Early Colorado gold miner, hotel magnate and entreprenuer, former slave Barney L. Ford, was born in Stafford Court House, Virginia. Through a number of business dealings, Ford became a wealthy man but was dogged by a series of tragic accidents. The restaurants and hotels he owned in Denver, Colorado, and Nicaragua were leveled by bombs and fires, and racism periodically forced him out of the gold fields. Despite such setbacks, Ford made and lost several fortunes during his lifetime.