Biography of 	FORD, James P., Caddo, then Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller June 1998

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Ford, James Polk, well-known business man of the Crescent City, is a 
native of Louisiana, and was born at Shreveport, April 29, 1871; the son 
of Richard W. and Josephine (Mason) Ford.  His father was a native of 
Alabama, but when a boy his parents moved to Gilmer, Tex., where he grew 
to manhood.  Richard W. Ford served gallantly in the cause of the 
Confederacy during the Civil war, at the close of which he engaged in 
mercantile pursuits at Shreveport.  As a member of the firm of Gregg & 
Ford, general merchants and cotton factors, he was for years prominent 
among the successful and well-known business men of that city, where his 
death occurred in 1880.  In Marshall, Tex., he married Josephine Mason, 
and unto them were born the following named children:  Hattie, now Mrs. J.
 D. Hereford;  James P., the subject of this sketch;  Richard W., deceased;
William Mason and  Josephine, now wife of R. C. Townes.  James Polk Ford 
was reared at Shreveport, where he gained his education in the public 
schools.  Beginning at the age of 15, and for the following 6 years, he was 
employed in a wholesale grocery.  In 1890-91 he spent 1 year at Vernon, Tex.,
engaged in the real estate and insurance business.  He then returned to 
his native city and there resided until 1907, when he moved to New Orleans,
his present place of residence.  At the time of returning to Shreveport he
took up the brokerage and fire insurance business, and in 1894 Mr. W. S. 
Penick became associated with him in that line of activity.  Three years 
later, under the firm name of Penick & Ford, afterwards (1903) incorporated,
the gentlemen engaged in the manufacturing and wholesaling of sugar cane 
products, a venture which has been attended with pronounced success.
Mr. Ford is a member of the board of directors of the Pan-American Life 
Insurance Co., and is otherwise prominent in business affairs.  He was an 
active organizer of the Louisiana State Fair association, and served 
several years as a director thereof.  In politics he is a democrat, and 
served 2 terms as city councilman of Shreveport.  He has never sought 
political preferment.  In church faith he is a Presbyterian, and is a 
member of the Boston and the Pickwick clubs.  In 1893 Mr. Ford married 
Mary Louise Penick, a daughter of the late Rev. William S. Penick and Betty 
Tarpley (Martin) Penick.

Source: Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, 
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3),
p. 610.  Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century
Historical Association.