Edsel Ford Edsel Ford Edsel Bryant Ford (November 6, 1893 – May 26, 1943) was the son of Clara Jane Bryant Ford and the only child of Henry Ford. He was the president of Ford Motor Company from 1919 to his death in 1943. His eldest son was Henry Ford II. He worked closely with his father, as sole heir to the business, but was keen to develop cars more exciting than the Model T ("Tin Lizzie"), in line with his personal tastes. Even as president, he had trouble persuading his father to allow any departure from this formula. Only a change
Henry Ford (Tiverton MP) exists in Ilsington Church. Thomas Ford's grandfather was John Ford (d.1538) of Ashburton (the son and heir of William Ford of Chagford,) who purchased the estate of Bagtor in the parish of Ilsington, which his male heirs successively made their seat. The Elizabethan mansion of the Fords survives today at Bagtor as the service wing of a later house appended in about 1700. Sir Henry Ford was a nephew of the dramatist John Ford (1586-c.1639) Henry Ford was born in January 1617 and was baptised at Littleham on 19 January 1617, four months after his father's death in September 1616.