Sam Ford (d. 1937)

FORD

Posted By: Dorothy Gosse (email)
Date: 12/27/2007 at 22:09:05

Sam Ford, colored, who has been quite a character in Oelwein for a good many years, died at the county home Sunday. But little is known about him. He was always interested in baseball and was a sort of mascot for the Oelwein team. No one knows where he came from to Oelwein or just what his age is. He was a slave in the south before the Civil War and is probably 100 years old.

The body will be brought to the Hintz Funeral Home where the funeral will be held tomorrow at 10 o'clock a.m. and burial in Oakdale Cemetery.

It has later been learned that he was born in slavery in Kentucky, and he was employed by Dr. Howard Risk's parents on a farm in Ohio in 1862. He later went to Webster City and worked also in Holstein, Iowa, later coming to Oelwein.

Oelwein Daily Register - Aug 2. 1937