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Ford Mortley

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Ford Mortley

Birth
England
Death
31 Jul 1901 (aged 92)
Centerburg, Knox County, Ohio, USA
Burial
Centerburg, Knox County, Ohio, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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FORD MORTLEY OBITUARY
July 31, 1901
Long and Active was the Life of our Late Distinguished Citizen, Ford Mortley, Whose Death was Noted Last Week.


The life that has just gone out is remarkable in that it almost covered the 19th century and was unique in that the subject held his bodily strength and mental vigor to the last and could recall the events of his long life. Few of us are aware of the great changes wrought during the span of this single life – changes among nations and rulers, in manner of living, in physical science and invention, modes of transportation and means of communication, in the use of machinery and in a hundred other ways. During the period of this one life the whole country west of the Alleghenies has been cleared and settled and changed from heavy forests and wild prairies to great states where dwell great commonwealths. Twenty such lives would reach back to the time of Christ. He only lacked eight years of the beginning with the 19th century and he reached nearly a year into the 20th. He was four years old when war was declared the second time with Great Britain. He was seven years old when the battle of Waterloo was fought and subsequently witnessed Wellington's triumphal return to England. He lived to grasp the problems that confront the world at the opening of the 20th century.


Ford Mortley was born in Romney Marsh, near the battle field of Hastings, Kent County, extreme south-east England, November 28, 1808, and died at his home in Centerburg, Ohio, July 31, 1901, aged 92 years, 8 months, and 3 days.


Romney Marsh, his birth place, is 20ft. lower than the surface of the sea and the English Channel is kept out by an immense embankment which in times of storm the waves frequently overflow and carry the sea down into the quiet homes. When he was a boy, he never salted his father's cattle for the sea furnished that. For his schooling, he walked three miles every day to the academy where his scholastic training was finished at the age of 14. For five years, he served as an apprentice to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner. He had been six feet tall as was his brother Henry, he would have been subject to draft for the King's guard and been compelled to serve seven years.


During his boyhood days, he saw the soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars and the Duke of Wellington on his victorious return from Waterloo. Then a young man he frequently visited St. Paul's cathedral, London. He made several trips across the channel to France and ever after spoke of the fashion and politeness of the French. He made a trip across the Atlantic to New York and back and worked a year in piano forte and organ building.


In the early spring of 1832, he married Miss Ann McKenzie who lived at Dover, a little east, on the coast. This is the nearest point to France and near her home was a large brass cannon called "the Queen's pocket piece" mounted on a high eminence where it could sweep the English Channel and on it was this inscription which she read many times when a girl:

"Load me well and keep me clean and I will carry your alls to Calais Green"
Six weeks after his marriage, he moved to America embarking on a sail vessel at Dover. During the trip which took six weeks, they encountered a terrific storm when lighting struck a mast and tore it in pieces above their heads. They landed in New York, and he remained there working at his trade that summer. It was the year of the awful visitation of cholera in N.Y., when there would be 150 deaths a day from that dread disease and many a coffin did he make with his worn hands. That fall he came to Ohio. An inventory of his goods showed that he had a good wife, a strong body, a kit of tools and $20 in money. His father had been a wealthy sheep man in England but the laws of that country give all the estate to the oldest son. So John took the property and Ford took two willing hands and a clear head to make his.


Coming to Ohio he spent the first winter in Dresden and the next spring with two trusted companions, his dear wife and kit of tools, he settled near Gambier in a little settlement know as "Frogall", properly named as it was entirely surrounded by a rookery of frogs. There the oldest son, William, came into the home on the father's birthday, November 28, 1833. A year there, a part of a year at Mt. Liberty where Smith Gearhart now lives, he then moved to Roscoe, Coshocton County, and took the contract for building the aqueduct which was to lead the canal across the White Woman or Walhonding River. That task was successfully finished and for five years he managed a great saw mill which ran day and night, the logs being brought down the canal and river by rafts. During these years, he purchased 100 acres of land across the road from where Charlie Mortley now lives and on November 15, 1845, he came with his family and moved into a little cabin that had neither doors nor windows. The next day 18 inches of snow fell. Arranging everything as comfortably as possible for wife and children to winter in and leaving them there in the woods, he hastened back to Roscoe to rebuild the aqueduct, which work had to be done in the winter when navigation on the canal was stopped by the ice. In the cabin mentioned, several of the children were born. It is a noticeable fact that every child was born in and spent their early days in a cabin though all possess fine homes in mature life.


