Why were you invited to this newsletter?   Everybody comes from somebody! This is what all of us have in common.    In the early stages of the website some very interesting family history was included. It took us back to the early 1780's with Charles and Sarah Marshall, the parents of Mathew Marshall Ford who was Enslaved. It went on to tell us how Jane Ford a free woman married a slave and so Mathew took on her Surname. Jane and Mathew had 17 children. And finally, it explained our Early beginnings in what is known as Culpeper, Virginia. 

   You may not have been a history buff, but Culpeper was the sight of the most military battles in the Civil war.  Why is this important to Our family?  Jane and Mathew (a former slave) ran a commissary for the Union Army in the midst of the war.  Less than a mile away from the homestead was a military jail. 

  You have to ask yourself: What kind of People were Our Family!  Some of our new readers may still ask: Why  is Jane and Mathew important to us. Well Jane and Mathew fathered Richard Ford who married Sarah and had Mary T who in turn married Dock Stroud.  Well, hold on, Dock  and Mary had 5 daughters who eventually moved to Mount Vernon, N.Y and married into the Haden, Tucker, Michael,  Ford and Wyatt Family.  Need I say more?

167th Edition

Blessings family,

Spring has sprung and we are busting through the cold of winter into the warmth of a new month. Yes indeed, we are like flowers breaking through the ground and rising to our full potential. Take this time to take a chance to challenge yourself to push into unchartered waters. Believe beyond your present situation and dare to dream a Dreamers Dream!

And while you are busting loose share what little you have in order to reap the Blessing of a Lot. We've all been told what you send out; you will get back. So as you climb, push or pull someone else along with you. It can be lonely at the top!

So today while you step out on faith, and share what little you have, know that your acts of kindness will have a rippling effect. Your dreams require action, action provides opportunity. Opportunity will be met with challenges and challenges can yield success. And with success comes responsibility; responsibility to bring others along. So if I succeed, you succeed; we succeed! Bring someone along to the finish line.

Be blessed and know that you are loved. Happy Spring time

This newsletter serves to put an exclamation mark on the lives our Ancestors hoped we would have.  The messages in this newsletter is to offer hope, encouragement  and acknowledgement.  So I hope you will reach out to one another and share victories, desires and needs.  We can only trust you will find this newsletter worthy of your time and take a moment to read and share your news with us.  Please send any thoughts, messages or history to fullergail@hotmail.com or give me a call at 646 8515247; I'll answer.

   Please help by asking questions, volunteering information or writing an article

Family Challenge:

Ask your children and or Grandchildren, what do they know about your life?

Did you get any surprises by their answers? Do they really know you? Will you share what you learned by asking this question/ or how you felt about their response?

Good News:

We told you she was coming and just look at her. Family, welcome, Naylani. daughter of Mercedes Davis on 3/20/2026. She is the Granddaughter of Kim Morefield and Marvin Davis and Great granddaughter of Carol Tucker and Brian Morefield. She is the Great great granddaughter of Harry Sr. and Helen Stroud Tucker.

Special shout out Mercedes who also celebrated her 40th Birthday 4 days after delivery.

 

Congratulations to the Wider Horizon Book Club, for celebrating 5 years of uninterrupted Virtual meetings. The group founded by Mary Royster Harris of Nevada and Terri Haden Boone, of Texas is a virtual Book Club that meets the last Saturday of each month via Zoom. Mary is the daughter of the late Walter and Helen Haden Royster. Terri is the daughter of the late Clarence and Barbara Glover Haden. Both are the granddaughters of the late Lloyd Sr. and Janie Stroud Haden.

We are sharing the news that our own Micheala Hougabook is home after receiving a Kidney transplant. Micheala was on the waiting list for three years and to the blessing of the Most High she came through the procedure and doing well for the most part. Please keep her in your prayers. Micheala has be a friend of the family for so many years that she can't be denied as being Family. Here's praying you return to the Vibrant, fun loving and Healthy women you were.

Prayer Warriors:

First and foremost, giving all honor and Praise to the Most High for another day. We pray for Peace in our homes and hearts.

We ask that you include in your prayers family members who have children in the military. Pray for protection, guidance and strength.

As always we pray for all those going through illnesses known and unknown.

We ask that All Prayer Warriors extend a prayer for our Elders, keep their names lifted up and grant them good health and Wisdom. Ask for extended Grace for our Elder Elizabeth "Betty" Tucker Scotland as she approaches her 90th birthday on April 22nd.

