Patrick Ford (12 April 1837 – 23 September 1913) was an Irish-American

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

Georgist Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that, although people should own the value they produce themselves, the economic rent derived from land—including ...

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

er. Ford was born in Galway to Edward Ford (1805-1880) and Ann Ford (1815-1893), emigrating with his parents to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, United States in 1845, never returning to Ireland. He wrote in the ''Irish World'' in 1886 that ''"I might as well have been born in Boston. I know nothing of England. I brought nothing with me from Ireland—nothing tangible to make me what I am. I had consciously at least, only what I found and grew up with in here."'' He left school aged thirteen and two years later was working as a printer's devil for

William Lloyd Garrison William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he found ...

's ''Liberator''. He began writing in 1855 and by 1861 was editor and publisher of the ''Boston Tribune'', also known as the ''Boston Sunday Tribune'' or ''Boston Sunday Times''. He was an abolitionist and pro-union. At 15, Ford went to work as a "printer's devil" for William Lloyd Garrison's newspaper, ''The Liberator''. He credited Garrison for his advocacy for social reform. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

(1861–1865) Ford served in Union forces in the Ninth Massachusetts Regiment with his father and brother. He saw action in northern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and fought at Fredericksburg. He spent four years after the war in

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

, editing the ''Southern Carolina Leader'', printed to support newly freed slaves. He settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1870 and founded the ''Irish World'', which became the principal newspaper of Irish America. It promised ''"more reading material than any other paper in America"'' and outsold John Boyle O'Reilly's ''Boston Pilot''. In 1878, Ford re-titled his newspaper, the '' Irish World and American Industrial Liberator''. During the early 1880s, Ford promoted the writings of land reformer,

Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...

in his paper. In 1880, Ford began to solicit donations through the ''Irish World'' to support Land League activities in Ireland. Funds received were tabulated weekly under the heading "Land League Fund." Between January and September 1881 alone, more than $100,000 was collected in donations. British Prime Minister William Gladstone would later state that without the funds from the ''Irish World'', "there would have been no agitation in Ireland.""Ireland and the Americas - Culture, Politics and History," Editors James P. Byrne, Philip Coleman, and Jason King, ABC Clio, Santa Barbara, 2008 CA

References

Further reading