John Salmon Ford

Full Name: John Salmon "Rip" Ford
Date of birth: May 26, 1815
Date of death: November 3, 1897

Terms of Service
Biographical Notes
Committee Information

Terms of Service top

Chamber	District	Dates of Service	Legislatures	Party	City/County	Note	Counties in District
S	29	Apr 18, 1876 - Aug 30, 1879	15th ⁽³⁾ ⁽⁴⁾ 16th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽²⁾	Democrat	Brownsville / Cameron		Cameron, Dimmit, Duval, Frio, Hidalgo, Kinney, La Salle, Live Oak, McMullen, Maverick, Medina, Nueces, San Patricio, Starr, Uvalde, Webb, Zapata, Zavala, Encinal
S	21	Jan 20, 1852 - Nov 7, 1853	4th ⁽⁵⁾ ⁽⁶⁾ ⁽⁷⁾		Austin / Travis		Gillespie, Hays, Travis

(1) Democrat, 1/14/1879, p. 1. Galveston Daily News.
(2) Ford resigned 8/30/1879. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004, 2005.
(3) "Election news: additional news from all parts of the interior, Southwestern counties," 2/19/1876, p. 1. Dateline Brownsville, Feb. 18. "Three-fourths of the vote on the State ticket is Democratic. . .Colonel John S. Ford is elected Senator from the Twenty-ninth District, A. Salinas Representative from the Seventy-Sixth District. . .Ford and Salinas ran as Independents against the Laredo nominees." Galveston Daily News.
(4) 15th Legislature - All Senators except District 7 listed in roll call as Senators elect, oath of office administered, 4/18/1876, p. 1; Drawing of Senatorial Terms, 4/27/1876, p. 98, drew "long term" (four years). Senate Journal. April 14, 1876 April 27, 1876
(5) Entire Senate went up for reelection due to Senatorial redistricting. Act passed Feb. 2, 1853, 4th Legislature, 1st C.S., ch. 4, Apportionment Laws of Texas, 1836-1950, 1950.
(6) John S. Ford, sworn 1/20/1852, succeeded Edward Burleson, died 12/26/1851. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004, 2005.
(7) 4th Legislature, Regular Session - Mr. Kinney moved that John S. Ford be sworn and take his seat as Senator elect of the 21st Senatorial district, lost, 1/17/1852, p. 338; presentation of papers related to election of John S. Ford as Senator of the 21st Senatorial district; Mr. Kinney's motion that Ford be allowed to take oath prescribed by the constitution, carried, and Ford took the oath on 1/19/1852, pp. 345-346. Senate Journal. January 17, 1852 January 19, 1852

Terms of Service top

Senate District 29
Apr 18, 1876 - Aug 30, 1879
Legislatures: 15th ⁽³⁾ ⁽⁴⁾ 16th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽²⁾
Party: Democrat
Home City/County: Brownsville / Cameron
Counties in district: Cameron, Dimmit, Duval, Frio, Hidalgo, Kinney, La Salle, Live Oak, McMullen, Maverick, Medina, Nueces, San Patricio, Starr, Uvalde, Webb, Zapata, Zavala, Encinal

Senate District 21
Jan 20, 1852 - Nov 7, 1853
Legislatures: 4th ⁽⁵⁾ ⁽⁶⁾ ⁽⁷⁾
Home City/County: Austin / Travis
Counties in district: Gillespie, Hays, Travis

Biographical Information top

Biographical Sketches

Biographical sketch, pp. 84-85. In 1844-45, he represented San Augustine in the House of the Ninth Congress. Biographical Directory of the Texan Conventions and Congresses, 1832-1845, 1942.
Biographical sketch, Colonel John S. Ford, pp. 299-303. Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas, Containing Biographical Sketches of the Representative Public, and Many Early Settled Families, 1889.
Biographical sketch, Colonel John S. Ford, pp. 356-359. The Encyclopedia of the New West, 1881.
Biography in LRL collection, 328.764 F753M 2011. Fighting Stock: John S. “Rip” Ford of Texas, 2011.
Biographical sketch in "State Senators Elect: Personal Sketches Completed - Seventeen Lawyers, Seven Grangers, Two Doctors, One Editor and Four Colored Politicians - the Political Structure of the New Senate of Texas," 3/3/1876, p. 2. Galveston Daily News.
FORD, JOHN SALMON [RIP] (1815-1897). Handbook of Texas Online.
Biograpical sketch, Volume II, History of the Texas Deaf and Dumb Asylum, pp. 14-15. Histories of American Schools for the Deaf, 1817-1893, 1893.
Description of Radical Republican takeover of Brownsville during reconstruction: Israel Bigelow and, eventually, Jerry Galvan ousted; Ferdinand Schlickum sent to first Republican Convention; Rip Ford wounded in fight with the sheriff, pp. 305-309. I Would Rather Sleep in Texas: a History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the People of the Santa Anita Land Grant, 2003.
Portrait, p. 139. Biographical information, p. 353. I Would Rather Sleep in Texas: a History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and the People of the Santa Anita Land Grant, 2003.
Portrait and biographical sketch. Lone Star Junction, 1995.
Biographical sketch, pp. 49-55. Sketches of Legislators and State Officers, Fifteenth Legislature, 1876-1878, 1876.
Biographical sketch, pp. 248-249. "Elected to [Texas] Congress in 1844. . .elected to the Senate under the new Constitution, February 15, 1876, as a Democrat, by a large majority." Texas Legislative Manual, 1879-80, 1879.

