EUGENE L. FORD, In Green Township are located many of the best improved and most valuable farmsteads of Madison County, and one of these which is conspicuous for its improvement, for its general appearance of thrift and prosperity. and for the value of the crops which are every year produced in its field and in the barns is that of Eugene L. Ford, Mr. Ford has spent about sixty years of his life in Madison County, and lacks only about a year of being able to claim it as his birthplace, He was born in Wayne County, Indiana, December 9. 1852, and was a son of John W. and Martha A. Williamson Ford, a native of Maryland, was a carpenter by trade and came to Madison County in 1853, His mother was a native of Virginia, For a number of years the father was engaged in sawmilling and in contracting, and during his residence in Madison County he constructed many of the school houses in Green Township, besides a large amount of other work, He and his wife were members of the Methodist church, and they were well known and influential people, There were seven children in the family, and three are living in 1913, Eugene L., Emily L., wife of J. M. Johnson, and Amanda I., wife of Henry Beckner.
Eugene L. Ford spent his early life on the farm which he now owns in Green Township, and attended the same district schools which the children of another generation attended, although in a very different building and with very different facilities from what he enjoyed as a boy, He completed his education in the public schools of Pendleton, His first regular occupation was as a carriage blacksmith in Pendleton, and he worked at that occupation for eighteen months, He then returned to the farm and soon afterwards was married to Miss Mary E. Taylor, a daughter of James A. Taylor, After their marriage he engaged in farming, and then moved to Lapel, where he was in business for several years, He next bought the balance of the farm of one hundred and sixty acres at his present location, and has given it all the energy and judgment which he possesses in making it a productive and valuable estate.
Mr. Ford and wife are the parents of seven children, and the three living at the present time are Horace A., who is a farmer and who married Ina M. Bright; Gale A., who is a graduate of the Lapel high school, and is now a student of music; Olin F., who was educated in the public schools of Lapel, Mr. Ford is affiliated with Lapel Lodge No. 625, A. F. & A. M., being a past master of the lodge, and is also a member of Lapel Lodge No, 386, Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor, He is also a member of the Grand Lodge of the Masons, and has been a delegate to the State Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, Politically he belongs to the new party, the Progressive.