FORD, HORATIO (23 June 1881-28 Nov. 1952), a banker and lawyer involved in the BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA and in forest conservation, was born in Cleveland, to Ida May Thorp and HORATIO CLARK FORD. He earned his A.B. from Yale University in 1904, his LL.B. from Western Reserve University Law School, and was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1907. In 1906, Ford started as a cashier in the Garfield Savings Bank, serving as bookkeeper, secretary, attorney, and director by the time Garfield merged with Cleveland Trust Bank in 1922. After the merger, he continued as a co-trustee for certain trusts, attorney, director, and assistant vice-president for Cleveland Trust. A member of the law firm of Snyder, Henry Thomsen, Ford & Seagrave from 1913-26, Ford retired from banking in 1940 to return to law, joining the firm of Ford & Reece, later Ford, Reece, Baskins & Howland.
In 1910, Ford helped organize the Boy Scouts in the Cleveland area, serving on the area executive committee from 1910-20. Ford qualified 1,500 acres of family-owned Whitfield Woods property in Middlefield, Ohio, as one of the first tree farms in Ohio. From 1950 until his death, he was president of the Ohio Forestry Assoc. Ford married Ella Almira White on 7 May 1908, and Fords had 6 children, Horatio, Andrew, Thomas, Jonathon, Baldwin, and Almira.