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Ford vs. Ford

Ford vs. Ford is a Tennessee historical marker in Washington County.

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This land brought about the historic court case of Ford v. Ford. Loyd Ford (1748-1843) freed his five enslaved individuals and gave them his farm located here. His children challenged the will and the five who were freed fought the case up to the Tennessee Supreme Court. In 1846, Judge Nathan Green authored an opinion which ruled that an enslaved individual is "Not in the Condition of a horse or an ox … he is made in the image of his creator." The state's highest court recognized the enslaved humanity as both "persons and property." Those formerly enslaved won their case and kept their freedom and land. The Tennessee Supreme Court's decision affirmed the legal right of those enslaved to bring suit to probate the will.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

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Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

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For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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Marker text and location from the Tennessee Historical Commission, as the Commission publishes them on its marker map.

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