In these days of which we are writing, this whole country was covered with heavy forests. The boy, William, used to carry their drinking water from a spring below, where John Butler now lives, on the Shaffer farm, more than a mile through the woods. Here originated the sweet clover that now fills our roads and fields. A Mr. Austin living on that farm had some sweet clover sent him from England. He planted it in a carefully prepared mound near his home and protected it as a choice plant. The boy William was once severely chided for breaking off a little bunch while passing. After 1845, Mr. Mortley lived on that farm or adjacent land which he bought until 1876, when he moved to Centerburg, where he has since lived and been known by all who are at all familiar with Centerburg. Two brothers survive him, William now 91 years of age and living in Australia, and David M., 81 whose residence is in Coshocton, but who now lies at the point of death at McConnellsville. The wife died twenty-three years ago, soon after moving to Centerburg.


To Mr. and Mrs. Mortley were born eight children. Two died when little girls and lie buried at Coshocton. Six now survive viz., Wm. Henry, Mrs. Sarah Ramey, Charlotte Mortley, Henry H., Charlie O., and Mrs. Clara E. Rizor.


Mr. Mortley proved again the fact that by care and cultivation, we can retain our faculties in old age. He had a strong physique, and he took care of it under all circumstances. He hardly had a sickness through his entire life. He had a good mind. He cultivated and cared for it and it remained faithful to the last. Even up to his last sickness, he could write a business letter or add a column of figures as quickly and as accurately as any business man in the prime of life. He had a strong moral nature and took care not to break it down. In his many and varied business transactions, he is not known to have ever had trouble with any man. While in England, Mr. and Mrs. Mortley joined the Episcopalian church and ever held their connection with that church. The father lived to see all the children converted and associated themselves with some church.


In his closing days, or years for that matter, he had the kindest possible care for which he manifested the greatest appreciation. His life went out with the pleasantest recollections of a father who gave his best for his children and the children returned it and all stood around his dying bed and called him blessed.


The funeral services were conducted from the M.E. Church August 2, Revs. Edwards and Harold officiating, after which the remains were laid to rest by the side of the wife and mother in the Centerburg cemetery.
FORD MORTLEY OBITUARY
July 31, 1901
Long and Active was the Life of our Late Distinguished Citizen, Ford Mortley, Whose Death was Noted Last Week.


The life that has just gone out is remarkable in that it almost covered the 19th century and was unique in that the subject held his bodily strength and mental vigor to the last and could recall the events of his long life. Few of us are aware of the great changes wrought during the span of this single life – changes among nations and rulers, in manner of living, in physical science and invention, modes of transportation and means of communication, in the use of machinery and in a hundred other ways. During the period of this one life the whole country west of the Alleghenies has been cleared and settled and changed from heavy forests and wild prairies to great states where dwell great commonwealths. Twenty such lives would reach back to the time of Christ. He only lacked eight years of the beginning with the 19th century and he reached nearly a year into the 20th. He was four years old when war was declared the second time with Great Britain. He was seven years old when the battle of Waterloo was fought and subsequently witnessed Wellington's triumphal return to England. He lived to grasp the problems that confront the world at the opening of the 20th century.


Ford Mortley was born in Romney Marsh, near the battle field of Hastings, Kent County, extreme south-east England, November 28, 1808, and died at his home in Centerburg, Ohio, July 31, 1901, aged 92 years, 8 months, and 3 days.


Romney Marsh, his birth place, is 20ft. lower than the surface of the sea and the English Channel is kept out by an immense embankment which in times of storm the waves frequently overflow and carry the sea down into the quiet homes. When he was a boy, he never salted his father's cattle for the sea furnished that. For his schooling, he walked three miles every day to the academy where his scholastic training was finished at the age of 14. For five years, he served as an apprentice to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner. He had been six feet tall as was his brother Henry, he would have been subject to draft for the King's guard and been compelled to serve seven years.


During his boyhood days, he saw the soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars and the Duke of Wellington on his victorious return from Waterloo. Then a young man he frequently visited St. Paul's cathedral, London. He made several trips across the channel to France and ever after spoke of the fashion and politeness of the French. He made a trip across the Atlantic to New York and back and worked a year in piano forte and organ building.


