| Notes |
John Miles Stafford’s parentage is a bit of a mystery. There is some kind of a link to Absalom Stafford. For now, I’m showing a link to Sarah Stafford, Absalom’s daughter – just for the purpose of including Absalom in this Branch. It’s speculative at the most.
Curt Stafford has the following observations:
> My grand father told me Uncle Wes had a family bible, once belonging to John Miles Stafford,that showed the family tree back into the 1600s. The bible disappeared when Uncle Wes died. However, my grandfather and other members of the family who looked at it before it disappeared said that the writing in the bible stated that our branch of the Staffords was from a son of William Stafford-Howard,Viscount Stafford and that son was kidnapped and sent to America as an indentured servant.
Since all of William Stafford-Howard's legitimate children and their immediate descendants seem to be accounted for and did not appear to leave Europe at any time in their lives I would have to assume that the 'kidnapped' son was illegitimate and became inconvenient to have around.
In reference to the family bible lore I mentioned in my original reply to John Elbert Stafford, My grandfather, John Edward Stafford, told me the following about what was in that bible: He said that the original 'kidnapped' son of William Stafford-Howard who was sent to America was named John also. Additionally he said that John Miles Stafford's father's name was John and that he had come from Maryland. John Edward Stafford also said some other members of John Miles Stafford's family in Maryland had gone to live in New Jersey. None of this has been confirmed in any public records or documents, but they are clues to follow up some day.
Mike H. Stafford, Shepherd for Branch 019.
It has been speculated that Absalom Stafford was possibly John's uncle or grandfather or some other close relative. They were both in Wythe/Tazewell, Cabell/Logan, and Floyd/Pike counties at the same time or close to the same time. There weren't any other Staffords in those specific areas at that time that we know of. It would appear that Absalom was at least 40 years older than John, possibly 45 years.
Our earliest records for Absalom Stafford are in Montgomery County, Virginia. That part of Montgomery County became Wythe County, then Tazewell County. In 1800, Absalom and John Stafford are the only two Staffords on the Wythe County tax list. There are records of both Absalom and John Stafford in Tazewell County between the years 1801 and 1804.
Absalom wasn't on the 1810 Cabell County tax list. John was the only Stafford on it. But Absalom was on the 1810 Floyd County, Kentucky census and the 1810 Floyd County tax list, and Absalom was the only Stafford in Floyd County at the time. John and Absalom were probably close neighbors but living on opposite sides of the river, thus living indifferent states. That part of Kentucky was Floyd County at that time, but became Pike County in December 1821. Absalom and John are both in Cabell County on the 1815 tax list. John Stafford bought property on the Kentucky side of the river in 1821 FROM ABSALOM:
Deed from Absalom Stafford to John Stafford, both of Cavil County, Virginia. August 6, 1821 (consideration $300.00) Deed Book B - Page 254 - Floyd County, Kentucky. 10 acres in Floyd County, Ky., on the West side of Tug Fork of Sandy River.
Also, Nancy Runyon Stafford's brother Henry Runyon was given $25 for the year (taken off his taxes) in 1828 for caring for Absalom Stafford and his wife. (Pike County Court Order) Henry also lived on Pond Creek in Pike County.
A Y-DNA profile indicates that a male descendant of John Miles Stafford shares a common male ancestor with a Compton male. The following statement needs more proof:
“To make a very long story short, my relative originally had a DNA sample taken for the Stafford DNA Study and he was not matching anyone at all there. There is family lore that John Miles Stafford was "raised by the Compton family", soon a whim, we moved our data over to the Compton DNA Study and have a 66/67 match with the Compton's. John's grandfather Absolom lived right next door to John Compton, Sr., so I now believe that one of Absolom Stafford's daughters must have had a brief romance with one of John Compton, Sr.'s sons (probably John Compton, Jr.). This would tend to explain the prolific use of the Compton surname as a middle name, and the use of 'John Compton' as a first and middle name for many of John Miles Stafford's descendants.”
John may have been the grandson or nephew of Absalom Stafford who was about 44 years his senior. Family tradition holds that John Mile's parents died or were killed when John Miles was a small boy. He was raised by a wealthy plantation owner and his wife, who were childless, by the name of Cumpton.
According to Henry Clay Ragland's History of Logan County, published about 1896, "John Stafford, of Tazewell, settled at the mouth of Lick Creek." This is the John he's speaking of, since he goes on to name John's children and who they married. Lick Creek was in Cabell County in 1810. That area became Logan County,VA in 1824, and is now Mingo County, WV, about three miles from Williamson,across the Tug Fork (of the Sandy River) from Pike Co, Kentucky.
