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John Salmon "Rip" Ford

Male 1815 - 1897  (82 years)


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  • Name John Salmon "Rip" Ford  [1
    Nickname Rip 
    Birth 26 May 1815  Greenville County, South Carolina Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Gender Male 
    Death 3 Nov 1897  San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Notes 
    • Moved to Texas in 1836. (Dwight, p 184).

      FORD, JOHN SALMON (1815-1897). John Salmon (Rip) Ford, soldier, elected official, and newspaper editor, son of William and Harriet (Salmon) Ford, was born in Greenville District, South Carolina, on May 26, 1815. He moved to Texas in June 1836 and served in the Texas army until 1838, rising to the rank of first lieutenant under John Coffee (Jack) Hays. Ford settled in San Augustine and practiced medicine there until 1844, when he was elected to the House of the Ninth Congress, where he introduced the resolution to accept the terms of annexation to the United States. In 1845 he moved to Austin and became editor of the Austin Texas Democrat; he was later in partnership with Michael Cronican.

      During the Mexican War Ford was adjutant of Hays's regiment and in command of a spy company; he was commended for gallant service by Gen. Joseph Lane. While serving as adjutant, Ford acquired the lasting nickname "Rip." When officially sending out notices of deaths he kindly included at the first of the message, "Rest in Peace"; later, under the exigencies of battle conditions, this message was shortened to "R.I.P."

      In 1849, with Robert S. Neighbors, Ford made an exploration of the country between San Antonio and El Paso and published a report and map of the route, which came to be known as the Ford and Neighbors Trail. Later in 1849 he was made captain in the Texas Rangers and was stationed between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, where he had numerous Indian fights during 1850 and 1851.

      In 1852 he was elected to the Texas Senate; again he became an editor and, in partnership with Capt. Joe Walker, established the State Times, which was published in Austin until 1857. Early in 1858 he accepted a commission in the state troops and defeated the Indians in two major battles on the Canadian River. Late in 1859 he was sent to the Rio Grande, where he commanded operations against Juan N. Cortina. In 1861 Ford served as a member of the Secession Convention, commanded an expedition to Brazos Santiago, initiated a trade agreement between Mexico and the Confederacy, and was elected colonel of the Second Texas Cavalry, with a command in the Rio Grande district. Between 1862 and 1865 he discharged with tactful moderation the duties of commandant of conscripts, while at various times he was engaged on border operations protecting Confederate-Mexican trade. In May 1865 he led Confederate forces in the battle of Palmito Ranch, the last battle of the Civil War.

      In 1868 Ford moved to Brownsville to edit the Brownsville Sentinel. In 1872 he was a delegate to the Democratic convention in Baltimore. He was a special sergeant-at-arms when Richard Coke was inaugurated as governor in 1873 and quelled a riot of Austin citizens who were aroused against the radicals and Edmund J. Davis. In 1873 Ford served as a cattle and hide inspector of Cameron County, and in 1874 he was mayor of Brownsville. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1875 and served in the Texas Senate from 1876 to 1879, when he was appointed superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb School (later the Texas School for the Deaf). While in the Senate he urged the promotion of immigration to Texas and popular education, supported in part from the sale of public lands.

      Ford spent his later years writing reminiscences and historical articles and promoting an interest in Texas history. As a charter member of the Texas State Historical Association, he contributed one of the first articles published in its Quarterly. He died in San Antonio on November 3, 1897. (Written by Seymour V. Connor)

      BIBLIOGRAPHY: Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas (Chicago: Battey, 1889; rpt., Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1978). John S. Ford, Memoirs (MS, John Salmon Ford Papers, Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin). John S. Ford, Rip Ford's Texas, ed. Stephen B. Oates (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1963). William J. Hughes, Rebellious Ranger: Rip Ford and the Old Southwest (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964). Texas House of Representatives, Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832-1845 (Austin: Book Exchange, 1941).

      A series of articles about Rip Ford's time in San Augustine, Texas, were published in THE SAN AUGUSTINE TRIBUNE beginning with the Thursday, October 30, 2003 issue.

      Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "FORD, JOHN SALMON [RIP]," http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/FF/ffo11.html (accessed March 22, 2005).

      Elected into the Texas Rangers Hall of Fame. http://www.texasranger.org/dispatch/2/Ford.htm
    • (Research):
      Census Information:

      1870 Federal Census
      Texas, Cameron, Brownsville
      409-409
      FORD, John S. 55 M W Editor,Newspaper $---$200 S.Co
      FORD, Adeline 31 F W Keeping House Conn. FORD, Mary 8 F W At home Texas
      FORD, Addie 6 F Mexico
      FORD, John 4 M At Home Texas
      Next door to them was Adeline's mother, sister and niece.
    Person ID I21071  Strong Family Tree
    Last Modified 17 Aug 2014 

    Family 1 Mary Thomas Davis,   b. 28 Mar 1821, Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 24 Nov 1835 
    • "After receiving his license and entering a medical practice, he met a young girl named Mary DAVIS. They were married and became the parents of twins a year later, a boy and a girl. The marriage gradually fell apart and they were divorced shortly before Ford's twenty-first birthday. Leaving his daughter, Fannie, behind with his parents, Ford set out for Texas." Noble, Harry SAN AUGUSTINE TRIBUNE Thursday, October 30, 2003 "John Salmon (Rip) Ford "A New Resident" Carolyn Bausinger emailed, in June 2012, "Truth is that they were not married until 1835 and either she went with John Ford to TX or followed later. And their children were born there. And he did not leave Fannie behind with his parents. She came home with her mother. Fannie was 9 at the time the 1850 census was taken, and she was with her mother and aunt and uncle and their family, not with the Fords. Probably the later sanitized version sounded better than the truth in later years."
    Children 
     1. Fanny Ford,   b. Abt 1841, Republic Of Texas Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F7489  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Jul 2012 

    Family 2 Louisa Swisher,   b. Bef 1827   d. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage Abt 1845  Austin, Travis County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Family ID F7490  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Jul 2012 

    Family 3 Adeline Norton Smith,   b. 10 Oct 1838, Middle Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecticut Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown 
    Marriage 31 Mar 1860  Texas Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Children 
     1. Mary Louise Ford,   b. 15 Aug 1862, Texas Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     2. Addie Julia Ford,   b. 14 Jul 1864, Mexico Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
     3. John Ford,   b. 3 Apr 1866, Texas Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Yes, date unknown
    Family ID F7488  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 9 Dec 2006 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 26 May 1815 - Greenville County, South Carolina Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - Abt 1845 - Austin, Travis County, Texas Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 31 Mar 1860 - Texas Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 3 Nov 1897 - San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Sources 
    1. [S230] Noble, Harry Jr. "John Salmon (Rip) Ford 'A Hand in Everything'" SAN AUGUSTINE TRIBUNE December 4, 2003 p 12.

    2. [S32] Dwight, Benjamin "The History of the Descendants of Elder John Strong, of Northampton, Mass." (Orig. published Albany, NY, 1871, Reprinted by Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore, MD 2000), p 184 (Reliability: 3).