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Ford, Edward, 1843-1920

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1843 (date of birth) - 1920 (date of death) - 1920

Biography

In 1869 the first American plate glass factory was established by John B. Ford in New Albany Indiana, with help from his sons Emory and Edward. In 1880, the two Ford sons built a plate glass factory in Creighton Pennsylvania. This plate glass factory was reorganized and renamed as the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. After John B. Ford sold his interest in Pittsburgh Plate Glass in 1897, Edward Ford founded the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company in Rossford, Ohio in 1899. The Edward Ford Plate Glass Company was producing roughly one fifth of all the plate glass in the U.S. by the time of Edward’s death in 1920. Edward operated the factory until his death.

Edward Ford was married twice. With his first wife, Evelyn Carter Penn, he had two children: a daughter Mary and son John B. Ford, named after his father. After his first wife passed away in 1872 Edward married Caroline Ross of Zanesville, Ohio and had three children: Laura Ford, Edna Ford, and George Ross Ford who was born in 1882. George Ross Ford took over his father’s role as the President at the Edward Ford Plate Glass Company and facilitate the merger of three powerful glass producers: Libbey-Owens-Ford.

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Edward Ford Family Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS-0186
Scope and Contents The Edward Ford Family Papers, 1907-1947 consist of correspondence, financial records, house construction records, and ephemera. Most items are sorted chronologically, although financial records are in alphabetical order, as the original owner filed them. Family correspondence includes many letters from Edward Ford’s grandson George Ross Ford Jr. to his family from boarding school and from later years of his life, as well as a few letters from George’s teachers to his parents and...
Dates: 1907-1947 ; Majority of material found within 1931-1933
Found in: The Rakow Research Library Manuscript Collection / Edward Ford Family Papers

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