Historians and genealogists have long maintained that George Washington had no
children. However, the descendants of West Ford maintain otherwise. West Ford
was born in 1784 or 1785 on the Bushfield Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia,
to Venus, a mulatto slave woman owned by George Washington's brother, John Augustine
Washington and his wife, Hannah. According to Ford family oral history, Venus
told her mistress Hannah that George Washington was her child's father. Historians
dispute this claim, suggesting that one of Washington's nephews may have fathered
the boy West.
A similar scenario existed with Sally Hemmings, a slave owned
by Thomas Jefferson. Her descendants also claimed that Jefferson fathered one
or more of Hemmings’ children. Recent DNA analysis compared the Y-chromosome
DNA from the living male-line descendants of Jefferson and Hemmings. In November
1998, the British science journal Nature published the results of Dr. Eugene
Foster's DNA Study. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation then issued a report
in January 2000 concluding that Thomas Jefferson was the father of at least
one and perhaps all the children of Sally Hemmings. Now the descendants of West
Ford are attempting to conduct a similar DNA analysis to prove or disprove the
two-hundred-year-old family tradition.
West Ford grew up on Bushfield Plantation in John Washington’s
household. In the years 1785 to 1791, George Washington frequently visited the
Bushfield Plantation. During these visits, West Ford served as Washington's
personal attendant. Washington took him riding and hunting, and Ford often accompanied
him to Christ Church, where he was provided with a private pew. Washington became
President of the United States in 1791 and did not visit Bushfield Plantation
again.
West Ford moved to the Mount Vernon plantation after the death
of Martha Washington in 1802. He was freed on his twenty-first birthday in 1805
or 1806. In 1985, Donald Sweig wrote in the Fairfax Chronicles, "In his
role as overseer at Mount Vernon, Ford had considerable independence and responsibility."
The Washington family treated him as a privileged servant. Ford's children were
educated in the estate schoolhouse along with the Washington children. West
Ford became the first tomb guard for George Washington's gravesite. Three generations
of Fords would also hold the title of tomb guard at the Mount Vernon plantation.
Bushrod Washington became the owner of Mount Vernon until his
death in 1829. In his will he gave 160 acres of land adjacent to Mount Vernon
to West Ford, who continued to live on the Mount Vernon estate. In 1833, Ford
sold his land and purchased 214 acres adjacent to it. This area is known today
as the Black community of Gum Springs, Virginia. In 1857, an entry in the Fairfax
County Deed Books noted that Ford divided his land among his four children,
giving each of them 52-3/4 acres.
In June 1863, an ailing West Ford was brought back to the Mount
Vernon estate by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association. The association cared
for him until his death on July 20, 1863. The following day, the Alexandria
Gazette carried his obituary, stating: "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 the 79th
year of his age. He was well known to most of our older citizens."
Was West Ford the son of George Washington? It was thought that
we would never know. However, modern DNA technology may soon be able to prove
or disprove this Ford Family oral history.
For more information about West Ford, look at "The Legacy
of West Ford" at: westfordlegacy.com.
The information about possible DNA analysis can be found at: westfordlegacy.com/mvmtg/qa.html.
Dick Eastman Online
