Leslie Lynch King Legally Changes His Name to Gerald R. Ford Jr.
After two and a half years with her parents, on February 1, 1916 Dorothy King married Gerald Rudolff Ford, a salesman in a family owned paint and varnish company.
They then called her son Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr. The future president was never formally adopted, however, and he did not legally change his name until December 3, 1935; he also used a more conventional spelling of his middle name. He was raised in Grand Rapids with his three half-brothers by his mother's second marriage: Thomas Gardner Ford (1918–1995), Richard Addison Ford (born 1924), and James Francis Ford (1927–2001).
Just over two weeks after the birth of their son, Dorothy separated from her husband and took her infant son to her sister's home in Oak Park, Illinois and then to her parents home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. On December 19, 1913 an Omaha court granted her a divorce. In 1917 she married Grand Rapids businessman Gerald R. Ford and they soon began calling her son Gerald R. Ford, Jr., although his name was not legally changed until December 3, 1935.
His parents, Leslie Lynch King and Dorothy Ayer Gardner, separated shortly after the birth of their son and were divorced in Omaha, Nebraska on 19 December 1913. In 1917, Dorothy married Gerald R. Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Fords began calling Leslie by the name Gerald Rudolff Ford, Jr., although his name wasn't legally changed until December 3, 1935 (he also changed the spelling of his middle name). Gerald Ford Jr. grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his younger half-brothers, Thomas, Richard and James.
