My Genealogy Hound

IRA A. GUILFORD, a well-known business man of Northampton, Hampshire County, a member of the firm of Guilford & Wood, horse dealers, was born in Conway, Franklin County, Mass., October 24, 1847, son of Walter and Minerva (Amsden) Guilford. Both his grandfather, Walter Guilford, Sr., and his father were natives of Ashfield, the latter born in 1818. The family name of his paternal grandmother was Burnett. His father was a farmer by occupation. He died in 1872, at the age of fifty-four. His wife, Minerva Amsden Guilford, died in 1874, her span of life also embracing fifty-four years. They were the parents of seven children, six of whom reached maturity. The eldest, Manley Guilford, offered up his young life on the altar of his country, dying in the army of a disease contracted in camp at the age of twenty-two. The others may here be briefly designated as follows: Minerva is the wife of Frank Warren, of Boston; Ira A. is the subject of this sketch, further mentioned below; Julius S. died in Ashfield, leaving a wife and two children; Alice was drowned when a child a little over two years of age; Arthur is a hotel-keeper at Conway, Mass.; Ralph M. resides in Northampton.

Ira A. Guilford was reared to farm life. He attended the district schools, and acquired a fair education, working for his parents on the home farm until twenty-one years of age, when his father agreed to give him forty dollars a month. He was engaged in various work until November, 1886, when he formed a partnership with Frank J. Wood, of Shelburne Falls, and established a market for horses at Northampton Centre, under the firm name of Guilford & Wood. Their enterprise has prospered; and they are doing quite an extensive business, trading largely in Western and Canadian horses, buying principally in Michigan and Illinois, and bearing a wide reputation for fair dealing. They usually import in this way about thirty carloads per year, carefully selected, their average annual sales amounting to one thousand horses.

On Christmas Day, 1871, Mr. Guilford was united in marriage with Ella Brown, of Conway, daughter of L. T. and Martha (Shippie) Brown. The one son who blessed their union passed away in infancy. Mr. Guilford is independent in political matters, using his own judgment in voting for the best men and measures. Socially, he is an advanced member of the Masonic fraternity, being a prominent Sir Knight.