Brief Family History: Robert & Karen (Storz) Ford with Selected Pictures

My two boys--Bryan and Colby

Robert E. Ford Jr. is married to Karen E. (Storz) Ford and has two sons, Colby 32 years old and Bryan 45. The photo (left) was taken in Copan Honduras while Robert was a Fulbright Scholar at the Universidad Autonoma de Honduras in 1998.  Later he carried out field research on the effects of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras.

Robert Ford has spent many years abroad including a stint in Rwanda--see photo on Mt. Karisimbi (above) and  a VIRTUAL TOUR entitled Landscape and Life along the East African Rift. He is now semi-retired though is still active in consulting and photography as well as public service in his community.

Karen, Robert, Bryan and Colby Ford on the grounds of Smiley Heights Mansion, Redlands, CA in 2005--see Redlands Guide.

Celeste (our first grandchild) loves playing with the iPAD with her Mom and Dad...and still does.

The Ford's in February 2011 in Lincoln NE at the time of Karen Ford's mother's Memorial Service (Ethel Storz).

Back to Top

Bryan graduated in 2008 with a PhD in computer science from MIT (see Bryan's homepage) then he was a visiting scholar/post-doc at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems for the 2008-2009 academic year. He then joined Yale University as an assistant professor. He and his wife now both live and teach at EPFL in Lausanne Switzerland. Colby Ford studied Geology at the University of California, Riverside (undergraduate) then graduate studies at Loma Linda University. He now teaches geology and environmental science at Dixie State University in St George Utah.

Bryan Ford and his wife Anya (Anouchka Lachowska) traveling in Europe. At the time she was teaching mathematics at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. They both taught at Yale University and have a lovely child--Celeste--our first grandchild. They now live and teach at EPFL in Lausanne Switzerland.

Celeste playing with gorilla dolls given by good friends in Rwanda.

Colby in 2011 visiting his parents in St George Utah taking photos in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. At the time he was a geology student at the University of California, Riverside. He went on to finish an MS in Geology at Loma Linda University and now teaches Geology and Environmental Science at Dixie State University in St George, Utah.

Edith Frye and Horace Standish History

Robert Elden Ford Jr. (on his mother's side) descends from Edith (Frye) Standish of West Wilton New Hampshire. Horace Standish descends from Myles Standish (of the Mayflower fame) and was born near Mystic, Connecticut.  He spent much of his life in Tennessee at old Madison College and Sanitarium where he taught industrial arts until he moved to Tucson, Arizona in the late 1940s for health reasons.  See also Landmarks article and Davidson County information.

Harvey Timothy Holt Frye and family about 1902 in West Wilton. Edith and her twin sister Ethel are just to the left of Uncle Charles Frye who is on the extreme right. "Uncle Early" (middle top) never married and lost an arm early in the 1900's from blood poisoning; he was an avid hunter, woodsman and farmer.

His father "HTH Frye" also survived severe injury and near death in the Civil War (the Vicksburg Campaign)--he was dumped overboard from a hospital steamboat on the Mississippi River thinking he was dead. He managed to survive near drowning-reached shore and eventually made it back to New Hampshire.

Juanita and Venessa with parents Edith and Horace Standish in Tucson in the 1940s. Horace had moved to Tucson for his health from Madison College near Nashville, Tennessee in the late 1940s.

Back to Top

An early Frye home (~Cosee Frye McGrath) as it appeared in October 2000 in West Wilton New Hampshire (now under other ownership). Read about an early ancestor Major Isaac Frye (1747-1791) who fought in the Revolutionary War. See also the earlier ancestor John Frie (1601-1692).

See additional photos of other the communities around Wilton such as Peterborough (see Stephen O. Muskie) or Temple, NH. (see the Birchwood B & B.)--see also the Terraserver topo map and aerial image of West Wilton and the online A History of Wilton, New Hampshire by Fred Wilkinson, 1956. The photos below are of the Wilton Mill Pond central square area (the middle photo is from 2000 and the left one is from in the 1930s and an online postcard).

