Unknown Ford (abt. 1592 - bef. 1623)

Born about 1592 in England

Husband of Martha (Unknown) Browne — married about 1616 (to before 1623) in England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 1623 before about age 31 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony

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Unknown Ford migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 1, p. 686) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

NOTE: There are no records in New England which name the man featured in this profile. The only records found are for his wife and children.

The given name, parents and origins (likely in England) of ______ Ford are unknown.^[1] He is sometimes referred to as William, although there is no evidence that he was called by that name.

His birth is estimated at about 1592 based on the the estimated birth of his first child about 1617.^[1][2]

Probably in England, Mr. Ford married a woman named Martha, whose last name at birth, parents and origins are also unknown. The first known information about Martha Ford (aka "Foorde") is her arrival in Plymouth on the ship Fortune on 10 November 1621. She was one the few women on board the ship.^[3][4] It is most likely that Martha traveled to New England with her husband and two children (see the "Comments" in Great Migration Begins).

In a letter dated 1 December 1621, Edward Winslow wrote: "Our supply of men from you came the ninth of November 1621. ... these came all in health unto us, not any being sicke by the way (otherwise then by Sea sickness) and so continue at this time, by the blessing of God, the good-wife Ford was delivered of a sonne the first night shee landed, and both of them are very well."^[5]

_____ Ford died shortly after arriving in New England, but was likely still living in December as Winslow calls Martha "goodwife Ford" in his letter and reports that everyone from the Fortune was healthy.^[5][6] However, by the land division of 1623, he had died and it was the "Widow Foord" who received 4 acres^[1] "beyond the .2. brooke".^[7] Martha received an acre each for herself, her deceased husband, and two children (John and Martha, who are later named in the cattle division). This implies that the child born shortly after her arrival was also deceased.^[8]

Martha remarried to Mayflower Passenger Peter Brown^[9] between the 1623 land division and the 1627 cattle division, probably about 1626. They had two more children.^[1] Martha's date of death is not known, but it is likely that she died sometime between 1628 and 1630.^[6]

Children

Children of _____ Ford and Martha:

1. John Ford, born about 1617; probably died (or left Plymouth) by 1643, as he is not listed as one of the men entitled to bear arms that year^[1][6]
2. Martha Ford, born about 1619; died 20 December 1683; married William Nelson^[1] and had children^[6]
3. Unnamed son Ford, born 9 November 1621 (one day after arriving in Plymouth),^[1][5] probably died before the 1623 land division^[8] and definitely before the 22 May 1627 cattle division^[6]

Research Notes

Disputed Parents

There is no evidence that he was the son of John Ford and Elizabeth Kemp and these parents were detached.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. Boston: NEHGS, 1995, vol. 1, pp. 686-687. AmericanAncestors.org($): Featured name: "______ Ford".
2. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles. The Pilgrim Migration: Immigrants to Plymouth Colony 1620-1633. Boston: NEHGS, 2004, p. 211: ____ Ford. Not available online.
3. ↑ Stratton, Eugene Aubrey. Plymouth Colony: Its History & People 1620-1691. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986, pp. 255-256, 292-293. Not available online.
4. ↑ Johnson, Caleb. "Peter Browne" on MayflowerHistory.com.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} Dexter, Henry Martyn. Mourt's Relation or Journal of the Plantation at Plymouth. Boston: John Kimball Wiggin, 1865, pp. 137-138. GoogleBooks (originally p. 63).
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4} Barclay, Mrs. John E. "Goodwife Martha Ford Alias "Widow" Ford, Her Second Husband, Peter Browne, and Her Children" in The American Genealogist, vol. 42, 1966, pp. 35-42. AmericanAncestors.org($).
7. ↑ Pulsifer, David, ed. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England, Vol. 12: Deeds, &c. Vol. I 1620-1651. New York: AMS Press, 1968 (originally published 1861), p. 5, land division; p. 11, cattle division. Archive.org.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Wakefield, Robert S. "The 1623 Plymouth Land Division" in The Mayflower Quarterly, 1974, vol. 40, p. 55. AmericanAncestors.org($).
9. ↑ Anderson. The Great Migration Begins. 1995, vol. I, pp. 259-261. AmericanAncestors.org($): Peter Browne.

See also:

• Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England, Vol. 2: Court Orders 1641-1651. New York: AMS Press, 1855, p. 6. Archive.org: son John last appears in 1640 court records
• Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, in New England. Vol. 1: Court Orders 1633-1640. New York: AMS Press, 1855, p. 153. Archive.org: marriage of daughter to William Nelson
• Wakefield, Robert S. Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, 2nd ed., Vol. 7: Peter Brown. General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 2002, p. 1. AmericanAncestors.org($). NOTE: only page 1 is viewable online.
• Young, Alexander. Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth, from 1602-1625. Boston: C. C. Little and J. Brown, 1841, p. 235-236. Archive.org. Winslow's letter.
• Joiner, Rev. Darrell and Sallyann. Cary Family History, unpublished manuscript (not checked)