Mary E. Staples Ford

(c. 1847 - ?)

Wife of Wallace J. Ford, Eureka College Trustee; mother of Lida

One of the lesser known women of Eureka’s past, Mary E. Staples Ford remains shrouded in great mystery. She was born in Lubec, Maine, the daughter of a shipbuilding family, and even had a schooner, the Mary E. Staples, named in her honor. She married Wallace J. Ford on June 7, 1868, and the couple had three children—Samuel E., Lida L., and Elias E.—who all died young.

After their marriage, the Fords moved to Burton, Ohio, where they resided for several years. Wallace J. Ford became the personal secretary to James A. Garfield, an Ohio congressman who eventually became the twentieth President of the United States. Ford was well-connected because his father (John Anson Ford) was a trustee at Hiram College and an uncle (Seabury Ford) had served as governor of Ohio. Garfield, a graduate of Hiram College, would eventually become the first of three members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to become President of the United States.

It appears that the sons Samuel and Elias died sometime in the 1870s, but the records are not clear on this. The Ford family was one that had to learn how to cope with grief. Friends described Mary E. Staples Ford as “A member of the Disciple church, she is a lady of cultivative, genial manners, decided convictions, frankly expressed—sincere and abiding friendship and makes their happy home the center of a pleasant circle.”

After President Garfield’s assassination in 1881, the Ford family moved westward to Illinois where they settled in Eureka in March 1884. They purchased a huge brick home that had been built in the late-1860s by a Metamora lawyer named Robert Casell who wanted to live near Eureka College so that his daughters could attend the school. (The large brick home soon became known as “the castle” as a play on the family name and a reference to the size of the structure.) The Fords would live in the home for about four years.

Lida Ford died at the age of thirteen on April 21, 1887. (More about Lida will appear in a later vignette.)

Distraught by their daughter’s death, the Ford family decided to move once again. They deeded their home to Eureka College with the understanding that it would become a residence hall for women and would bear the name “Lida’s Wood” to honor their recently lost child.

Having begun their life together in marriage on the Atlantic coast of Maine, the Fords decided to move to the Far West and settle the wild frontier of California. (Wallace J. Ford had previously been to California during the days of the 1849 Gold Rush.) They selected a tiny settlement called Hollywood and made it their new home. There they became some of the founding members of a Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) church in their new home. Wallace J. Ford and Mary E. Staples Ford are buried in Hollywood, California.

Here’s a trivia challenge for genealogy buffs – one of the largest theatres in Hollywood is the John Anson Ford Theatre. Can we connect the dots?