It is possible that our immigrant ancestor of this line was Martha (-----) Ford, who became the widow of a man named Ford, first name unknown, when he, "evidently died at sea," a man who had been a "leatherdresser" of Southwark, England. It is more likely that Martha's husband died soon after the 1621 voyage of the ship Fortune on which Martha and her children came from England to America. Mourt's Relation, p. 63, says about the passengers of that voyage, "these came all in health to us, not any being sick by the way - the good wife Ford was delivered of a sonne the first night shee landed and both of them are very well." In 1623, when land was allotted to the passengers who had come on the Fortune, the Widow Ford received four acres, presumably one for herself, and one each for her three children, Martha, John, and one child who could have been named William. This supposes that Martha did not obtain a share for a deceased husband which was against the custom of the day. Davis, the historian of Plymouth, says that these four lots were later owned by her daughter, Martha (Ford) Nelson. The widow Ford's name appears once more as having a second marriage to a Peter Brown and is not found after this in any of the records. All of my research articles agree that there is no evidence of a connection of mother and son between Widow Ford and the William Ford who was of Duxbury in 1643 and whom we know is our direct ancestor. The speculation of a connection continues, I suppose, so that what information there is is not lost in case new information is found which settles the matter to everyone's satisfaction.

William Ford first appears in Duxbury, MA in 1643, when a census was taken of the men between sixteen and sixty, able to bear arms in Plymouth Colony. He was a miller in Duxbury, and he later moved to Marshfield where he owned a mill in partnership with Josias Winslow, Jr. In 1652, he became a freeman, and he served in various public capacities such as highway surveyor and constable. On 3 October 1662, he was fined five shillings for allowing Samuel Howland to breach the Sabbath by carrying grist from the mill. In 1665-66, he became a selectman for Marshfield for the first of several times. His will, dated 12 September 1676, probated on 4 November 1676, mentioned his wife, sons William and Michael, daughters Margaret and Millicent, Margaret's unnamed husband, and grandsons John Ford, William Carver, and John Carver.

William and his wife Anna (Eames) Ford had four children:

• William, Jr., b. ca. 1633; m. Sarah Dingley.
• Michael, m. (1) Abigail Snow, daughter of Anthony and Abigail (Warren) Snow; m. (2) Bethiah Hatch.
• Margaret, m. Zachariah Soule. No children.
• Millicent, m. (1) John Carver, son of Robert Carver; m. (2) Thomas Drake.

William, Jr. and his wife Sarah (Dingley) Ford had nine children:

• John, b. 14 Aug. 1659; m. Hannah Sherman.
• Mercy, b. 29 April 1662; m. Samuel Thomas.
• Josiah, b. 15 Aug. 1664.
• Sarah, m. ----- Jones.
• Mary, m. Jabez Wilder of Hingham, MA.
• Margaret.
• Joseph, b. 1667; m. (1) Lois Stetson; m. (2) Sarah Doggett.
• Bethiah.
• Experience.

Joseph and his wife Lois (Stetson) Ford had ten children, all born in that part of Marshfield, MA that became Pembroke:

• John, b. 18 March 1693/4; m. Mary Cushing.
• Desire, b. 23 Aug. 1695; m. Caffort Bates.
• Ruth, b. 7 Sept. 1698; m. David Jay of Hingham, MA.
• Obadiah, b. Aug. 1700.
• Tabitha, b. 10 June 1702; m. Samuel Bryant of Plympton, MA.
• Joseph, Jr., b. 1 June 1704; m. Hannah Nichols.
• Paul, b. 19 April 1706.
• Amos, b. Aug. 1709; m. (1) Rebecca Churchill; m. (2) Sarah Bisbee.
• a son, b. 1711.
• Jessie, b. 1713; m. Mary Crooker.

Joseph, Jr. and his wife Hannah (Nichols) Ford had five children, all born in Pembroke, MA:

• Deborah, b. 4 Oct. 1735; m. Seth Fuller.
• Lois, b. 16 March 1736/7.
• Elizabeth, bpt. 11 Feb. 1739; m. Prince Keene of Duxbury, MA.
• Hannah, bpt. 9 Nov. 1740; m. Jonathan Turner.
• Joseph, III, bpt. 26 Sept. 1742.

Thomas Ford, his second wife, his daughter by his first wife, his three daughters by his second wife, and his stepson, came to New England in the ship Mary and John in 1630. They settled in Dorchester, MA. Go to the entry on Roger Clapp, Thomas Ford's son-in-law, to read some quotes about some of the experiences of the above ship's group on the voyage to America and the subsequent settlement of Dorchester, MA.

