Background
Gordon Lester Ford tracing his American ancestry from Andrew Ford, an Englishman who emigrated to Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1654, was the son of Lester and Eliza (Burnham) Ford. He was born at Lebanon, Connecticut.
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ++++ The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to ensure edition identification: ++++ A Complete History Of The United States Of America The Gordon Lester Ford
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Gordon Lester Ford tracing his American ancestry from Andrew Ford, an Englishman who emigrated to Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1654, was the son of Lester and Eliza (Burnham) Ford. He was born at Lebanon, Connecticut.
After this time his only schooling consisted of two terms in one of the city’s night-schools.
When still a young man, he entered the office of the United States marshal, studied law in his leisure moments, and was admitted to the New York County bar in 1850.
Even at that early age, he showed an innate aptitude for business and bookkeeping, and subsequently became accountant for the firm later well known as H. B. Claflin & Company. During these earlier years he lived with the family of the Quaker, John Gray, imbibing from such association many of the traits of that sect which he exhibited throughout his life.
When still a young man, he entered the office of the United States marshal, studied law in his leisure moments, and was admitted to the New York County bar in 1850.
He never seriously practised his profession, however, but devoted himself to business enterprise, in which he was uniformly successful.
In 1852 he became president of the New London, Willimantic & Palmer Railroad, which position he held till 1856, when, soon after his marriage, he retired, and after a year or two in the suburbs of New York, made his home in Brooklyn. He speedily became identified with the leading institutions of that city. One of the earliest advocates of the abolition of slavery, he was largely instrumental in founding the Brooklyn Union in 1863.
Appointed United States collector of internal revenue for the third collection district in 1869, he was removed in 1872 because he refused to allow political assessments for campaign purposes.
In 1873 he became business manager of the New York Tribune, continuing in that position till 1881. Two years later he was elected president of the Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railroad, but held the position for only a few months, retiring in order to devote himself to his private business affairs.
He was heavily interested in Brooklyn commercial and financial institutions, particularly in the Peoples, Franklin and Hamilton Trust companies, and had with great prescience invested in real estate prior to the expansion of the city.
From the first he associated himself with all movements aiming at the promotion of intellectual and artistic progress of the city.
Gordon Lester Ford’s only literary production was a foreword to Websteriana, a Catalogue of Books by Noah Webster (1882), though he superintended the publication of a number of volumes of original and previously unpublished material from his collection. In 1899 his entire library was presenter, to the New York Public Library by his sons in memory of their father.
( This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923....)
Hitherto a stanch Republican, he now associated himself with the Liberal Republicans and was one of the Brooklyn delegates to the Cincinnati convention of May 1873, at which Horace Greeley was nominated for the presidency, though Ford himself actively supported Charles Francis Adams.
He was one of the founders of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Brooklyn Art Association.
He married Emily Ellsworth, daughter of Prof. William C. Fowler of Amherst, Massachusetts, and grand-daughter of Noah Webster.
Eight children were born to them, two of whom, Paul Leicester Ford and Worthington Chaunccy Ford, inherited their father’s literary and historical interests.