Military Service Notes

Confederate States Army, Colonel, Texas State Troops. Military grave marker, John S. Ford. John Salmon "Rip" Ford, birth date 5/26/1815, death date 11/3/1897, biographical sketch, portrait, burial in Confederate Cemetery, San Antonio. Find a Grave.
Texas Army, First Lieutenant under John Coffee (Jack) Hays. Adjutant, Hays' Regiment, Mexican War. Confederate States Army, Colonel, 2nd Texas Cavalry. Handbook of Texas Online.
Biographical sketch, pp. [1]-17. Ten More Texans in Gray, 1980.
Biographical sketch, pp. 109-110. Texans Who Wore the Gray, 1907.
John Salmon Ford. Texas Burial Sites of Civil War Notables: A Biographical and Pictorial Field Guide, 2002.
Biographical sketch and portrait, pp. 23, 58-59, 111-112, Plate No. 44. Texas in the War, 1861-1865, 1965.
Mentioned in Vaqueros in Blue and Gray, 2000.

Other Resources

Photo and discussion of involvement in Know-Nothing faction in 1850's, mayor of Austin in 1854, pp. 28, 34-35, 55. Democrat - "In Travis County John S. 'Rip' Ford, chairman of the state Democratic committee, was a member of the Know-Nothing faction and editor of the Austin Texas State Times. He ran editorials opposing Governor Pease's plan for plan for state-funded railroad construction and insisted that the Know-Nothings embodied Democratic party principles more fully than the main body of Democrats." Austin Lawyers: A Legacy of Leadership and Service, 2005.
Mentioned in MCALLEN RANCH. Handbook of Texas Online.
Included on list of "Texas Know Nothing Leaders with a Summary of Biographical Data Taken from the . . . United States Eighth Census, 1860." The party was active at the state level in Texas in 1855 and 1856. "By 1857 the party had virtually disappeared in Texas." "An Analysis of the Texas Know Nothings," The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 70, Number 3, January 1967, pp. 414-423, crediting Texas State Historical Association. Portal to Texas History (University of North Texas Libraries).
Delegate to Constitutional Convention, 1875. Included in Journal of the Constitutional Convention of the State of Texas: Begun and Held at the City of Austin Texas. Constitutional Convention (1875). Galveston : Printed for the Convention at the "News" Office, 1875, pp. 3-4. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin), 2009.
Delegate to Secession Convention of Texas, 1861. Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas 1861. Edited from the original in the department of state by Ernest William Winkler, State Librarian. Texas Library and Historical Commission, the State Library. Austin: Austin Print. Co., 1912, pp. 20-22. Originally published serially in newspapers. Texas Constitutions Digitization Project (Tarlton Law Library, The University of Texas at Austin), 2009.

Photographs

Photograph. J.S. Ford, 15th Legislature, State Preservation Board
Photograph. J.S. Ford, Constitutional Convention of 1875 Composite Photo. From the collection of the Texas State Library and Archives Commisison.

Composite Photographs on Display in the Capitol

15th session composite photo of Senate members (Senate Sergeant-at-arms office, west wall. 2E.10A). State Preservation Board.

Committee Information top

16th R.S. - 1879 Educational Affairs Enrolled Bills Executive Mansion Federal Relations Finance Funeral and Remains of the Late Honorable Gustave Schleicher Indian Affairs and Frontier Protection (Chair) Judicial Districts Judiciary No. 1 Military Affairs Privileges and Elections Public Claims and Accounts Public Printing Statistics of Industry, Public Health and History of Texas Stock and Stock Raising
15th R.S. - 1876 Constitutional Amendments Contingent Expenses Indian Affairs and Frontier Protection (Chair) Internal Improvements Judiciary No. 2 Military Affairs Privileges and Elections Public Buildings and Grounds Public Printing Statistics of Industry, Public Health and History of Texas Stock and Stock Raising
4th R.S. - 1851 Counties and County Boundaries Enrolled Bills Militia Privileges and Elections State Affairs

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