The plaque at left is on the monument to military dead in the central commons area by the Wilton, New Hampshire millpond (across street from the historic Masonic Building which is now the city library). See the Hillsborough County History/Genealogy page for more info. The Frye family lived across the street from Uriah and Annie Smith--early pioneers in the Seventh-day Adventist Church (see Adventist Heritage Ministry). Uriah Smith became the founding editor of the Review and Herald and Annie a poet and songwriter.

The  Frye Measure Mill on the National Registry of Historic Places is near the Frye home close to Wilton. It appears it was owned by distant relatives. See their lovely catalogue and photo tour (click to see hi-res version).

NINEVEH FORD FAMILY HISTORY

Robert Elden Ford Jr's  great- great- grandfather Nineveh Ford was one of the first pioneers to settle in the Oregon Territory . He traveled to Missouri in 1840 and then took the first big wagon train to use the Oregon Trail in 1843 along with a brother Ephraim.  Read account posted by Cecil Houk another Nineveh descendent as well as one by Charlotte Matheny. The PBS teaching resource and the website by Prof. Mike Trinklein and Steve Boettcher, creators of The Oregon Trail and links is also a useful site (for more go to Cecil Houk's Oregon Trail site).  

After a period in the Willamette Valley Nineveh settled near Milton, Umatilla County about ten miles south of Walla Walla --today called Milton-Freewater, Oregon.  The Umatilla County Historical Society as well as the Whitman Mission National Historic Site--location of the famous Marcus and Narcissa Whitman Massacre--and the Umatilla County GenWeb project and Museum of the Oregon Territory are other useful information sites on the web that describe the region and history.

Nineveh's parents were John S. Ford Sr. (born before 1780 and died between 1840-50) and Mary Eggers (daughter of Landrine Eggers) born about 1782 and died between 1859-1860. They moved west to settle on land near Boone North Carolina and Ajo--on the highest point of the Blue Ridge (see more below under John Squire Ford).

Back to Top

Nineveh Ford's grandfather (also named John Ford) first came to settle in the Piedmont of North Carolina  near Salisbury - Linwood NC on Potts Creek about 1740-50? They were part of the so-called Jersey Settlement.

The Jersey Baptist Church near Lexington and Salisbury, NC was established around 1755 (see photo of road sign and entrance to church as seen in April 2002--photos in top right column). Some suggest Quakers, Presbyterians, and Baptists used the same building in early years of the settlement.

John's parents and grandparents, and other ancestors such as George Eggers in the Jersey Settlement, (according to best accounts) were originally Scottish dissidents who were forced to became indentured servants and bannished to the region around Freehold and Manalapan - Monmouth County - New Jersey in the 1680s. The causes of their leaving seemed to have been land disputes as well as religious conflict which drove them ever farther into the frontier regions of North America.  

The John Ford listed on the following Ship's manifest MAY be our direct ancestor.  See article below about the "Covenanters": website: Ship "Henry and Francis" of New Castle, departed from the road of Leith, September 5, 1685, arrived at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in the middle of December, 1685

Three Forks Baptist Church, Boone, North Carolina and Revolutionary War Links for Landrine Eggersand the Greene Family

Greene Family History in Western North Carolina - Jersey Settlement History

Three Forks Baptist Church (Boone NC) as seen in April 2002; the photo above is an earlier structure dating from the 1800s. You can read more about this church which was first organized in 1790 --the first Baptist church organized west of the Blue Ridge in what was then Ashe and now Watauga County.  John and Mary are both listed on early church records at Three Forks; Mary was one of the founders of the Cove Creek Baptist Church as well and was a long-time deaconess there well into the 1840-50s.  

Mary Eggers is the daughter of Landrine Eggers b: 11 MAR 1757 d: 24 JUL 1837 and Johannah Greene b: BEF. 1755 d: 17 MAR 1840.  Landrine was a veteran of the Revolutionary War (see genealogical information by Cecil Houk another descendent of Nineveh).  The Greene's, Fords and Eggers are still common family names in North Carolina.

