Ford, Thomas

5 Dec. 1800–3 Nov. 1850. Schoolteacher, newspaperman, lawyer, politician, judge, author. Born in Uniontown, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Robert Ford and Elizabeth Logue Forquer. Moved to St. Louis, 1804; to New Design (later American Bottom), Randolph Co., Illinois, 1804; to Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky, 1819; back to St. Louis, 1824; and to Edwardsville, Madison Co., Illinois, 1825. Married Frances Hambaugh, 12 June 1828. Moved to Galena, Jo Daviess Co., Illinois, 1829. Served as state attorney for Illinois’s Fifth Judicial Circuit, 1829–1835; as judge of Illinois’s Sixth Judicial Circuit, 1835–1837; as judge of Chicago Municipal Court, 1837–1839; and as judge of Illinois’s Ninth Judicial Circuit, 1839–1841. Judge of Illinois Supreme Court, 1841–1842. Governor of Illinois, 1842–1846. Promised protection to JS when JS was jailed in Carthage, Hancock Co., Illinois. Addressed citizens of Nauvoo, Hancock Co., on evening JS was murdered, 27 June 1844. Moved to Peoria, Peoria Co., Illinois, 1847. Wrote A History of Illinois, published posthumously in 1854. Died in Peoria.