I have a letter written in 1900 by Lyman McBride Ford, in which he says, "...About [that] time [1848] Mary [Ford] and Hiram [Shoemaker] came out to Wisconsin, Cousin Charles Stratton [son of Elizabeth Ford & Charles Stratton] and Uncle Edward [Ford]'s family perhaps later left New York for Michigan. Do not remember the place though later had a letter from Charley after I went to St. Paul. Several of Uncle John [Ford]'s sons and one daughter had settled at Cleveland and Painesville, Ohio."
About all I know about this particular "John Ford" is that he and his wife had a large family, but less than 12. He had been living on the old Ford homestead 5 miles away from Stillwater, taking care of his grandmother. His brother Samuel Ford had bought the old farm for sake of Grandma and sent to Milton, for John to run the farm. When John Ford left, cousin Reubin took his place.
Don't know if this John Ford is yours or not.