In the early spring of 1832, he married Miss Ann McKenzie who lived at Dover, a little east, on the coast. This is the nearest point to France and near her home was a large brass cannon called "the Queen's pocket piece" mounted on a high eminence where it could sweep the English Channel and on it was this inscription which she read many times when a girl:

"Load me well and keep me clean and I will carry your alls to Calais Green"
Six weeks after his marriage, he moved to America embarking on a sail vessel at Dover. During the trip which took six weeks, they encountered a terrific storm when lighting struck a mast and tore it in pieces above their heads. They landed in New York, and he remained there working at his trade that summer. It was the year of the awful visitation of cholera in N.Y., when there would be 150 deaths a day from that dread disease and many a coffin did he make with his worn hands. That fall he came to Ohio. An inventory of his goods showed that he had a good wife, a strong body, a kit of tools and $20 in money. His father had been a wealthy sheep man in England but the laws of that country give all the estate to the oldest son. So John took the property and Ford took two willing hands and a clear head to make his.


Coming to Ohio he spent the first winter in Dresden and the next spring with two trusted companions, his dear wife and kit of tools, he settled near Gambier in a little settlement know as "Frogall", properly named as it was entirely surrounded by a rookery of frogs. There the oldest son, William, came into the home on the father's birthday, November 28, 1833. A year there, a part of a year at Mt. Liberty where Smith Gearhart now lives, he then moved to Roscoe, Coshocton County, and took the contract for building the aqueduct which was to lead the canal across the White Woman or Walhonding River. That task was successfully finished and for five years he managed a great saw mill which ran day and night, the logs being brought down the canal and river by rafts. During these years, he purchased 100 acres of land across the road from where Charlie Mortley now lives and on November 15, 1845, he came with his family and moved into a little cabin that had neither doors nor windows. The next day 18 inches of snow fell. Arranging everything as comfortably as possible for wife and children to winter in and leaving them there in the woods, he hastened back to Roscoe to rebuild the aqueduct, which work had to be done in the winter when navigation on the canal was stopped by the ice. In the cabin mentioned, several of the children were born. It is a noticeable fact that every child was born in and spent their early days in a cabin though all possess fine homes in mature life.


In these days of which we are writing, this whole country was covered with heavy forests. The boy, William, used to carry their drinking water from a spring below, where John Butler now lives, on the Shaffer farm, more than a mile through the woods. Here originated the sweet clover that now fills our roads and fields. A Mr. Austin living on that farm had some sweet clover sent him from England. He planted it in a carefully prepared mound near his home and protected it as a choice plant. The boy William was once severely chided for breaking off a little bunch while passing. After 1845, Mr. Mortley lived on that farm or adjacent land which he bought until 1876, when he moved to Centerburg, where he has since lived and been known by all who are at all familiar with Centerburg. Two brothers survive him, William now 91 years of age and living in Australia, and David M., 81 whose residence is in Coshocton, but who now lies at the point of death at McConnellsville. The wife died twenty-three years ago, soon after moving to Centerburg.


To Mr. and Mrs. Mortley were born eight children. Two died when little girls and lie buried at Coshocton. Six now survive viz., Wm. Henry, Mrs. Sarah Ramey, Charlotte Mortley, Henry H., Charlie O., and Mrs. Clara E. Rizor.


Mr. Mortley proved again the fact that by care and cultivation, we can retain our faculties in old age. He had a strong physique, and he took care of it under all circumstances. He hardly had a sickness through his entire life. He had a good mind. He cultivated and cared for it and it remained faithful to the last. Even up to his last sickness, he could write a business letter or add a column of figures as quickly and as accurately as any business man in the prime of life. He had a strong moral nature and took care not to break it down. In his many and varied business transactions, he is not known to have ever had trouble with any man. While in England, Mr. and Mrs. Mortley joined the Episcopalian church and ever held their connection with that church. The father lived to see all the children converted and associated themselves with some church.


In his closing days, or years for that matter, he had the kindest possible care for which he manifested the greatest appreciation. His life went out with the pleasantest recollections of a father who gave his best for his children and the children returned it and all stood around his dying bed and called him blessed.


The funeral services were conducted from the M.E. Church August 2, Revs. Edwards and Harold officiating, after which the remains were laid to rest by the side of the wife and mother in the Centerburg cemetery.


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  • Created by: FMC
  • Added: Aug 16, 2008
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29074951/ford-mortley: accessed ), memorial page for Ford Mortley (28 Nov 1808–31 Jul 1901), Find a Grave Memorial ID 29074951, citing Centerburg Cemetery, Centerburg, Knox County, Ohio, USA; Maintained by FMC (contributor 47039014).