After Ford married, the couple moved further north up the Mississippi River to the newly founded mining boom town of Galena in the newly created Jo Daviess County, Illinois. However, his legal practice still failed to prosper (his retiring demeanor and high voice perhaps contributing factors), and Ford lost an election to become the local justice of the peace. Instead, Ford become a member of the commission to establish Illinois's northern boundary (with Wisconsin), which necessitated considerable time at the then-state capital in Vandalia, Fayette County, Illinois.