(W.) Gafford: Unknown Origin, birth name
(W.) Ford: A shallow place in a river where one can wade across, nickname
(W.) Hornbranch (Horn + branch): A small Breeish clan originally from Combe, last name

"I like the ring o' the hammer. It brings me comfort an' steadyness, 'specially on hectic days where orders are croppin' up left and right. A blacksmith's life might be all about forgin' something of use - but it's the steady blow of a hammer tha' really brings it together." - Gafford

Born and raised in Combe as the middle child of an accountant mother and her farmer husband, Gafford, or more often simply Ford, was first an apprentice under the Smith Robb Statler, alongside his two childhood friends Hudd Forester and the smith's daughter, Ellinor Statler.  A curious, bookish type, young Ford was infamous in his childhood days, known for getting into fisticuffs with other boys and often defending his younger sister Hilda from those who would make fun of her. He loved books, however, and his aunt Sandra would often take him to the Scholar's Stair so he could learn how to read.

Eventually, however, young Ford's disposition became more meek and withdrawn, and he lost his reputation for fistfighting and trouble-making. No one knows what the trigger was for the change in behaviour, but with time (and Ford's newfound habit of keeping his nose to the grindstone), the questions stopped, and it seemed life would go on as normal -- until one day, the young man inexplicably took off and left the village.

Why he left the forge is a mystery in itself, but shortly after leaving Ford resurfaced in Bree and took on a job under the Master Smith Emory Hucklebush, where he would continue to work for the next one-and-a-half years.