Snapshot of the past: Ted Ford

A photograph from 1926 capturing (from left) Jack "Chummy" Freeman, Ted Ford with his lead horse Bluey, and Tommy Rusden.
One of the features of small country towns is that successive generations of a family often grow up and continue to live in the town, and so play a significant part in that town's history.
In Longwarry, some of those families were the Eacotts, Proctors, Gardners, Maisies and Toys.
Another well-known Longwarry family are the Fords.
Alfred Edward Ford arrived in Longwarry from Walhalla in the very early 1900s.
Initially, Ted or Tedda as he was known, worked with a relative who was a local blacksmith. Soon after, when John Freeman brought Tom Maisie's sawmilling business in 1905, Ted began work as a tram driver. This difficult work involved long, often lonely days.
With a team of horses, the drivers would travel out to sidings around Labertouche where logs had been left. Using only the horse teams, they would load timber onto the wagons and bring them back to the sawmill in town.
One of Ted's co-workers driving the trams was Charlie Hickford. This is another name that lives on, as Charlie's grandson is the current Longwarry CFA captain.
Ted became quite taken by Charlie's sister Louisa. They married in 1911 and moved into a small workmen's cottage in Witton St where they raised their 12 children - six boys and six girls.
When the tram lines closed in 1933, Ted went to work at the Longwarry Milk Factory and, eventually, all six of his sons followed. Four of them worked there for more than 35 years. Just to add to the mix, three of Ted's sons-in-laws also worked at the factory and a fourth had his own business carting milk from farms into Longwarry.
Ted was small in build but big in stature throughout the district, whether it was his booming voice urging his horses on, at the football barracking for the team and his sons, or as MC at the Longwarry dances where he also acted as "bouncer" for any patron who might be disorderly. He was well respected and a much-loved character.
Like all these long-time residents, there is virtually nothing in the town that generations of the Ford family did not have their hand in at some time or another.
This included the football club where three of the boys were in the premiership teams of the 1930s and 40s and another two were either president or secretary. There was also the tennis club, hall committee, progress association, RSL, fire brigade, school, bowling club, Australia Day carnival, and "Back Too" celebrations. If anything was happening in the town, they were involved.
Ted Ford died of a heart attack in 1954 but the family name lives on in Longwarry.
His grandson currently lives on Witton St beside where the old family home stood. This marks more than 110 consecutive years that at least one of Ted Ford's children or grandchildren have lived on the Longwarry street.
Photograph and information courtesy of the Longwarry and District History Group.
The group aim to preserve and share memories of the 3816 postcode district, including Longwarry, Labertouche, Longwarry North and Modella.