Sarah Ford was the daughter of John L. Ford, a member of the Indiana State Legislature from Jackson Co., and the grandaughter of Captain Lemuel Ford, warden of the State Prison at Jeffersonville (New Albany Daily Ledger, Dec. 12, 1868, p.2). She is listed in the 1850 census for John L. Ford as Sarah V., age 5. She married Frank Reno on March 2, 1865, but became a widow when he was hung by vigilantes in a New Albany jail on December 12, 1868. They had one daughter, Appelina. In her second marriage to John Reno in 1880, she is listed as Sallie V. Reno (Book H, p.310). She divorced John Reno on April 19, 1887 and had her maiden name of Ford restored (Order Book DD, April 19, 1887, p.340), but she then remarried John in 1890 when he was released from the Michigan City prison (they were married in Columbus, Indiana), and they lived in Seymour until her death in 1930. She was not mentioned in her mother-in-law Julia's will, and sued Clinton Reno on behalf of herself and Appelina, with the result that Julia's will was not probated until 22 years after her death. Wilkison, in his will, made it very clear that he did not want to leave her and Appelina anything. Her tombstone in Seymour reads only "Sarah F. R". Her death record in Jackson County Death Records, Vol. 4, p.34, lists her cause of death as paralysis and sinility at the age of 86.
Robert W. Shields and various documents claim that she first married a Van Vrankin or Van Franklin before her marriage to Frank Reno when she was 20 years old, but that the marriage quickly ended in divorce. An article in the Seymour Times dated Dec. 22, 1864 says that "Sarah Van Vrankin's house in Rockford has burned". Another article in that paper on May 11, 1865 says that "Mrs. Sarah Van Vrankin is a dressmaker and needleworker of Rockford"; however, the second article is after her marriage to Frank Reno in March 1865 and the paper probably made an error in reporting her last name as Van Vranklin.
The 1910 census for Jackson Co., IN 1st Ward, p. 117A lists Sarah V. Reno living alone: 65 b. IN, widow, had 1 child, 1 living, parents b. KY. In the 1930 census, she was listed as Sarah V. Reno, 86, living in Seymour, IN with her daughter Appa Leffingwell 64, both widowed

Sarah Reno (15013213)

Suggested edit: It was reported in the New Albany Daily Ledger, Dec 12, 1868, pg. 2, that Sarah "Ford" Reno was a granddaughter of Lemuel Ford, warden at the Jeffersonville prison. This doesn't appear to be true. Her father was Dr. John Louis Ford, a physician and surgeon from Brownstown and served as the doctor for the paupers in the county asylum and jail.
Contributor: Nancy Speichert (47002770) • [email protected]