Early Life and Artistic Heritage John Martin Feeney, known universally as John Ford, was born on February 1, 1894, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, though the precise details of his birth were often embellished by the director himself—a habit that would become characteristic throughout his life. His lineage was steeped in Irish heritage and artistic tradition. Both parents, John Augustine Feeney and Barbara Curran, were immigrants from Ireland, bringing with them a rich cultural background that profoundly shaped Ford’s worldview. However, it was through his paternal grandfather, Ford Madox Brown—th…