George Eggers (grandfather of  Landrine Eggers) is on the early roster of Old Tennent Presbyterian Church --a historic structure and cemetery on the larger Battlefield of Monmouth State Park near Manalapan and Freehold, New Jersey. This was the longest battle of the American  Revolutionary War.

Records in the Monmouth County Historical Association show a signature by George Eggers on an early offering list contributing to the building fund for Old Tennent Church.  Some documents also list Landrine Egger's baptism at Old Tennent as a "Presbyterian" though there is some indication the Eggers may have been Quakers while in New Jersey. Conversion to the Baptist denomination seems to have occured with many of those who went to the Jersey Settlement in North Carolina.

Jeremiah Greene, an early patriarch and father of Johannah Greene, fought at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse during the American Civil War.  Go to the National Military Park the website to learn more.  Jeremiah's family were also part of the early Jersey Settlement church around Salisbury (see above)--this area was then part of Rowan County (today it is within Davidson County).

Note some of the Greene headstones in this cemetery by the Meat Camp Baptist Church (above left).  Several Greenes lived in the region and the name is still common.  - this area is part of what was called the New River Valley (see map). See also interesting stories about  Tweetsie and Daniel Boone history.

Back to Top

John S. and John Squire Ford Family History near Boone, North Carolina

Civil War Facts and links to the Fords

The portrait at left is of John S. Ford's son (John Squire  Ford)--born 1861. See also  the Ford Cemetery near Boone, NC on the Blue Ridge Parkway (located between mile marker 285.55--near Bamboo, elev. 3262 where these is an access road to Boone on right--and mile marker 288.1).  It is located on land settled in the 1780s by an earlier John Ford Sr. and still remains in the family.

John S. Ford (born 1840) was a son of Smith Ford (born 1817 in Ashe County which is today part of Wautauga ).  He was a younger brother of Nineveh Ford (my g-g-greatfather) and was 10th out of 11 children by John Ford Sr. and Mary Eggers. You can read more about the counties in this region at the New River Notes historical site.

John S. Ford was a veteran of the Civil War and fought for the Union in the 13th Tennesse Cavalry while other family and friends fought on the Confederate side; a brother (Wellington) died during the War. The headstone at the left belongs to John S. Ford. The flag was placed by family members on Memorial Day 2002.

Learn more about what it was like during the Civil War in the border and mountain region in the fictionalized historical novel entitled: Haversack & Hog Rifle, by Robert Lee Greene, 2000 (2nd edition), Minors Printing, Boone, NC.  Ephraim W. Ford is listed among the "Watauga Minute Men enlisted on 18 September 1861" on the Confederate side (page 18-20).  The Greene Family Tree is included in the book (cover inset pages).  It starts with an early Jeremiah Greene and Joanna (Reeder) Greene who came from New Jersey (there were several descendents with the same name).

GPS Location of Cemetery above: 36deg. 09'02.73"N, 81deg 37'23.08" W

Back to Top

Willis & Rhoda (Andross) Ford and
Orley & Lillian Ford Family History

Family links to Adventism in the Northwest

One of Nineveh Ford's eleven children was Willis Ford (see earlier discussion of the Nineveh Ford story). Willis and his brother Clarence took out claims in the Palouse country of eastern Washington near Pullman in the 1870s. After a difficult ten years farming as a bachelor, including a stint in the militia during the Nez Perce Indian Uprising led by Chief Joseph he married Rhoda (Andross) Ford and started a family and build a thriving farmstead. The photo below left shows Willis as a young man.

The photo at the right (circa 1895) shows the oldest boy Frank Ford standing  in the middle back while Orley, the youngest child (with curls) is in the front.  Below is the farmstead where Orley Ford was born December 27, 1893. Orley Ford grew up on a large wheat farm south of Pullman, Whitman County Washington.

 The photo at the left is of Orley and his brother John in a country store near their farm south of Pullman on the Palouse prairie circa 1910-1912. Below (left) is the old barn and mill that existed until the mid-1990s. The photo below (right) is of the ancestral Willis Ford farmland on the Palouse Prairie about 7-10 miles south of Pullman Washington. See Virtual Tour Land and Life on the North American Prairie, by Robert  Ford--slide 21.

