July 29, 2023

My grandfather was Robert Ford of Kingston, Ma. He was part of the C Drew tool company which in most part made the tools they used to build ships; ships being made from wooden timbers and planks.The Jones River Ship yard built ships and used oxen to pull the ships down the Jones River to the mouth of the river known as the Ah-De-Nah.

I know from my mother that their tools were considered the very best around the globe. I have certain tools my mother left behind. Please don’t ask about selling any C Drew tools; what small amount I have I’d like to keep for now.

My grandfather also was a master of bird carvings and decoys which I have many. What he enjoyed most, was taking a block of white cedar and turning into a masterpiece, or building a wooden frame and stretching wet canvas over it and painting it to look like a Canadian goose.

Bob Ford not only could carve and paint birds but he was a champion skeet/trap marksmen, a billiards champion (local), and he won every striped bass tournament in the area. I have an article from The Boston Globe 1948-49 about his fishing skills. I too have spent my time on the ocean whenever I can.

Lemuel Ford, a partner and part owner of the C. DREW & CO. factory, was Robert Ford's older brother; they are now buried side by side at Evergreen Cemetery in Kingston.

My parents were from the generation that didn’t talk much about the past. It’s all a big mystery. As much as I loved history, my mother was very tight lipped about a lot of things. It wasn’t until after her death that  I started to find out a little bit of my family’s history right here in the town of Kingston where I’ve lived for 62 years.