Molly Pitts

In conclusion, researching individuals like the Ford family is very fascinating and really gives the reader perspective as to how Fairfax came to be. John B. Ford is one example of a man who very much “kept the land in the family”, continuing the tradition of giving the land to his children. Their lineage traces back to George Washington, and they are also very important people when discussing how Gum Springs became Fairfax. These families were very influential in the area, and their reputations preceded them, to an extent. For further research purposes, the holes in the information hinder a lot of data from being presented, so contextual information that the reader may need is not there.  

West Ford is the most famous in the Ford family, for a multitude of reasons, but even through the popularity there is little on his grandchildren. This made it difficult to look into anything past West Ford, and made it more difficult to investigate John B. Ford. John B. Ford seemed to live a simple life that never had too many distinct aspects. 

Physical archives are incredibly important when collecting this documentation, so understanding who your individual is before going into the archives is the key. If you’re unsure about the information you need, you don’t know what you’re missing when you cultivate all the evidence. Fuentes and McKittrick outlined in their findings that painting a full picture is virtually impossible due to the prioritizing of white, male history. However, it’s through this literature that we uncover the missing pieces that most had never bothered to investigate. Given that we as a class were able to go through the process of doing a deep dive into our respective families, we are now equipped with the necessary knowledge it takes to find out more about our history, not just those like John B. Ford.