West Ford (slave)

Various literature has reported the date for West Ford’s birth between late 1784-1787. 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. In Hannah's will, written in 1802, she specifies, "it is my most earnest wish and desire this lad West may be as soon as possible inoculated for the small 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".[4] West Ford's life is detailed in the book, "I Cannot Tell a Lie: The True Story of George Washington's African American Descendants."

Major George W. Ford, a grandson of West Ford, was born on the Mount Vernon plantation in 1847, and knew and interacted with his grandfather on a daily basis until the age of sixteen. Major Ford was an original member of the 10th Calvary Unit L, referred to as the Buffalo Soldiers. Major Ford stated in a 1937 article printed in the Illinois Journal Register Newspaper titled: "From Mount Vernon to Springfield," 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.[5] West was taught to read, write and arithmetic, which was against the law for slaves in Virginia. He was also taught the trade of carpentry.

When Bushrod Washington—who was the son of John and Hannah—inherited Mount Vernon upon the death of his uncle George, he brought his personal slaves West, Jenny (grandmother), Venus (mother), and Bettey (sister to West) with him.

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 and the Washingtons had his picture sketched for the occasion. The drawing of West Ford’s picture was highly unusual at the time as it was a privilege reserved for the wealthy masters and their families with the intent to capture the person’s individual identity or those of their family as a whole. The original sketch had been in the Washington family memorabilia for over 200 years and was donated in 1985, along with forty-one other manuscripts to Mount Vernon, and has been placed in their archives.

Ford fathered four children—William, Daniel, Jane, and Julia—with his wife, Priscilla Ford, a free black woman from Alexandria. Their children would also be 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, including Ford who was given 160 acres of land on Little Hunting Creek.[6] In 1833, Ford sold this land to buy a larger plot, of 214 acres, two miles north, at Gum Springs Farm and divided that land into 4 equal parcels for his children in 1857. At that time, Ford was the second richest free black farmer in Fairfax County, Virginia. Gum Springs Farm was the nucleus of a black community throughout the 19th century, a depo for blacks before and after the Civil War; Ford later became known as the "founder and father of Gum Springs". Gum Springs, Virginia is the oldest African American settlement in Fairfax County and was established in 1833.

West Ford was frequently highlighted in the media during his tenure at Mount Vernon, making his private life a matter of public record. In 1850, two Virginia newspapers—the Alexandria Gazette and the Virginia Advertiser—carried articles describing his prestigious position and authority at Mount Vernon. One article was written by Benson J. Lossing, who was a prolific and popular American historian and a personal friend of Washington Parke Custis. 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 the New Monthly Magazine.[7]

When the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association bought the Mount Vernon Plantation in 1858,[8] 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 for most of his adult life for heirs Bushrod Washington, John Augustine Washington II, and 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 the Alexandria 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." Oral reports from a descendant of Ford state that he was placed into the old tomb of Washington.[7]

Descendants of Ford maintain, through their family's oral history, that George Washington was the father of West Ford.[9] They also have gathered a plethora of documentation that is supported by historical accounts, books on Washington, land grants, last wills and testaments, journals, photographs, drawings, property deeds, tax records, census data, national archives, personal letters, and newspaper mentions.[10] The Ford claim gained greater publicity after DNA tests supported the connection between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in 1999.[11] However, the earliest reference to Ford's father being George Washington is from 1940: an article in the Pittsburgh Courier said he was "known as a negro son of George Washington.”[12]

Hannah and her enslaved maid, Venus, visited Mount Vernon, where George Washington was in residence during those visits, sometime between July 1784 and January 1785. It can be ascertained that Venus was in George’s company at least three recorded times from George’s diary in 1785. The dates the brothers were in each other’s company are June 1785, October 1785, October 1786.[13] A detailed explanation on possible dates of interaction can also be found in the book, "The Washingtons and Their Homes, by historian/author John Wayland.[14]

Another argument against George Washington's paternity is that he fathered no[2] children with Martha Washington. As she bore four children in her previous marriage, it is possible that George was infertile, perhaps due to an early bout with smallpox or tuberculosis.[15] There is the fact that George Washington did not believe he was sterile. In a remarkable letter written in 1786 (West Ford's birth date is believed to be around 1784–1786) to a nephew, the letter reveals that in George's opinion it was not because of himself that he was childless. The letter stated: "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. In the book, George Washington: The Man Behind the Myths, the authors William Rasmussen and Robert Tilton[14] state on page 90: "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."

DNA testing has not been carried out. In 1994, locks of hair supposedly from George Washington were given to the FBI for testing, but not enough DNA was recovered to make analysis possible. In addition, West Ford's grave is unmarked, and he shares the graveyard with approximately over a hundred other burials including other Ford family members: Jenny his grandmother, Venus his mother, his sister Betty, his son William Ford and his wife Henrietta, and Ford's daughter, Jane Ford Smith and her husband Porter. It is also assumed Ford's daughter Julia Ford Rodgers and her husband, Corrill are also buried there. As to the hair samples at Mount Vernon, they state that it would be extremely difficult to discern which one was his for DNA extraction.[6] If DNA were recovered from both George Washington and West Ford, it may only be possible to discern if Ford is related to the Washington male line.

• List of enslaved people of Mount Vernon

• Ford Family website
• 2021 Slave Commemoration Linda Allen Hollis Speech
• New Gum Springs Civic Association
• Gum Springs Museum