Wider Horizon Book Club

The meeting date is changed for this month. We will meet on May 2nd instead at 4pm Est.

Aprils book is : ImPerfect Women A Novel by Araminta Hall

Join us via Zoom as we meet the 4th Saturday of each month at 4pm eastern time, to discuss and share our monthly readings.

Just click the link below :ID: 827 9641 9692 with the same Password: HORIZONS.

• Virtual Meeting Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82796419692

Stop in and see what this group is all about. Bring your glass. We believe you will be pleasantly surprised and drawn into joining us again. All ages are welcome to join us.

!     

Please Support:

Nellie Penn created a fundraiser for AUTISM SPEAKS INC.

March 14 at 4:48 PM ·Facebook fundraisers ·

https://www.facebook.com/donate/2368699203630116/26733899269540983/

                                                       

Scholarships:

The Ford Foundation     J Charles  Levine Scholarship    L A Grant Scholarship  Fund 

Domino Pizza Scholarship Fund   The John Lewis Scholarship    Footlocker Foundation  

Blacks at Microsoft   The Kennedy King Memorial Scholarship    USDA 1890 Scholarship 

The Congressional Black Caucus Scholarship The American Chemical Scholarship 

L A Grant Foundation   $5,000 The Williams-Franklin Foundation     Frazine K Taylor's legacy in genealogy

McDonald's Black and Positively Golden  Scholarship    The NAACP Scholarship 

  Skeechers Scholarship   First Financial  Scholarship   David Putter Scholarship   

Think for Yourself Scholarship   Thurgood Marshall College Fund

Scholarships.com

Our History:

We've been able to share members of our family lineage from Mable Haden a prominent  D. C. Lawyer, Ned Stroud an early  Ancestor who testified against a white Governor and KKK member as well as Berry O'kelly who opened the first black school in Method, North Carolina and worked alongside of  W. E. Bois and Carter G Woodson in the fight for racial equality.

 Today, we want to share with you a contemporary Ford DNA Cousin.   Meet if you will Cousin Faith Johnson Crumby and her husband Ed Crumby, of Mableton Georgia. We had the pleasure  of meeting Faith and Ed at a Family reunion held in Culpeper Virginia some 8 or 9 years ago.  The Crumby's are an excellent representation of what love looks like at the age of  80.  The Crumby's serve as the cataylist for bringing the extended families together. They continue to motivate and educate the younger generation on their connections and the value of family.  Faith is the Great Granddaughter of Sarah Myrtle Ford ( 1881-1938)   who served tirelessly as a midwife in Culpeper, Virginia.  We extend greetings of happiness to Faith and Ed, much love to you.

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 Why were you invited to this newsletter?   Everybody comes from somebody! This is what all of us have in common.    In the early stages of the website some very interesting family history was included. It took us back to the early 1780's with Charles and Sarah Marshall, the parents of Mathew Marshall Ford who was Enslaved. It went on to tell us how Jane Ford a free woman married a slave and so Mathew took on her Surname. Jane and Mathew had 17 children. And finally, it explained our Early beginnings in what is known as Culpeper, Virginia. 

   You may not have been a history buff, but Culpeper was the sight of the most military battles in the Civil war.  Why is this important to Our family?  Jane and Mathew (a former slave) ran a commissary for the Union Army in the midst of the war.  Less than a mile away from the homestead was a military jail. 

  You have to ask yourself: What kind of People were Our Family!  Some of our new readers may still ask: Why  is Jane and Mathew important to us. Well Jane and Mathew fathered Richard Ford who married Sarah and had Mary T who in turn married Dock Stroud.  Well, hold on, Dock  and Mary had 5 daughters who eventually moved to Mount Vernon, N.Y and married into the Haden, Tucker, Michael,  Ford and Wyatt Family.  Need I say more?

166th Edition

Peace and love Family,

We are stepping out on Faith each and everyday and just look at us now! Welcome to March and Women's History Month. We have so much to celebrate and beam with pride about when we think about the women in our Family. They are known for being able to be whatever they want to be!!

We wish to impress upon you the road traveled and strength the woman of our family exhibited! It took faith, Stamina and a core belief in family values to bring us to this point in our lives. This is in no way to suggest they were perfect, just saying they were perfectly design to be the vessels from which we came from.

In many instances they took what little they had to nurture and care for a generation that exist today as lawyers, doctors, nurses, lab techs, teachers, reformed addicts, husbands, wives, farmers, entreprenuers, community advocates, servants and minister. They held that family unit together despite the pushing and pulling that was going on around them.

