Seabury Ford

Seabury Ford (October 15, 1801 – May 8, 1855) was a Whig politician from Ohio. He served as the 20th governor of Ohio and was the last Whig to serve as governor.

Early life Ford was born in Cheshire, Connecticut and moved to Burton, Ohio with his parents in 1804. He studied at Burton Academy, and then graduated from Yale University. While at Yale, he was elected by his classmates as class "bully", a term of honor for the physically strongest man in the class.

Career Ford graduated from Yale in 1825, returned to Ohio, and read law under the direction of his uncle, Judge Peter Hitchcock. He commenced the practice of law in 1827. Ford married Harriet E. Cook of Burton in 1828.

In 1835, Ford was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives from Geauga County. He held this position three times, and served as speaker for one term.

After serving in the General Assembly, Ford was elected to the governorship in late 1848, by a margin of 311 votes out of nearly 300,000 cast. Ford served only a single term before returning home. His term was marred by fighting in a highly partisan Assembly that was divided over issues related to slavery and the Mexican–American War, as well as by a cholera epidemic that swept through Columbus.

Death On the first Sunday after his retirement, Ford suffered a stroke and was stricken by paralysis, from which he never recovered. He died at his home in Burton in 1855 when he was 53 years old. Ford is interred at Welton Cemetery in Burton, Ohio.