Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Ford, Edward Lloyd

FORD, Edward Lloyd, publisher, b. in Oswestry, Shropshire, England, 10 March, 1845; d. in Morristown, N. J., 16 Dec., 1880. He came to New York in early youth, and studied for a few years under Prof. J. H. Patton. He enlisted in the 99th regiment of Pennsylvania volunteers in 1861, and within a year was promoted to a lieutenancy, and detailed on Gen. Meade's staff. He was taken prisoner at Chancellorsville, 2 May, 1863, and sent to Libby prison, Richmond, but was exchanged early in the September following, and returned to his post of duty. In 1863 he was discharged from the volunteer service, promoted to a captaincy on the staff of Gen. Birney, and served in the 10th army corps. Broken health forced him to leave the army in December, 1864. In 1867 he became a partner in the newly established publishing-house of J. B. Ford & Co., and, by his business ability and fertility of invention, contributed largely to the success of the “Christian Union.” He had a genius for mechanics, and made many improvements in printing, notably in devices for the rapid delivery of sheets from a printing-machine. He invented and patented folding combinations, folding and pasting apparatus, and devices for printing two sheets simultaneously, and for folding and pasting one within the other.