We cannot hate our women when we look at all they endured and how damn good we turned out, We cannot minimized the roles they've played in protecting our very existence. Oh to those, who have not come to that moment in their lives when they have to say: "if it weren't for my mother, my Grandmother, my Aunts or my Ancestors.

It's a humbling moment when you recognize what a job they did! So let Women's History Month take on a more reflective meaning to each of us. While we wait for our men to heal from their wounds, transverse through the minefield of blockades and for the children to grow up, it's that Woman holding down the fort. It doesn't take away from the accomplishments you've made, it's the exclamation mark in your journey.

Much love to each of you and Happy Women's History month.

Stroud The Sisters and their mother Mary T top is right. Rachael Stroud Michael top left. Gustava Stroud Ford center, Jannie Stroud Haden bottom left and Helen Stroud Tucker bottom right

This newsletter serves to put an exclamation mark on the lives our Ancestors hoped we would have.  The messages in this newsletter is to offer hope, encouragement  and acknowledgement.  So I hope you will reach out to one another and share victories, desires and needs.  We can only trust you will find this newsletter worthy of your time and take a moment to read and share your news with us.  Please send any thoughts, messages or history to fullergail@hotmail.com or give me a call at 646 8515247; I'll answer.

Good News:

This is a heads up announcement. Our reigning Matriarch will be turning 90 years old in April. So mark your calendars our Matriarch Elizabeth "Betty" tucker Scotland will be 90 year on April 22nd. And she and husband Norman "Mickey" Scotland's will be celebrating their Anniversary in April. These are big Milestones for or reigning Matriarch.

For some of us who are members of the older generation it is hard to accept how easily the younger generation rely on Door dash, Uber and Uber eats. Well family you are never to old to learn to appreciate something new. I sat facetime with my 5 year old Grandson who lives in California. He was eating ice cream and I playfully said " I want some. " Well, Mr. Khimahr went to his mother and No More than twenty minutes later delivered to my doorstep in Florida was a cup of my favorite Butter Pecan ice cream. So thank you Uber Eats and Khimahr Benjamin.

Welcome home Carla Tucker from your cruise on Wonder of the Seas. We can tell you enjoyed yourself and getting ready for the next one. You look absolutely radiant!

Happy Birthday Teresa Haden Boone.in Belville, Texas , It's a long way from New York and Rhode Island .

Prayer Warriors:

On behalf of everyone who is going through something and we are unaware of, Thank you for your prayers. The message has been received .

We ask for your Prayers for our own Micheala Hougabook. After being on a liver donor list for three years Micheala got that long awaited call. Let your prayers ask for successful recovery.

Congratulations on Celebrating 5 years as Virtual book Club.

Wider Horizon Book Club

Join us via Zoom as we meet the 4th Saturday of each month at 4pm eastern time, to discuss and share our monthly readings. March 28th our Book reading is: "In Praise of Difficult Women by Karen Karbo.

Just click the link below :ID: 827 9641 9692 with the same Password: HORIZONS.

• Virtual Meeting Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82796419692

Stop in and see what this group is all about. Bring your glass. We believe you will be pleasantly surprised and drawn into joining us again. All ages are welcome to join us.

Our History

We have shared with you the importance of an area called Culpeper, Virginia, where our ancestors presided. Remember Jane Ford and Mathew Marshall Ford had 17 children. One of their offsprings brings us to a DNA connection to Mariah Washington.

Here's Mariah's story shared by her Great Grandson Jeffrey "Straight Arrow" Shanks

February 18 at 2:13 PM

 ·Front Royal, VA ·

Black American History continues for me. My Grandfather Gabriel would always tell me stories of our ancestors and how powerful they were and was always fighting. That Warrior's spirit! I can remember my Great Uncle Tecumseh(my grandfather's brother)would visit us from SW Virginia close to Kentucky and tell the story of his 3x great uncle who he called The Black Panther crossing, kind of ironic would you say. What a story of a true warrior and he would never settle always resisting to give in even until death in 1813. The mighty Shawnee Chief Tecumseh was mighty in battle and in spirit! Family always knows who you are and whose you are!! I honor my 2X great grandmother Annie Mariah Williams- Washington(b.1831) and my beautiful mother Mary Washington-Shanks today and our ancestor my 5x great uncle Tecumseh b.1768. Keeper of the faith and truth blessings to our ancestors.