Spencer Ford

Full Name: Spencer Ford
Date of birth: November 30, 1830
Date of death: September 24, 1903

Terms of Service
Biographical Notes
Committee Information

Terms of Service top

Chamber	District	Dates of Service	Legislatures	Party	City/County	Note	Counties in District
S	25	Feb 2, 1863 - Jun 2, 1865	9th ⁽⁴⁾ ⁽⁵⁾ 10th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽²⁾ ⁽³⁾		Lockhart / Caldwell		Caldwell, Gonzales, Guadalupe

(1) Ford resigned 6/2/1865. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004, 2005.
(2) 10th Legislature, Regular Session - Roll call by district (holdover Senators), 11/2/1863, pp. 1-3. Senate Journal.
(3) 9th Legislature, Regular Session - Classification of Senators (drawing for terms of office) - predecessor Stephen Darden drew "the long term" (four years), 11/12/1861, p. 42. Senate Journal.
(4) Spencer Ford, sworn 2/2/1863, succeeded Stephen H. Darden, resigned. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004, 2005.
(5) 9th Legislature, 1st Called Session - Roll of Senators-elect to fill vacancies, oath of office administered, 2/2/1863, p. 1. Senate Journal.

Terms of Service top

Senate District 25
Feb 2, 1863 - Jun 2, 1865
Legislatures: 9th ⁽⁴⁾ ⁽⁵⁾ 10th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽²⁾ ⁽³⁾
Home City/County: Lockhart / Caldwell
Counties in district: Caldwell, Gonzales, Guadalupe

Biographical Information top

Resolutions and Journal entries

Member roster, 9th Legislature, 1st Called Session: Lockhart, Caldwell County. Senate Journal.

Biographical Sketches

Biographical sketch, Judge Spencer Ford, and photo with grandson Master Ford Rowan of Alvin, Texas. "Bryan: Men and Firms of Prominence, Who Make the Business and Social Life of a Lively City: Some Biographical and Business Sketches," The Pilot-Eagle, a combined trade edition of The Brazos Pilot and Bryan Eagle, 9/12/1895, p. 16. Bryan Eagle.

Military Service Notes

Spencer Ford, birth date 11/30/1830, death date 7/24/1912 on biographical sketch and "Sept. 24" on headstone photo (year illegible). Texas Burial Sites of Civil War Notables: A Biographical and Pictorial Field Guide, 2002.

Other Resources

Judge Spencer Ford, birth date 11/30/1830 in Lexington, Kentucky; married Mary Winifred Shaw; death date 9/24/1903 in Bryan, Texas. Ford Family Tree. Ancestry.com.
Census of 1860 - S. Ford, Lockhart, Caldwell County, age 29, attorney-at-law, born in Tennessee, spouse Mary W. Ford (age 24). N.J. Ford (5), P.S. Ford (2), Wm. L. Ford (18). FamilySearch.
Spencer Ford, death date 9/24/1903, in Bryan, Texas. FamilySearch Texas Deaths, 1890-1976.
Spencer Ford, birth date 11/30/1830, death date 9/24/1903, photo, burial in Bryan City Cemetery, Bryan, Brazos County, with spouse Mary W. Ford. Find a Grave.
Obituary, "Judge Ford Is Dead: Eminent Lawyer of Texas Passed Away at Bryan At 6:30 P.M. Yesterday, Prominent in Texas History, Member of Senate, District Judge, and Participant in the Civil War - His Legal Associates." Friday, 9/25/1903, p. 7. Dateline Sept. 24, Judge Spencer "died in this city at his home this afternoon." Born 11/30/1830 in Dover, TN. Galveston Daily News.
Mentioned in CALDWELL COUNTY: "Spencer Ford of Lockhart represented Caldwell County at the Secession Convention in January 1861 and voted in favor of secession." Handbook of Texas Online.
Judge Spencer Ford (son of Covington Ford and grandson of John Ford, Jr.), birth date 11/30/1830 in Dover, Tennessee, married Mary Winifred Shaw, death date 1903 in Bryan, Texas, daughter Nannie Josephine (N.J.) Ford, son Pickney Shaw (P.S.) Ford, in Kentucky Brights and Their Kin: Including the Crabb, Drane, Ford, Hopkins and King Families, Georgie Hopkins Ford, 1929, pp. 120-121. HeritageQuest Online.
"In 1876 the Hon. Spencer Ford was elected district judge of this district, to which Burleson county then belonged." "The Bench and Bar of Burleson County, Past and Present," by Judge A.W. McIver, Caldwell News-Chronicle, 3/28/1902, p. 9, crediting Harrie P. Woodson Memorial Library. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries).
Obituary, "Judge Spencer Ford Dead," Bryan Morning Eagle, 9/25/1903, p. 3. "Funeral of Judge Ford," Bryan Morning Eagle, 9/27/1903, p. 2. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries). 9/25/1903 9/27/1903
Delegate to Secession Convention of Texas, 1861. Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas 1861. Edited from the original in the department of state by Ernest William Winkler, State Librarian. Texas Library and Historical Commission, the State Library. Austin: Austin Print. Co., 1912, pp. 20-22. Originally published serially in newspapers. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin), 2009.
Mentioned in 9th Legislature, Called Session, p. 6. Lawyer, after Civil War served as District Judge in Brazos County. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889, 1999.

Committee Information top

10th R.S. - 1863 Judiciary Penitentiary Printing and Contingent Expenses (Chair) Private Land Claims
9th R.S. - 1861 Agriculture Counties and County Boundaries Enrolled Bills (Chair) Finance Judiciary Militia and Military Affairs Roads, Bridges and Ferries Treasurer's Books

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