Thomas Ford was made a "freeman" on 18 May 1631. One of the first entries preserved in the book of Dorchester (MA) Town Records, dated 3 April 1633, dealt with the problem of fencing in the cattle. Among others, Thomas was obligated to contribute to the making of the fence as the owner of two cows, 20 feet for each cow. By the fall of 1633, it had become necessary for the townspeople to delegate some authority. It was decided that all inhabitants would attend a general meeting every Monday morning at eight o'clock, "to settle such orders as may tend to the general good." Also, it was agreed that twelve men (Thomas Ford was one of them) would be selected out of the company to meet, "to order the affairs of the Plantation." Thomas and his son-in-law, Roger Clapp, were appointed the collectors of the taxes for a fort to be erected. The General Court of the Colony put Thomas on a committee of three, on 4 March 1633/4, to settle the bounds between Boston and Roxbury which were in disagreement.

Thomas Ford was granted a house lot and other grants of land by the town during the years he lived in Dorchester, MA. Generally, these land grants reverted to the town, with compensation to the owner for any expenses he had incurred, when any settler moved to another community.

For a time, Dorchester was the largest town in the colony but its harbor was too shallow and Boston gradually surpassed it. The Massachusetts settlements had been placed too close to one another with not enough pasture for their cattle, so disputes about boundaries arose repeatedly. Without enough land, it was hard to maintain a minister or receive new people into the towns. Consequently, new land often was explored with the aim to find suitable places to accomodate citizens who wanted to better themselves. Such new land was found in what is now Windsor, Connecticut. When new emigrants arrived in 1635, the General Court granted the Dorchester men permission to go to Windsor. Several went in the summer of 1635 to make preparations for their families, but the greater number of about one hunderd men, women, and children, Thomas Ford and his family among them, mostly from Dorchester but a few from other towns, set out in September on a fourteen day arduous trip. Their first winter came early and was severe. The food they brought with them was not sufficient and the settlement, people, and cattle, suffered greatly. Three other settlements, Hartford, Wethersfield, and Springfield, not yet organized as towns, were united with Windsor under one government. On 8 March 1637/8, each of these groups chose three "committees" to represent them in the election of Magistrates. Thomas Ford was a "Committee" from Windsor to this first Court, to the Court of 5 April 1638, to the Court of 14 January 1638/9, and to the Court of 11 April 1639. The organization of the Town of Windsor, now in CT, followed the action of this Court of 1639 and from this time Deputies were elected by the towns to represent them in the General Court of the Colony. Ford served as Deputy from Windsor, CT, in 1640, 1641, 1644, and again in 1654, after his return from Hartford, CT.

Thomas frequently was a member of the jury of the Particular Court (which Court heard suits limited in importance to the individuals concerned) from 1641 to 1662. He was a memgber of the Grand Jury (which Court heard cases of general concern to the inhabitants) in 1643, 1654, and 1662.

After the death of his second wife in 1643 and his marriage to his third wife in 1644, we find Thomas in Hartford, CT, until sometime around 1651. He was running an inn, the first one established there. The inn occupied the former home of his third wife who had inherited it (as did her son) from her deceased husband, Thomas Scott, for her use during her lifetime. They ran the inn as late as 1648 and probably until about 1651. Thomas owned a house and two acres of land in Hartford, CT, but continued to own large properties in Windsor, CT, land he had purchased as well as large tracts he held by original grants. It is probable that Thomas and his wife moved back to Windsor after 1651 and lived there until they moved to Northampton, MA, before 1672. This final move probably came about so that they could, in their old age, be near thier daughter, Hepsibah, who lived in Northampton with her second husband, John Marsh. Here, Ann and Thomas Ford died. The inventory of his estate amounted to about three hundred and sixty-nine pounds.

Thomas and his first wife Joane (Waye) Ford had one child:

• Mary, bpt. in England, 18 April 1612; possibly married Aaron Cooke, Jr., son of her stepmother.

Thomas and his second wife Elizabeth (Chard) Cooke Ford had three children, all born in England:

• Joanna (possibly spelled Johannah), b. 8 June 1617; m. Roger Clapp.
• Abigail, b. 8 Oct. 1619; m. John Strong.
• Hepsibah, b. 15 May 1625; m. (1) Richard Lyman; m. (2) John Marsh.

Thomas and his third wife Ann (-----) Scott Ford had one child:

• Ann, b. in America, probably in either Windsor or Hartford, CT, m. (1) Thomas Newbury; m. (2) Joseph Leonard.