Colonel Jacob Ford, Jr.

A Patriot of the American Revolution for NEW JERSEY with the rank of COLONEL. DAR Ancestor # A040758

Jacob Ford Jr. was a pioneer in Colonial Iron works and powder manufacturing, a commander of the Eastern Battalion, New Jersey Militia 1776-77, attained the rank of Colonel, was buried with full military honors, with General George Washington in attendence at the funeral. Washington and his official family were the guests at their home in Morristown, New Jersey during the winter of 1779-1780, while the Continental Army was encamped at Morristown. A statue of Washington , to commemorate his headquarters in Morristown stands to remind people of the importance of this area of the state: during the Revolutionary War, the area sheltered the main encampments of the American Continental Army, with the Ford Mansion serving as the command site.

GEDCOM Note

American Revolutionary Militia Officer. Second son and sixth child of eight born to Jacob and Hannah Ford of Morristown, New Jersey. In 1762, he married Theodosia Jones, the daughter of the local Presbyterian minister. They would have five children. Ford's father gifted the couple a 200 acre tract in Morristown upon which they built what was at the time the largest house in town. He also owned two iron forges at Long Meadow and Middle Forge, as well as grist and hemp mills, and an iron furnace at Mount Hope, which he leased to Swiss iron master, John Jacob Faesh. In 1765 he was elected sheriff and served for three years. In January of 1775, Ford was commissioned First Colonel of Militia of the Eastern Battalion of the Morris County Militia. In April he submitted plans to the New Jersey Committee of Safety for a gunpowder mill to be built near Morristown. He, in partnership with his father, are granted a loan for construction and the mill was in production by June. By September, his militia unit is on duty at Bergen Neck (present day Jersey City) during the battles for New York. Form there, they were ordered to Elizabethtown (present day Elizabeth) and by November he was named commander of Bergen, Essex, and Morris County militias. By December, General Williamson, the overall commander of New Jersey State Militia, asked to resign his post, and recommended Ford as his replacement. In December, Ford led an attack against a larger British force at Springfield with 500 militia and routed them, taking only three casualties. The militia then returned to Morristown in order to recruit and began marching his new recruits to Chatham. On January 4 he collapsed, ill with pneumonia, and was carried to his home. He died less than a week later at the age of 39. General George Washington, quartering in Morristown that winter, ordered a funeral with military honors for the militia colonel. Delaware troops served as an honor guard. In a letter from Samuel to John Adams, he was referred to as "a leader…brave Colonel Ford, they followed him with alacrity."