Well, if you want to believe that Merriam Ford vital statistics are:
Birth: 1752
Colonial Era US
Death: 1800 (47-48)
Lake View, Dillon, formerly Marion District, South Carolina, United
States
and that Celia (Sallie) Ford has the following vital stats:
Birth: 1749
Georgetown District, Marion County, South Carolina, Colonial US
Death: 1798 (48-49)
Marion District, currently Dillon County, South Carolina, United States
We still have two more wives to reportedly sort out the following children noted in Family Search https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GM1H-LYB
Captain James H. Ford
1776–1854 • LDT7-8HY
Major George Ford
1779–1833 • LJBM-KHC
Thomas Herald Ford
1779–Deceased • L29L-NXH
Preserved Ford
1780–1867 • LJY1-NXG
James Ford
1781–1841 • GMQG-XHT
Cooper Ford
1782–Deceased • LK79-F7V
Rachel Elizabeth Ford
1784–1832 • L636-QQV
Major Jesse Ford
1788–1860 • LHWP-XVG
William J. Ford
1792–1856 • GWCJ-GBW
Mary Ann Ford
1797–1862 • LHVD-8N1
Major George Ford
1779–1833 • LJBM-KHC
Major Jesse Ford
1788–1860 • LHWP-XVG
John Ford
1790–Deceased • L1GR-7PV
Charles Ford
1791–Deceased • LK79-F6P
William J Ford
1792–1856 • KN1X-R1X
John Ford
1794–1862 • LW54-FQ1
Charles Ford
1802–1822 • MPRY-HT7
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As you can see above some are duplicates or nearly. Then there are the other two wives.
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From Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/80720906/preserved-ford
Preserved Ford and his four wives were all buried on the west side near the edge of Neil Arnett's yard not quite in front of the old Masonic Hall (east side of the Masonic Hall).
"He fought for the King of England - probably was caught over in America and had to fight for the king or be tried for treason as some others were at that time."
Tradition has it that he said "a man never had but one good wife, but he had four and they were all good."
The cemetery where he and his wives are buried was plowed over many years ago.
(From Family Notes)
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From W. W. Sellers "History of Marion County, SC" published in 1901.
http://genealogytrails.com/scar/marion/history4.html#ford
FORD.-The Ford family, in upper Marion, were among the first settlers in upper Marion. In the appendix to Ramsay's History of South Carolina, on page 302, volume 2, he says: "There have been many instances of longevity in the county between Little Pee Dee and Catfish Creek, about sixty miles north of Georgetown; six very old men died there since the year 1800. One of them, James Ford, died in or near 1804, at the age of one hundred years. The others are James Mun-nerlyn, Moses Martin, Rockingham Keene, Michael Mixori and William Watson, who all died upwards of eighty years of age, James Munnerlyn served in the office of Constable at eighty-six years, walked fifty miles to serve a process and returned home again in less than thre days."
Where the Fords of Marion originally came from, is unknown. The James Ford mentioned above by Dr. Ramsay, must have been here two hundred years ago; and without better or other information, the writer will assume that either he or some other contemporary Ford were the progenitor or progenitors of the extensive family by that name.
The first one known to the writer, in about 1830, was Preserved Ford, universally called Zarv Ford; he was then seventy-five or eighty years of age, may be older; he lived on the west side of Gaddy's Mills, then called Ford's Mills. It was at an association held at the old Saw Mill Church, on the east side of the mills-the church was old and dilapidated. It was there that I first saw him, and never saw him afterwards. He was a well-to-do man, and prominent in his day; he hadl three sons, Jessee, William and Charles.
Major Jessee Ford, the eldest son, represented the district in the Legislature in the twenties-I do not know the precise date [Jessee Ford was elected a Representative in1820. See list of Representatives in latter part hereof]. He was Major in the militia; his first wife was a Miss Townsend, of Robeson County, N. C.; by her he had two sons, the late Elias B. Ford and Allen Ford; his second wife was a Miss Watson, a daughter of Scarcebook Watson, above Nichols, on the road from Nichols to Lumberton, N. C.; by the second wife he had several sons and daughters; the sons, as their names are remembered, were Watson, Jessee, Thomas, David and Charles Ford. The war and emigration have removed them all, except Jessee, who is now an old and respectable citizen in the community of his birth, and has raised a family, unknown to the writer. The daughters of Major Jesse Ford, as remembered, were Elizabeth, Mary, Caroline and Virginia. Elizabeth married William H. Hays; by him she had several children; Mary married John I. Gaddy, and died in a year or two childless; Caroline married Dr. George E. Shooter, and raised a large family, unknown; I do not remember what became of Virginia. Major Jesse Ford may have had other daughters.
