Parish History:  George Ford, 1969, Winn Parish, LA.
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From:  April 17, 1969 Winn Parish Enterprise-News American

George Ford Recalls:

George Ford of Sikes is one of the area's best historian, especially as
concerns the eastern half of Winn Parish.  Recently in an interview he
recalled some facts.

Elisha Fhord, a single man, and John Rhoe, with his family, came to Catahoula
Parish, Louisiana in 1788 from near Raleigh, North Carolina.  They were among
the very first settlers of Northeast Louisiana.

Upon being naturalized they dropped the "h" from their names.  In 1792 Elisha
Ford married Mary Roe, daughter of John Roe.  It is told that he had to either
marry a Roe or a Choctaw Indian maiden.

Children of Elisha and Mary Roe Ford were:  Isaac, John, Tim, Riley, and two
daughters, all of whom were born in Catahoula Parish.

Riley Ford, born in 1803, was the grandfather of the narrator.  His children
were John Alexander 'Alex' Riley, Jr., and two daughters, one of whom married
a Waggoner and the other a Poole.  Riley Ford, Sr. died of tick fever.

Jonathan Boles, the father of Tollie, Tom, Annie, Bell, Nancy, and Mary, when
he was a single man in 1850 walked from Alabama to Louisiana carrying a
cross-cut saw, said to have been the first saw in this part of Louisiana.

John Pharo Sills, Sr., married Mary McCarty.  Three children were born to this
marriage.  A baby died in infancy and is buried in what is known as the Ford
Cemetery across Flat Creek.  John Pharo Sills, Jr., and Cornelia Sills, the
other two, lived to rear large families.  The John P. Sills family together
with the families of Wade McCarty and Fate McCarty moved to Rapides Parish on
Red River.

The Willis Lee family came to Winn Parish in 1819 from Virginia.  One of the
sisters of Willis married John Smith, the other sister married an Anderson. 
These Lee children were first cousins to the noted Robert E. Lee.  The Lee and
Anderson families moved to Nacogdoches  County, Texas, carrying their slaves.