WELCOME

My genealogy research began when I needed to get my Dad's birth certificate in order to prove his age for Social Security benefits. We knew that my dad's parents had both died when he was a baby and that all the brothers and sisters had been split up and scattered but my Dad was so young that he had very little details. What I didn't know then I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams. I never did get that birth certificate but I found one of the most beautiful places on earth in Grassy Cove, Tennessee where my Great Great Great Grandfather was the first known settler. I also discovered a wealth of cousins, shirt-tail cousins and friends along the way. I found that my history was a richly-woven tapestry and I have tried to put a fraction of it out there in the hopes that all my FORD cousins can connect and share information.

John Ford, Sr. was a Revolutionary War veteran from Virginia and in 1801 he led a caravan of other families descended from the First Families of Virginia to seek homesteads in Tennessee. In 1803 John Ford, Sr. was instrumental in getting a log church built on his land.

There was a Bell Ringing Ceremony for Dr. John Ford & Nancy Loden Ford in 1993.
Grassy Cove Methodist Church held a 190th anniversary celebration of the church and a dedication of a marker for Dr. John Ford and his wife Mary Elizabeth Gibson Ford. It was purchased for them by members of the church congregation. The marker was a gravestone for them.

I have in my possession a copy of the deed drawn up and signed by Mary J. and her two brothers, Chris and John Ford, signing over the land that the Grassy Cove Methodist Church stands on today. The church is active at this time in July 1999.

The Ford home (these three siblings) became known as the stopping place for the Circuit Riders of the Methodist Church of that day. Aunt Mary always baked the sacrament bread and prepared the wine for the Lord's Supper, and performed other duties of a stewardess in the church from girlhood through her 62nd year of life. A room in the old home was kept immaculate for the reception of the Circuit Rider, who usually arrived at an unexpected moment to rest and recuperate form a long ride over the mountains.