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Annie Louisa Woodhurst was born at Murston near Sittingbourne in 1876 [Birth Index: Milton 2a 849, 1876 (March)] of parents Daniel Woodhurst and Priscilla (nee) Hales. Her first name is rendered as Anna in many sources, although it was registered at birth as Annie.
In 1884 she emigrated with her mother and siblings to America, sailing from Liverpool on the RMS City of Montreal and arriving at Michigan on July 26th 1884.
She married on September 25th 1895 to George Marius Ford (the son of Darius A. Ford and Sarah nee Lent). The register of Marriage Returns states that they were both residing in Summit township, Jackson Co., Michigan. His birthplace was given as Spring Arbor, Jackson Co. and his occupation as farmer.
The US 1900 Census finds them living in Spring Arbor where George was a farmer. With them were their two first two daughters Viola and Emmeline, as well as a servant. Annie's birthdate is given inaccurately as January 1877.
The US 1910 Census finds them living in Rives township, Jackson Co. and George still farming. They still had Viola and Emmeline with them and had also had a third child no longer living.
The US 1920 Census finds them again in Rives township and George still farming. Viola was again living with them and described as widowed, and had with her a 2-year-old son Howard Sibley. She had married Norman Hoyt Sibley on April 22nd 1916 but he had not died by 1920 - instead, the same Census finds him as an inmate at the Michigan State Prison, aged "25" and described as a (former) stone cutter for a granite works. It is not known for what he had been convicted. Also in Annie's household was a son Lyle Duane Ford aged "4". Annie and George had also produced another son Willard Wiley Ford in 1906 but he had died a year later.
Annie died two years after this Census. Her death certificate states that she died on March 25th, having been residing at 626, N. Ganson Street in Jackson City. The cause of death was "tumer [sic] of the liver - probably malignant" over a period of 6 months with a contributing secondary cause of bronchitis over the previous 3 days. She was aged only "46". The informant was her married daughter Emmeline Harrington. Annie was buried at the Woodland Cemetery in Jackson.
The US 1930 Census finds George and his son Lyle as "boarders" in the household of Norman and Viola in Blackman township, Jackson Co. Norman was evidently out of prison now but not unassociated from it, as he was occupied as a garage foreman for Michigan State Prison. This opening may have been facilitated by George's own occupation which was as a farm superintendent for the same institution.
Lyle married a few years later on January 2nd 1934 to Donna (nee) Case whose mother's maiden name had been Josephine Poole.
George died in Jackson City on January 23rd 1939 and was also buried at the Woodland Cemetery.