Loyd Ford, Jr.

1748 - 1843  (95 years)

• Name	Loyd Ford
  Suffix	Jr.
  Birth	1748	Baltimore, , Baltimore County, Maryland
  Gender	Male
  Death	18 Nov 1843	Missouri Or Tennessee, , ,
  Notes	Lloyd Ford was a private in the American Revolutionary War FORD V. FORD 1846 This significant decision of the Tennessee Supreme Court provides a valuable understanding of the Tennessee judiciary's peculiar relationship with the institution of slavery. The case arose after the death in 1842 of Loyd Ford of Washington County. Ford, a yeoman farmer, owned several slaves whom he regarded with particular affection. He drafted a will that freed the slaves and bequeathed them his real property. Before Ford's death, his children attempted to force him to destroy the will and even offered money for its destruction to the person holding the document for safekeeping. After Ford's death, his slaves presented the will to the Washington County courts for probate. The executors of the will, however, appeared and contested it. A jury found that the will was valid and the contestants appealed. While the Tennessee Supreme Court remanded the case for retrial on evidentiary grounds, the court's opinion, authored by Justice Nathan Green, affirmed the legal right of the slaves to bring suit to probate the will. Ford's children argued that "the devisees in this case are slaves, and have no rights, either perfect or inchoate, until the will manumitting them shall be proved." Justice Green rejected this argument, which would obviously frustrate Ford's intent. More significantly, however, the court also found the legal rights of Ford's slaves to be worthy of protection. Green wrote: "A slave is not in the condition of a horse or an ox. His liberty is restrained, it is true . . . . But he is made after the image of the Creator. He has mental capacities, and an immortal principle in his nature, that constitute him equal to his owner but for the accidental position in which fortune has placed him. . . . [T]he laws under which he is held as a slave have not and cannot extinguish his high-born nature nor deprive him of his many rights which are inherent in man." (1) On retrial, a jury found in the slaves' favor a second time, and in 1850 they were finally freed and granted the property that Ford had bequeathed them. Ford v. Ford demonstrated the tensions inherent in a system of civil law grounded on the notion of individual liberty operating in the context of a slaveholding culture. The antebellum Tennessee Supreme Court at least acknowledged the humanity of slaves, treating them as being "in the two-fold character of persons and property." (2) More than the U.S. Supreme Court and many other southern courts, the Tennessee courts, for the most part, acknowledged and protected the legal rights of slaves. The progressive nature of this approach becomes more evident when contrasted with the opinion of U.S. Chief Justice Roger Taney in the Dred Scott case, decided eleven years after Ford v. Ford. In that case, Taney found that, under the U.S. Constitution, even free blacks "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." (3) G. Brian Jackson, Nashville (1) Ford v. Ford, 26 Tenn. (7 Hum.) 92 (1846). (2) Jones v. Allen, 1 Head 636 (1858). (3) Dred Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 393 (1857). Suggested Reading(s): Arthur F. Howington, "Not in the Condition of a Horse or an Ox," Tennessee Historical Quarterly 34 (1975): 249-63. See Also: NATHAN GREEN; LAW; SLAVERY ................................................................................................................................................................... In the book: Fathers of Conscience By Bernie D. Jones "...Loyd Ford of Washington County, Tennessee made a Will in 1840 directing that "John Ford and other salves" be emancipated and given real property. They were alleged to have been his illegitmte enslaved children"... it does not mention how many children there were. ................................................................................................................................................................... This gedcom was downloaded from Roots.com or Ancestry.com from the files of Sandra Selph-Hunter. Should you find errors or wish to make new contributions please contact Sandra at her e-mail: sandyspiritwalker@hotmail.com.
  Person ID	I34900	DeLoach Ancestry
  Last Modified	1 Jun 2016

  
  

  Father	Lloyd Ford,   b. 10 Nov 1727, Anne Arundel County, , , Maryland d. Jul 1816, Stinking Creek, , Washington County, Tennessee (Age 88 years)
  Mother	Mary Grant,   b. 6 May 1733, Saint Paul's Parish, , Baltimore County, Maryland d. 19 Mar 1843, Washintgon County, , , Tennessee (Age 109 years)
  Marriage	Y  [1]
  Family ID	F10540	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family ID

  F11350

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Unknown Slave Woman
  Children	1. John Ford   2. Unknown Ford
  Family ID	F11251	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 3	Mary Ann Wood,   b. 1760, Saint Paul's Parish, , Baltimore County, Maryland d. 1842, Washintgon County, , , Tennessee (Age 82 years)
  Marriage	20 Feb 1780	Saint Paul's Parish, , Baltimore County, Maryland
  Children	1. Bettie Ford   2. Elizabeth Ford   3. Malinda Ford   4. James Ford,   b. Between 1782 and 1784, Baltimore, , Baltimore County, Maryland d. Apr 1860, Sullivan County, , , Tennessee (Age ~ 78 years)   5. Loyd Ford, III,   b. Abt 1786, , Giles County, Tennessee, d. 1 Feb 1863, Hawkins County, , , Tennessee (Age ~ 77 years)   6. Alexander Ford,   b. Between 1788 and 1789, , Giles County, Tennessee, d. 1863 (Age ~ 75 years)   7. Grant Ford,   b. Between 1786 and 1792, Washintgon County, , , Tennessee d. Jun 1860, Washintgon County, , , Tennessee (Age ~ 74 years)   8. Nancy Jane Ford,   b. Nov 1795, Washintgon County, , , Tennessee d. 1 Jun 1880, Monroe County, , , Kentucky (Age ~ 84 years)   9. Benjamin W. Ford,   b. Between 1795 and 1798   10. William Ford,   b. 1797, Washintgon County, , , Tennessee d. 30 Jul 1858, Monroe County, , , Kentucky (Age 61 years)   11. Enoch Ford,   b. Abt 1800, , Giles County, Tennessee,   12. Thomas P. Ford,   b. Abt 1803, Baltimore, , Baltimore County, Maryland
  Family ID	F10046	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S86] Wolfrey.