In the 1930s Willis Ford moved to Wasco, California after spending a few months near Signal Hill, California (he owned land on this site before oil was discovered but sold it because "it was not good farmland").

Nineveh Ford, at eighty years of age, was baptized as a Seventh-day Adventist as a result of the preaching of Pastor I. D. Horn, the first Adventist minister to visit the Walla Walla Valley. His son Willis and several other family members had become members earlier. Read more about the history of the first Adventists in the Northwest here.

Orley's parents Willis and Rhoda, and his grandfather Nineveh, were among the founders of Walla Walla College an SDA institution of higher learning established in 1892 in College Place, Washington after an earlier school established near Milton was closed. Nineveh Ford's farm was located near Milton and was the site of the first SDA Church in the area --today called Milton-Freewater, Oregon. Willis built a home in College Place after selling out and leaving the farm near Pullman so their children could have access to a Christian education.

Learn more from the  Walla Walla College Library Photo Project. Photo below (left) is of Orley and his classmates (he is seated on the front second from right. The photo at left is of the Old Ford home circa 1910 in College Place.

Orley later became a lifelong missionary to South and Central America for the Seventh- day Adventist Church as did his son Robert Elden Ford (Sr.)- Robert E. Ford Jr's father (see more below).  

Above left is Lillian Shafer and her sister Nellie. Lillian was the 14th of fifteen children from a large wheat farm near Larned, Kansas. The photo was taken in Kansas before her marriage to Orley Ford on July 2, 1917 under a big maple tree in the yard of the Willis Ford home in College Place. The old Ford place was located at the east end of Maple Street (now Sixth Avenue) and was the first brick house built in the Walla Walla Valley.

Back to Top

Profile of an SDA Adventist Missionary Family--Orley & Lillian Ford in Central and South America

ELDEN AND VENESSA FORD

Elden Ford and Venessa (Standish) (my parents) were also lifelong missionary-educators in Central America, including a time on Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras, where I grew up. My parents worked at various times establishing schools in Belize, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and El Salvador.

For more on the Bay Islands--see my field research photos from Guanaja and Honduras and Hurricane Mitch--see impacts of Mitch in Guanaja.

The photo at left is of Elden and Venessa Ford on the front steps of the secondary vocational school in San Francisco (Frisco) near La Ceiba (La Masica) on the north coast of Honduras which they helped establish in 1948. 

Robert E. Ford Jr. (age 4) the oldest son and sister Kathy Ford (age one) is in Dad's arms.

Back to Top

Later two other siblings joined the family--Daniel and Patricia (Pat Ford) Freel. Pat is a retired social worker and artist living in Loma Linda and Daniel (Dan) Ford, now retired, worked for Hewlett-Packard in Roseville, CA near Sacramento and later Amazon.com in Seattle as a systems engineer.

The post at Frisco was my parent's second missionary post where they served as schoolteachers. The Frisco vocational agricultural school eventually closed primarily due to competition with the Standard Fruit Company. The problem was the school attempted to market bananas to the US with independent Bay Islands shippers rather than thru the monopoly shipping/ railroad interests of the company. Eventually the school with its fertile lands soldout to the government; it became the Escuela Nacional Experimental Agropecuaria de la Region Tropical Humeda (ENEARTH John F. Kennedy)--see article about "agricultural extension training" for women in Central America. See also the United Fruit Historical Society's Bibliography on the Banana Republic's history (United Fruit Historical Society, Inc).

See also LULC Learning module Case No. 1 - Introduction for more about the Escuela Nacional Experimental Agropecuaria de la Region Tropical Humeda (ENEARTH John F. Kennedy).

The photo at the left is of Elden and Venessa in the year 2000 in Loma Linda California where they continued to work actively in retirement until Pastor Ford's death in 2006. Venessa lived in Loma Linda until 2013 where she was active with the Latino Seventh- day Adventist Church community. Many of their former students now live in Southern California and provided Venessa a strong community of support and engagement.

Consulting Capacity and Photo Business

GO HERE FOR IMAGE SALES
From iStock by Getty Images