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In 1815, John Stafford is again on the Cabell County tax list:
Columns- men >16, slaves, horses, cattle
Stafford,John 1 0 0 1
Absalom Stafford was also on it:
Stafford, Abasalom 1 0 3 5
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John Stafford land grant, 14 Nov 1818, Cabell County, VA:
100 a. On the left hand fork of Sandy River. Grants No. 67, p. 391
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John Stafford is on the 1820 Cabell County census. John bought property on the Kentucky side of the river at least as early as 1821 (from Absalom Stafford, see below), but he's shown on the first tax list of Logan County,Virginia, when it was formed in 1824.
The Logan County 1824 Tax List showed one male over 16 in household, 5 horses owned. The next Logan County Tax List was in 1827, and John wasn't on it. John is on the census in Pike County, Kentucky in 1830, so the family had settled across the river in Kentucky by that time. He had property above the mouth of Pond Creek.
1820 Cabell County (before it was Logan), VA census: John Stafford-
males 3, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, females 2, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0
<10, 10-16, 16-18, 16-26, 26-45,45+, <10, 10-16, 16-18, 16-26,26-45, 45+
3 boys up to 10 yrs: John, Compton,third?? (Fleming not born yet)
1 16-26: Is this Andrew Varney, Sally's husband ??
1 26-45: John (father)
2 girls up to 10 yrs: Parlina, Nancy (Louvinia & Elizabeth not born yet)
2 10-16: Mary Ann, Matilda
1 16-26: Sarah? (she was actually 15, was married that year)
1 26-45: Nancy (mother)
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1830 Pike Co KY Census, Microfilm roll # M19-40, Page 373
John Stafford 0111101000000-2011101000000
0 males 0 -5
1 males 5-10 born bet 1820-1825 (Fleming b3-1823)
1 males 10-15 born bet 1815-1820 (Cumpton b 1815)
1 males 15-20 born bet 1811-1815 (???)
1 males 20-30 born bet 1801-1810 (John b 2-10-1810)
0 males 30-40
1 males 40-50 John, born bet 1780-1790
-------
2 females 0-5 born bet 1825-1830 (Louvinia and Elizabeth?)
0 females 5- 9
1 females 10-14 born bet 1815-1820 (Nancy b abt 1816)
1 females 15-20 born bet 1810-1815 (Parlina b abt 1812)
1 females 20-29 born bet 1800-1810 (Matilda b abt 1808)
[Sarah and Mary Ann were both married before 1830, so they weren't listed with the family.]
0 females 30-39
` 1 females 40-49 Nancy Runyon Stafford born bet 1780-1790
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The above two census records establish that John was born between 1780 and 1790. Since he married in 1803, it is reasonable to conclude that he was probably born in the early part of the 1780's.
Also notice in the above censuses that there was an unidentified son between the ages of sons John and Cumpton, born between 1811 and 1814.
According to the estate settlement papers, John died in December 1831 or January 1832. Their youngest daughter, Elizabeth, would have still been a very young child. John died about a year and a half after his son John married Levisa Spratt. He gave consent for their marriage in 1830, but wife Nancy Stafford gave consent when their son Cumpton married Ellender McCoy in 1833.
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Bill Stafford (descendant of Cumpton), [email protected], wrote: "John Stafford lived on Pond Creek in Pike Co, Ky when he died and is supposed to be buried there by a Baptist Church but I have not been able to find his grave. Somewhere I have all the people that lived on Pond Creek at the time and they are all connected, I think most of the girls married someone from Pond Creek."
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The following two records were transcribed from the original Pike County records by Clyde Runyon of Belfry,Kentucky. They were kept by local historian O. Tom Adkins who freely shared them with the family. The generosity of these men is so appreciated! Other estate settlement papers are also available.
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Pike County, Kentucky - County Court Order Book A - Page 407 - January 23, 1832 "Ordered that Isaac Jackson,John Rutherford, Robert Rutherford, and John Runyon, Alexander Varney and Daniel McCoy are appointed and after being duly sworn to appraise the goods and chattels of the Estate of John Stafford des. and report according to law."
Inventory of John Stafford's personal Estate was made on March 26, 1832 by Isaac Jackson, John Rutherford and Reuben Rutherford Jun. Richard Keesee was Administrator of John Stafford's Estate. The total inventory of the estate amounted to $579.83.
(See records in an old, thin ledgerin office of County Court Clerk of Pike Co., Ky. - - ledger is labeled"Will Book")
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The inventory is interesting. It includes 40 pork hogs plus 6 sows and 7 goats, 5 sheep, 4 head cattle, 1 cow, 1 heiffer, 1 black mare and colt, 1 gray horse, 14 ducks, 5 geese, 1,677 lbs. bacon, 42 deer or buck skins - some tanned and some in tan, 17 cow hides, 100 bushels corn, 5 salt barrels, 7 bushels 3 pecks oats, 1 plow hoe, 1 double tree, 2 feather beds, 1 table, 7 chairs, 1 churn, 1 rifle gun, 1 log chain, and 2 saddles, among other things.
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1782 - 1831 (49 years)
[3] 