Richard Jesse Ford, born 1872 and died 1952, operated “several sawmills” in Cherokee County for decades. The company letterhead's motto read “As We Use It, Nature Renews It.” R. J. and Jim Ford on February 24, 1912, mortgaged to E. T. Yates Lumber Company for $5,000 “all lumber, 1 sawmill complete, all timber on 1,035 acres.”