Elias B. Ford, a most excellent and kind hearted man, born in 1809, married, 9th February, 1830, Miss Jane Herring, of Robeson, N. C, a woman of good property and one of the best of women; the fruits of this marriage were three sons. "Sandy" Ford, for a long time in Marion, and very prominent as a business man, now resides in Anderson County [Moved to Texas]. Dr. C. T. Ford, of Mullins, and Rev. Rufus Ford, a prominent minister of the Baptist Church, and now resides in Marlborough, and several daughters. Neill C. McDuffie, Sheriff, married two of them; D. D. McDuffie married one; Joseph N. Page married one, and George Fore married one; one unmarried and one dead, names not remembered. Elias B. Ford lost his wife, the mother of these children, and he married, a second time, the Widbw Helen Pitman, who had four Pitman children, two sons and two daughters; the sons were killed or died in the war, and one of the daughters died during the war, all unmarried; the other daughter, the youngest, Amanda, married the late Joseph R. Oliver, and had by inheritance a good property. Elias B. Ford had no child or children by his second marriage; he died some years ago, greatly missed by the poor of his neighborhood.
Allen Ford, the second son of Major Jessee Ford by his Townsend wife, married a Miss Falk, of Robeson; she died childless in a few years, and he removed to the West many years ago. Major William Ford, the second son of old man "Zarv" Ford, married a Miss Thompson; he was a well-to-do man; had not many children; the writer does not remember but one, a daughter, Sallie, who had a personal distinction, seldom, if ever, met with-she had a black eye and a blue one; a very pretty girl; she married John R. Watson, who occupied and owned his father's homestead, on the road from Nichols to Lumberton, N. C.; he died, leaving six or seven children together with his widow; the children all small; the widow managed well and raised a very nice family, sons and daughters-mostly daughters; the mother died some years ago, much respected while living. Major William Ford may have had a son, not now recollected; he had another daughter, as now remembered, who became and is now, the wife of Captain R. H. Rogers.
Old man "Zarv" Ford's third and youngest son, Charles, died after arriving at manhood, unmarried. There was another old Ford, by name of George, who lived just below Tabernacle Church, on the road leading from Bear Swamp to Allen's Bridge, on Little Pee Dee; he was related to those other Fords, at least collaterally; he was a very energetic man and accumulated some property. I never knew much of him; he was not a very old man when he died. I know that he left two sons, William and Nelson Ford, and know that he had three daughters, if no more, to wit; second wife of William Good-year, Sr.-her name was Elizabeth; also the wife of the late Benjamin Shooter-her name was Mary; she was the mother of the Shooter family, a numerous family, and among them the gallant Colonel W. P. Shooter, who was killed in the severe battle of Spottsylvania Court House, in May, 1864. A family noted for its gallantry in the war. Colonel Win. P. Shooter and two of his brothers (names not remembered) fell on the same day and in the same fight. Another daughter was the wife of Anthony Cribb, and became the mother of our W. T. Cribb and of Dempsy Cribb, Jr.; the latter is dead. W. T. Cribb is a respectable and good citizen, a brave soldier in the struggle for the "Lost Cause," and so was his brother, George T. Cribb. He lost a leg in the contest, and yet lives. Of the sons of George Ford, William (familiarly called "Little Bill Ford"), as now remembered, married, first, a Miss Lupo; he raised some family by her, the names and number not now known to the writer. "Little Bill Ford" has been dead some years, and perhaps his Butler wife. Nelson Ford lived to an advanced age, eighty or more, has not been dead many years; he was a most excellent man and worthy citizen; he married a Miss Lupo, and raised a family, how many is not known; one of his sons, named Hardy, lives near Nichols, and is a most excellent man and one of our best citizens. The Ford family, as a whole, were good people, and extend down two or three generations further than herein traced; for the want of information and personal acquaintance, the writer can go no further. They did their duty fully in the war, and demonstrated to their country a patriotism and courage of which the present and coming generations may be proud. Their connections are extensive.
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Again, not much is recalled about the women.....Sigh.
