James Ford (pirate)
James Ford, born James N. Ford, also known as James N. Ford Sr., the "N" possibly for Neal (October 22, 1775 – July 7, 1833), was an American civic leader and business owner in western Kentucky and southern Illinois, from the late 1790s to mid-1830s. Despite his clean public image as a "Pillar of the Community", Ford was secretly a river pirate and the leader of a gang that was later known as the "Ford's Ferry Gang". His men were the river equivalent of highway robbers. They hijacked flatboats and Ford's "own river ferry" for tradable goods from local farms that were coming down the Ohio River.
James Ford | |
|---|---|
No known portrait of James Ford exists from life. This is an artist's likeness created from his physical description in historical records. | |
| Born | October 22, 1775 Ninety-Six District, Province of South Carolina, British America, present-day Spartanburg, South Carolina |
| Died | July 7, 1833 (aged 57) Ford's Ferry, Livingston County, Kentucky, near present-day Tolu, Kentucky |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound |
| Resting place | Ford family cemetery, Kirksville, Livingston County, Kentucky |
| Other names | Squire Ford, Satan's Ferryman |
| Known for | Being a pillar of the community and secretly, the criminal leader of the Ford's Ferry Gang, along the Ohio River |
| Spouse(s) | Susan Miles (first wife) Elizabeth "Betsy" W. Armstead Frazier (second wife) |
| Children | 4 |
| Signature | |
Ford was an Illinois associate of Isaiah L. Potts and the Potts Hill Gang, highway robbers, of the infamous Potts Inn. James Ford also was an associate of John Hart Crenshaw, an illegal slave trader and a kidnapper of free African Americans, and may have taken part in the Illinois version of the Reverse Underground Railroad. At one point, the outlaws used "Cave-in-Rock" as their headquarters on the Illinois side of the lower Ohio River, approximately around 85 miles below Evansville, Indiana.