The Ford Family Stories
The Ford Family Stories
Episode 4- Debbie Ford Scriba- Family History and Research
In this episode Debbie Ford Scriba joins us to share some memories of her parents, William and Frances Ford, and her siblings, Tom Ford and Mary Kay Ford DeMarco, the famous Ford Egg Nog recipe, visiting Sparrows Point at Christmas, family gatherings and card games, and all of the study and research she has done on our family tree!
And welcome back to the Ford family stories podcast. This is cousin Mike Barton today's episode features Debbie Ford. Scriba Debbie talks about some of the memory she has of her parents, William and Francis Ford, and her siblings, Tom Ford and Mary Kay Ford DeMarco, the famous Ford eggnog recipe, visiting Sparrow's point at Christmas, family gatherings and card games and all of the study and research she's done on our family tree. It's a very interesting episode and I think you'll really enjoy it. Ford cousins and family members. If you're interested in participating, please reach out to me. My number is(443) 600-0446. Or you can find me@bartonmikeatyahoo.com. So without further ado, here's Debbie.
Speaker 2:Hello. Thank you Michael, for putting this Ford family podcast together, and I'm excited to tell you some of my memories. I'm Debbie Ford scriber, the youngest of bill and Fran Fords. That would be William Webster Ford and Francis Louis. Jordan's three children. As I understand it, my parents met at a mutual friend's wedding. My father used to take the street car to visit my mother at her mother's home on park Heights Avenue. Bill Ford was drafted when he was 18 and while they were in love, he didn't want to marry my mother before he left, because he didn't want her to be a single mother in case he didn't return. Fred Ford used to tell us that she was waiting on the dock in her wedding dress. When my father returned from the war 40 years later, when I wore that same wedding dress, I was surprised to find that there were no stains on the satin train. When I asked her about it, she asked why in the world would there be stains. I repeated the octal tale and the laugh was on me. My parents would have been married 75 years this year in January, their only grandson, Thomas Henson Ford son of Thomas Herbert Ford. And my brother will be married in September, which I think has a lovely synchronicity. My cousin, Bob Barton was correct in his recollection that my parents' first child who was called William Webster for Jr died a few days after his birth in 1951, due to a heart defect, easily remedied in today's world. Baby Ford, William Webster Ford Jr. Is buried at the old cathedral cemetery with my mother's parents, Herbert Robinson, Jordan and Catherine Burns Jordan as well as two of my mother's sisters, Hilda Robinson, Jordan and Mary Eileen Jordan, who many of the Fords remember when I was old enough to learn about this. I remember asking my mother why they hadn't given their second child, Tommy Thomas, Herbert Ford named after both grandfathers the same name. I remember her looking at me incredulously and saying, because there already was a William Webster Ford Jr. To which I had never apply my recollections of mom and pop pop forward. As we called them are certainly not as detailed as those of our cousin, Bob Barton, because we never lived in sparrows point or Dundalk. We tended to see the Ford family on holidays, notably Christmas, 4th of July and special anniversary parties. I remember loading up the family and our Christmas outfits, bearing gifts and driving from North Baltimore to East Baltimore, specifically to the H street Roadhouse and spares point. In the beginning, of course we didn't want to leave our warm home and more, more our new Christmas presents for the long cold drive. But by the time we arrived, we were warmly embraced into the fold. I vividly remember the huge cut glass Punchbowl. The refrigerator filled to the brim with mom mom's special, 150 plus proof, egg nog. The kids were cautioned not to touch it. So of course we slipped in at regular intervals to sneak sips, which must have been at least partially responsible for our long naps on the ride home. And of course, my mom always sent us home with a tin of her famous toll house cookies. Speaking of that egg nog, when I first moved to Palo Alto, California, we hosted a Christmas party and that was kind enough to send me my mom's eggnog recipe. We made it, I needless to say it was a big hit in every sense of the word afterwards, I called the thank at dot Darthy Ford Barton and told her how popular the eggnog had been. She asked if I had remembered to have the liquor quantities. I told her I hadn't because she never mentioned that to me. My, she replied you must've had some sleepovers that night. I told her. In fact, we had, I remember my grandfather rocking on the front porch during summer visits, smoking and listening to Orioles games on his transistor radio. I still love to listen to baseball on the radio and the voice of hall of fame announcer John Miller, then with the Orioles, but now long time member of the San Francisco giants organization, where I've lived for the past 36 years always brings back this memory to me, John Miller is the voice of