Photographer
Ford's Fine Art Gallery
McHenry, Ill.
Reverse of the card on the left
Another card with the same image
has a different reverse
Photographer B A Ford was difficult to trace. He was born in Rhode
Island, US, in 1833 as shown by the US census of 1870 and 1900. The
1880 US census claims he was born in 1843, ten years later. It’s
probably just a clerical error but it does confuse things a bit.
Newspaper items place him positively in McHenry, IL, between December
of 1866 and October of 1893. After that he is, for a time in Joliette,
Braidwood and then Streator, IL. No death certificate or obituary
could be found but he does seem to drop out of sight after 1900. One
Ancestry tree places his death at 23 Feb 1904, at age 60, but no
documents have been found to support this.
Several newspaper items were found, the most informational are added
here.
The cabinet cards here were probably finished between about 1853 and
1877. There is a possibility also that the subsequent photographers
operating in the Ford Fine Art Gallery space after he sold out, kept
the gallery name.
The cards at the left are quite primitive and were possibly done early
in that time span.
1833
Rhode Island, US census 1870, 1900, B E Ford is born
1864
Rock Island, IL, city directory, tax roll, as photographer (studio
location not given)
1865
Illinois, tax roll, city not shown, as photographer
1866
McHenry, IL, tax roll, as photographer
1867 Apr 18
Woodstock (IL) Sentinel newspaper ad as photographer, studio over Owen
& Bro’s store in McHenry, IL
1868 Apr 19
McHenry, IL, state records, marriage to Mary E Colby (Note this might
be in error, 1900 US census says the marriage was in 1883)
1870 Sep 02
McHenry, IL, US census, as photographer (no wife mentioned)
1875 Oct 06
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer newspaper item as photographer at Ford’s
Fine Art Gallery
1876 Jul 19
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer newspaper item says Miss A M Woodward has
been hired as artist for Ford’s Fine Art Gallery
1876 Oct 01
La Salle, IL, state records, marriage to Anna M. Woodward; this
conflicts with the state records that say Ford married Mary E Colby in
1868
1876 Oct 11
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer newspaper item says B A Ford has married
Anna M Woodward of Streator, IL
1876 Nov 01
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer, newspaper item says an Estey Organ was
presented to the parents of Mrs B A Ford who reside in Streator, IL
1877 Jan 27
McHenry, (IL) Plain Dealer news item says Ford is looking for someone
to take over the gallery
1877 Jan 31
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer news item says Ford has sold his gallery and
is moving to Streator. IL
1877 Feb 07
McHenry (IL) Plain Dealer news item says L S Gorten had purchased the
gallery of B A Ford
1879 Feb 06
Woodstock (IL) Sentinel news item says Mr Dunbar has taken the rooms
formerly occupied by B A Ford
1880 Jun 02
Braidwood, IL, US census, as photographer boarding at 69 Main, no wife
listed
1883
US census of 1900 says Bernard Ford married Mary E Colby on this date
(Note: state records say the marriage to Mary E Colby was in 1868)
1885 Jan 01
(Bloomington IL) Pantagraph newspaper item says a fire has damaged the
gallery of B A Ford in Braidwood, IL
1893
Chicago (IL) Daily Tribune small news item says B A Ford is selling to
buildings in Braidwood, IL
1895
Joliet, IL, city directory as photographer
1899
Will County (IL) directory as photographer
1900 Jun 14
Coal City, IL, US census, as photographer
1904 Feb 1904
Streator, La Salle, IL B A Ford dies at age 60 (date from a family
tree, no documents to support)
McHenry (IL) Plaindealer - 13 Oct 1875
McHenry (IL) Plaindealer - 19 Jul 1876
McHenry(IL) Plaindealer - 11 Oct 1876
McHenry (IL) Plaindealer - 01 Nov 1876
Woodstock (IL) Sentinel - 06 Feb 1879
Chicago Daily Tribune - 15 Oct 1893
This page is free for educational and research purposes only but, as always, if the original owner of any of these examples objects to the use on this page, they will be immediately removed.
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