Charles William Ford was born in 1890 in the small town of Arvonia (Buckingham County), Virginia to Thomas and Sallie Brown Ford. Charles' father, Thomas Ford, worked at the slate mines and lived in a house owned by the Buckingham Slate Company. Their six children (Thomas, Fletcher, Helen, Charles, Brown, and Mary Lee) were young when their mother Sally Brown Ford died. Because their father could not care for the children, Charles and Brown, the youngest boys, were sent to live at the Masonic Home in Richmond. Brown died in 1901 at the age of 13 during a Typhoid Fever epidemic at the orphanage. Charles was taken home and looked after by his sisters following Brown's death.
Charles served in World War I and was injured at the Battle of the Marne, France. After returning from service, with the help and encouragement of his older brother Fletcher Ford, Charles went to business school and became an accountant. Milton Morgan, who worked for the Bank of Eagle Rock in Allegheny County, Virginia and for the Morris Plan Bank (a forerunner of Signet Bank) in Richmond, Virginia, hired Charles and was said to have been his mentor. Charles worked for Mr. Morgan in Eagle Rock and later Mr. Morgan brought him to Richmond to work at the Morris Plan Bank.
Clara Mae Thompson, daughter of Robert William and Mary Louise (Montgomery) Thompson, was born at Rocky Point, Botetourt County, Virginia on December 22, 1891. There on the James River, Clara and her three sisters (Isabelle, Laura, and Josephine) and three brothers (John Robert, George B., and Guy Frank) grew up. All four girls went off to college, which in that day was quite unusual, and each earned a two-year teaching certificate. Clara attended Harrisonburg State Normal School (now James Madison University) and began her teaching career in a one-room schoolhouse at Natural Bridge Station in Rockbridge County, Virginia in October, 1911. She continued to take classes to complete her degree requirements and received a Bachelor of Science degree from Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia in 1936.
Clara's parents sold their home and land at Rocky Point (known as "the Lacky Farm") and moved to Buchanan, Virginia around 1919. Clara was teaching at Lowmoor when she met and married Charles William Ford. They moved to Richmond and on March 7, 1924 had a daughter, Mary Jean Ford. The Ford Family lived in Richmond until Charles' death nine months later. Charles' injuries from WWI caused the need for spleen surgury which was performed in Richmond by Dr. McGuire. 'Hemorrhaging following surgery' was said to be the cause of his death on December 5, 1924 at 34 years old. Charles is buried in Fairview Cemetery on Purgatory Mountain above Buchanan, Virginia.
Clara and Jean moved to Buchanan after Charles' death and shared a two-story Victorian house on Main Street with Clara's parents, an unmarried aunt (Laura) and an unmarried uncle (Guy) - the house was quite full as they also had two borders who worked in Buchanan during the week! Clara taught math at Buchanan High School from about 1925 until1956. Laura and Guy continued to run Thompson's General Store on Main Street after the death of the owner, their uncle, Joseph Bell Thompson. (I have fond memories of the Thompson Store and Willie Ranson's Drug Store next door ... fountain cokes ... !). Clara was awarded one of the first Teacher of the Year honors and was said to have been a very strict but very good teacher. Clara Ford died on December 25, 1956 from a heart attack, three days after her sixty-fifth birthday. She is buried alongside her husband at Fairview Cemetery.
Their daughter Jean is a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and friend to her husband, three daughters and three sons-in-law and her six ...'would you like to hear about my' ... grandchildren!
Information on Thomas and Agnes Lackey and High Bridge Presbyterian Church, Rockbridge Co, Va.
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