >