West Ford (c. 1784 – 1863) was the caretaker and manager ofMount Vernon, which had been the home ofGeorge Washington. Ford also foundedGum Springs, Virginia near Mount Vernon.
Ford was born on theBushfield Plantation inWestmoreland County, Virginia, the son of a woman named Venus, who was classified as "mulatto" in the parlance of the time. Venus was held in bondage as ahouse slave by Washington's brotherJohn Augustine Washington, and by John's wife Hannah.[1][2] The Ford family'soral history states that West Ford’s father was President Washington, and some historians who have addressed the matter believe that theory is possible, though not probable.[3][4][5]
In 1802, Ford moved toMount Vernon, where President Washington had died in 1799. Ford became a free man about 1805. In 1833, he established the settlement of Gum Springs, which was the first African American settlement inFairfax County, Virginia. He continued to work at nearby Mount Vernon until 1860, and returned to Mount Vernon when theMount Vernon Ladies' Association brought him to the estate to care for him during his final illness and death, while theAmerican Civil War was raging.[2]
West Ford's exact birth date is unknown but Mary V. Thompson, Mount Vernon Research Historian, writes that the year was "about 1784".[6] West Ford's age has been recorded several times all with different dates in the range of 1784 to 1787.[7]
When John Augustine Washington died in 1787, he left Venus and her parents, Jenny and Billey, to his wife, Hannah. There was no mention of West in his will.[8] In Hannah's will, written in 1802, she specified:
[I]t is my most earnest wish and desire this lad West may be as soon as possible inoculated for thesmall pox, after which to be bound to a good tradesman until the age of 21 years, after which he is to be free the rest of his life.[9]
MajorGeorge W. Ford, a grandson of West Ford, stated in a 1937 article that his grandfather was a personal attendant of George Washington as a small boy and that Washington took him to church and on wagon rides.[3] West was taught to read, write and do arithmetic, which was against the law for slaves in Virginia. He was also taught the trade of carpentry.[10]
WhenBushrod Washington—a judge on the U.S. Supreme Court who was the son of John and Hannah—inherited Mount Vernon upon the death of his uncle George, he brought his personal slaves with him including West Ford, Jenny (West’s grandmother), Venus (West’s mother), and Bettey (sister to West).[13]
Along with Ford's jobs of carpenter and gardener, he would become the main guardian of George Washington's tomb as many visitors were known to flock to his gravesite. West was granted his freedom around 1805.
Ford fathered four children—William, Daniel, Jane, and Julia—with his wife, Priscilla Ford, a free black woman from Alexandria. Their children were born free, and were educated on the Mount Vernon Plantation. When Bushrod Washington (nephew and heir to Mount Vernon after the death of Washington) died in 1829 without issue, he willed land to three of his nephews and a niece, also including Ford who was given 160 acres of land onLittle Hunting Creek.[14][2] One of his grandsons was MajorGeorge W. Ford.[3]
In 1833, Ford sold the land he inherited from Bushrod Washington, to buy a larger plot of 214 acres, located two miles north at Gum Springs Farm.[15] He divided his new land into four equal parcels for his children in 1857. At that time, Ford was the second richest free black farmer inFairfax County, Virginia.
Gum Springs Farm was the nucleus of a black community throughout the 19th century, a depot for blacks before and after the Civil War; Ford later became known as the "founder and father of Gum Springs". In view of its 1833 establishment,Gum Springs, Virginia is the oldest African American settlement in Fairfax County.[16] A Virginia State historical marker honoring Ford[17] was placed in Gum Springs on Fordson Road in June 2023.[18]
West Ford was frequently highlighted in news publications during his tenure at Mount Vernon, making his private life a matter of public record. In 1850, two Virginia newspapers—theAlexandria Gazette and theVirginia Advertiser—carried articles describing his prestigious position and authority at Mount Vernon.[citation needed] Another article was written byBenson J. Lossing, who was a prolific and popular American historian and a personal friend ofGeorge Washington Parke Custis (grandson ofMartha Washington and step-grandson of George). Lossing asked after his interview if he could sketch West's picture. West told him he needed to clean up a bit as,"Artists make colored folks look bad enough anyhow." After the sketch was finished, West signed his name with Lossing's pencil at the bottom of the drawing. Lossing submitted the article for print in theHarpers New Monthly Magazine.[19] This 1859 drawing can be seen at top right.
When theMount Vernon Ladies' Association bought the Mount Vernon Plantation in 1858,[1][2] Ford became a valuable source of information about the original appearance of the estate in George Washington's day. He had managed the Mount Vernon estate during most of his adult life for George Washington’s heir Bushrod Washington, then for Bushrod’s heir John Augustine Washington II (grandson of George Washington’s brother John), and then for the latter’s son John Augustine Washington III. When Ford became ill in 1863, he was brought to Mount Vernon to be cared for by the Association. He died on July 20 of that year in the mansion house. His obituary appeared in theAlexandria Gazette Newspaper and read:
West Ford, an aged colored man, who has lived on the Mount Vernon estate the greater portion of his life, died yesterday afternoon at his home on the estate. He was, we hear, in his 79th year of his age. He was well known to most of our older citizens.[6][20]
Descendants of Ford maintain, through their family's oral tradition, that George Washington was the father of West Ford.[3][22] They also have gathered documentation including historical accounts, scholarly works on Washington, last wills and testaments, drawings, tax records, census data, and personal letters.[23] The controversy about whether Washington was Ford's father first surfaced in 1940.[24][20][25] The Ford family's claim gained greater publicity afterDNA tests carried out in 1999 lent support to the asserted connection betweenThomas Jefferson andchildren born to his enslaved servant and companionSally Hemings.[26]
Hannah and her enslaved maid, Venus, per Washington's diary, visited Mount Vernon, where George Washington was in residence, sometime between July 1784 and January 1785. It can be inferred that Venus was in George's company at least three recorded times from George's diary in 1785. The dates the brothers (George and John) were in each other's company are June 1785, October 1785, October 1786.[27] A detailed explanation on possible dates of interaction has been compiled and published by historian and author John Wayland.[28]
An argument against George Washington's paternity is that he fathered no children withMartha Washington.[1] As she bore four children in her previous marriage, some sources state that Washington was infertile, perhaps due to an early bout with smallpox or tuberculosis, though studies have shown that smallpox does not always cause sterility.[29] In a letter written in 1786 (West Ford's birth date is believed to be around 1784–1786) to a nephew, George Washington expressed his opinion that it was not because of himself that he was childless with his wife. The letter also stated that he had no biological children:
If Mrs. Washington should survive me there is moral certainty of my dying without issue, and should I be the longest liver, the matter in my opinion is almost as certain; for whilst I retain the reasoning faculties I shall never marry a girl and it is not probable th[a]t I should have children by a woman of an age suitable to my own should I be disposed to enter into a second marriage.
Some speculate that it was Martha Washington who could not conceive a child with her husband. Authors William Rasmussen and Robert Tilton have written that, "According to a tradition passed down in Masonic circles, Martha Washington would have needed some sort of corrective surgery in order to conceive additional children, after the birth of Patsy."[30][28] But regardless of whether Martha Washington could biologically have had children after her marriage to George, most historians believe that George could not, despite his own expressed opinion.[4]
DNA testing has not been carried out even though the family has asked for it to be conducted. In 1994, locks of hair supposedly from George Washington were given to theFBI for testing, but not enough DNA was recovered to make analysis possible.[31] In addition, West Ford's exact burial site is unknown. His family has stated that his body was placed in the old tomb of Washington upon his death and now it is thought his body was buried in Mount Vernon's Enslaved Burial Ground along with burials of perhaps 50 to 75 other individuals.[32] Without corroborating evidence including DNA, or favorable treatment to indicate a relationship, establishing a relationship between the two is challenging. Linda Allen Hollis, the Ford family's official chronicler, is conducting new DNA research and gathering information from extended family branches to help substantiate the claim that West Ford was the son of George Washington.[33][34] However if evidence was able to be found it still may be possible to discern if the two men were father and son.[31][35][36] According to Bushrod Washington biographerGerard Magliocca, it is more logical that West Ford's father was one of the four Washington men who lived at Bushfield plantation when Ford's mother was there. (Bushfield is where West Ford grew up before moving to Mount Vernon in 1802.)[37]
Cabinet card of West Ford, 19th century. This faded cabinet card (photograph pasted onto a cardboard backing) features a sketch of West Ford by an unknown artist. The original sketch was likely made in the early 19th century, when Ford was in his 20s or 30s. MVLA, Gift of Mrs. John Beebe, 1985
The more logical view is that one of the four Washington men at Bushfield was Ford's father. Which one of these four —- Augustine, Corbin, Jack, or Bushrod —- was the most likely man? Alas, there is no way to know.
Media related toWest Ford (slave) at Wikimedia Commons
