Photocopy transcript of diary of George Sydney Ford of Birmingham

Photocopy of 20 pages of typescript transcript of recollections of George Sydney Ford. Written from Ivy, Virginia, USA. February 1910. Transcript made c. 1990. Includes a family tree.

These recollections cover the period of George Sydney Ford's childhood and early working life in England in the 1840s and early 1850s and as an emigrant to and settler in the USA up to the end of the American Civil War in 1865.

The first six pages relate to recollections of his family. George's fathers, Charles Henry Ford, a watchmaker and jeweller, was initially in partnership with a Mr Hills. They had a store in Houndsditch and the family lived above it. Ford travelled England with samples of their goods: 'Birmingham goods, namely silver plated ware and jewellery'. The partnership was subsequently dissolved and Hills went to America. Charles Ford Subsequently obtained employment as a business agent for the Cutlers Company in London.

George was apparently one of 15 children although his recollections only give information about five of them: three brothers, Charles Henry and James Arthur (who both immigrated to America) and Alfred Julian and two sisters, Harriet (who married an artist called Claperton and also immigrated to America) and Emily, to whom he was closest. His mother was called Martha Harriet (nee Lord). George's memories of family life in Gravesend and London include details of his father's employment, schooling, excursions and events such as the opening of the Thames Tunnel.

George began to work when he was 12, first as a cabinet maker and then as a junior clerk with Burrows & Sons, wholesale and retail confectioners.

Encouraged by the news from his brothers in the USA, (Charles employed as an architect and engineer in Chicago and James running a jewellery store in Richmond), George also decided to emigrate and sailed to New York on 'The Margaret Evans'. His recollections covered by pages 6-11 relate to his journey which lasted 49 days. They include information about conditions on the ship and about the crew and passengers.

Pages 11-14 relate to George's arrival and first few weeks in New York. He disembarked and met Mr Hills (now chief clerk in wholesale jewellery house in the city) and his sister, Harriet. His recollections include detailed descriptions of the Independence Day celebrations in New York on 4 July, the day after his arrival. George failed to secure employment in New York and subsequently left for Richmond, Virginia to join his brother, James. He travelled by schooner up the James River. On arrival, he came across 'a lot of coal black negroes...' they were stark naked and as I had never seen one before were a novelty'.

The remaining pages (14-20) relate to George's life and that of his brothers, James and Charles in America. With James, for example, he made an unsuccessful attempt to farm and at Buffalo Gap. He then apprenticed himself as a carpenter to Hudson and Lushbaugh, building contractors in Staunton and worked on a contract to build a public hall and lecture rooms at the University of Virginia. When this job finished, George worked for a Charlottesville builder, Peter Wade until his marriage. He then moved to Union (in Monroe County) as set up in the building business with a Mr Connell. The family subsequently moved to Lewisburg and them to Charlottesville to join his brother, Charles. While in Charlottesville, his wife and two of his four children dies. The last three pages are largely recollections of life during the American Civil War. George worked as a carpenter and clerk for the Confederate States Armoury in Richmond and also served in the militia. There is a small amount of military information about the end of the war and the fall and evacuation of Richmond. The recollections and with George's return after the war to Charlottesville 'dead broke'.

The Ford family apparently originated from Birmingham and George Sydney Ford is the great-great grandfather of the owner of the document.