baseball. I remember fun. 4th of July picnics at uncle ripping at Mitzi's backyard, running round fueled by as much delicious cream soda and rainbow colored soft drinks as we could consume while the parents smoked gossiped and laid out grill hot dogs, hamburgers and delicious homemade potato salad, coleslaw and cookies. I also remember fun. 4th of July gatherings at the spares point country club with Libby and uncle Bob and various aunts, uncles, and cousins. We love diving into the pool for quarters, eating watermelon and watching fireworks and hazy memories of my parents, having a doc knuckle Hagi and Olivia and uncle Bob, and maybe others over to our house and home. When for poker nights, I mostly remember the card tables in the room, cigarette smoke, high balls and Fran Ford's famous shrimp dip, which she set aside taster portions for us to enjoy. So we'd stay away from the party bowl. My special Ford family related memory is that being born in 1959, I was lucky enough to have two girl cousins, the same age, Susie Ford and Sherry Dirks. There's a family story that my parents had like the name Susan as a girl name, but decided to change it after Susie's birth. So there wouldn't be too. So as Susan Fords in the family, my six year old brother, Tom suggested Debbie from a book he was learning to read. And my mother liked it because Deborah reminded her of David in the Bible, which she figured was as close to Jesus, as you could get, go figure that never made sense to me. I'm not positive if this is true, but I've always been glad that my brother wasn't reading Cinderella at the time of close by talking about the family genealogical research I've been doing for the past decade or so. I have a lot of information. Most of it correct, but not all of it on my public tree@ancestry.com under Deborah Ford. Scriba I also have DNA results at 23 and me, which is helpful in clarifying certain family stories and Libby darks has provided some fascinating memories to help with this process. How else would I have known that mom's brother Roland Owen, Dutch spins wife, Mary Helen Lynch Bedden died shortly after giving birth to twin girls because Dutch was working and already had a young son, Owen Thompson spendin. One of the twins, Martha went to live with one of her grandmothers and the other twin whose name we can't recall, went to live with the other grandmother. I've been down the neck and Dorchester County outside of Cambridge on the Eastern shore of Maryland. A number of times and met one of the leading sped and family genealogists. Eleanor Wheatley spend spend ancestors definitely took part in the American revolution as Patriots. They fought with the rebels in the civil war and a few owned slaves, other family names on this branch, which may sound familiar include North as in Lydia, North spendin, bill Ford's granny with the glass Sy Phillips Seward. As in my great uncle, Seward's spending and Mitchell surname of my fifth and sixth grade grandfathers who both took the oath of allegiance and the American revolution, the elder John Mitchell was illiterate. So he made his Mark instead of actually signing, which was not uncommon for farmers in that area. At the time, he also lived to be 106 years old, a fact documented in newspapers up and down the Eastern seaboard. I've also been to Craigsville Virginia and cousin. Bob Barton was once again, correct. There's not a whole lot of there. There, there is however, a graveyard with a number of Ailstock tombstones, Virginia Esterline stock and John Calvin Ford, or my second grade grandparents. I've also visited Albemarle County near Charlottesville, where are Massey Campbell, right? And cache ancestors live. I visited the grave of my sixth, great grandfather, revolutionary war Patriot Charles Massey, which is high up in the former spring Valley, Apple farm in Batesville, Virginia, still a working Apple farm owned by only the second family since ours, Charles Massey, and his son who was also called Charles. So Apple cider to their neighbor, Thomas Jefferson at his plantation cello. There are nine letters of correspondence between the younger Charles Massey and Thomas Jefferson on the monitor Ella website under the research and collections tab. Also my seventh grade grandfather, Robert Howard cash, Sr was the fifth great grandfather of country singer Johnny Cash. Gosh, how about them? Apples. Finally, I belong to several genealogy groups on Facebook. One being the Dorchester County, Maryland genealogy just a week ago, there was a post just from a member who shares my third great grandparents, John Hicks, North and Rebecca Seward North in the midst of the discussion, a woman called Margaret Wright Ingersoll originally from Morristown, New Jersey shared that she has spent 20 years restoring the Tidewater colonial property on a Cove off Hudson Creek in the neck district where our North family ancestors lived for 300 years. She published a book this month called addition to Ross's chance and the North family on Ross' neck Dorchester County, Maryland. That's available on Amazon. I'll end here and invite any Ford relatives to contact me with stories or questions. Thanks again to cousin Michael Barton for putting this podcast together.