Christopher M. STAFFORD^[1]

1808 - 1892  (83 years)

• Name	Christopher M. STAFFORD
  Born	26 May 1808	Manchester, Ontario Co., New York
  Gender	Male
  Census	1880	Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio
  _UID	D5C3FB894091E4488599D6E51D0BD4D6C4FE
  Died	12 Jan 1892	Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio
  Buried	Maple Shade Cem., Auburn Center, Geauga Co., Ohio
  Person ID	I25646	Branch 031 Robert Stafford 1790 Wales, Great Britain
  Last Modified	4 Jun 2018

  
  

  Father	Jonathan STAFFORD,   b. 17 Sep 1770, Tiverton, Newport Co., Rhode Island ,   d. 21 May 1821, Palmyra, Wayne Co., New York  (Age 50 years)
  Mother	Phebe MANCHESTER,   b. 6 Jun 1780, Rhode Island ,   d. 31 Jan 1869, Ohio  (Age 88 years)
  Family ID	F9505	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Emily ROCKWELL,   b. 30 Sep 1810, New York ,   d. 13 Feb 1883, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio  (Age 72 years)
  Married	1830
  Children	1. Caroline STAFFORD,   b. 5 Oct 1830,   d. 25 May 1832  (Age 1 years)   2. Orin P. STAFFORD,   b. 9 May 1833, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio ,   d. 10 Jan 1916, Lakewood, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio  (Age 82 years)   3. Cornelius STAFFORD,   b. 17 May 1835, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio ,   d. 23 Apr 1918, Erie Co., Ohio  (Age 82 years)   4. George W. STAFFORD,   b. 20 Aug 1837, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio ,   d. 31 Jul 1918, Newbury, Ohio  (Age 80 years)   5. Perry C. STAFFORD,   b. Dec 1841, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio ,   d. 11 Jun 1904, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio  (Age ~ 62 years)   6. William Henry STAFFORD,   b. 7 Jul 1844, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio ,   d. 1910  (Age 65 years)   7. James A. STAFFORD,   b. 26 Oct 1845, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio ,   d. 18 Apr 1931, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio  (Age 85 years)   8. Mary Ann STAFFORD,   b. Mar 1848, Auburn Twp., Geauga Co., Ohio ,   d. 2 Aug 1929, Alvin, Montgomery Co., Texas  (Age ~ 81 years)
  Last Modified	22 Nov 2019
  Family ID	F9506	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  Mr. Stafford came to Alburn in 1832; bought land in the northwest part of the twp, on the Darling tract. C. M. STAFFORD'S STATEMENT. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was born in Manchester, Ontario Co., N.Y., May 26, 1808. I well remember about 1820, when old Jo Smith and family settled on one hundred acres one mile north of our house. The north line of his farm was the boundary line between Manchester, Ontario Co., and Palmyra, Wayne Co.; N.Y. The village of Palmyra was about two miles north of Jo's house. Old Jo claimed to be a cooper but worked very little at anything. He was intemperate. Hyrum worked at cooperage. Alvin was the oldest son and worked the farm and was the stay of the family. He died a few years after they came. I exchanged work with Jo but more with his brother Harrison, who was a good, industrous boy. I did not enjoy my meals at the Smith's, they were so filthy. Jo got drunk while we were haying for my uncle, Wm. Stafford; also at a husking at our house, and stayed overnight. I have often seen him drunk. Jo was the laziest one of the family, and a dull scholar, as were all the Smiths except Harrison and Catherine. I attended school with them, also Bill and Carlos. Oliver Cowdery taught one winter. Catherine's reputation for virtue was not good. Jo claimed he could tell where money was buried, with a witch hazel consisting of a forked stick of hazel. He held it one fork in each hand and claimed the upper end was attracted by the money. I heard my stepfather, Robert Orr, say he had been digging for money one night. Some of my neighbors also said they were digging for money nights. My mother-in-law, Mrs. Rockwell, said that Prophet Jo Smith told her there was money buried in the ground and she spent considerable time digging in various places for it. I never knew of her finding any. Jo Smith told me there was a peep-stone for me and many others if we could only find them. Jo claimed to have revelations and tell fortunes. He told mine by looking in the palm of my hand and said among other things that I would not live to be very old. When he claimed to find gold plates of the Mormon Bible no attention was paid to them or him by his neighbors. Some time after Jo had men dig on a tunnel forty or fifty feet long in a hill about two miles north of where he claimed to find the plates. I have been in it. Some people surmised it was intended for counterfeiting. Jo was away much of the time summers. He claimed to have a revelation that Manchester, N.Y., was to be destroyed and all the Mormons must leave for Kirkland, O. Orrin Rockwell and wife wanted my wife, their daughter, to go to Missouri. We came to Auburn, Geauga Co., O., Dec. 2, 1831, and have since resided here. Orrin Porter Rockwell made us a visit on a fine horse (I doubt if he owned it). Soon after Governor Boggs was shot. Prophet Jo told Mrs. Risley, of Manchester, a cripple, he could heal her and she joined the Mormons. Jo failed to heal her and she never walked. [Signed] C. M. STAFFORD. Witnessed by: A. B. DEMING. Auburn, March 23, 1885. Census: Listed as a farmer with wife.

  
  

• Sources

  [S4663] Stafford Data Branch 14.