| Notes |
- Noted Friends Pastor.
Noted Friends Pastor.
Henry County Indiana
B.F. Bowen
1920
Surnames in this biography are: Stafford, Pritchard, Albertson, Newby,
Parker, Stratton,
REV.SETH STAFFORD
America is pre-eminently a land of self made men for here abound opportunities for achieving success such as no other country affords. The man of energy and correct training may here readily rise to positions of usefulness, if not distinction, provided he is well grounded in the principles of rectitude and integrity. Not only is this the case in the present day, but to some extent conditions have with long existed whereby the individual with a proper conception of the dignity of his mission might rise superior to environment and win for himself positions of honor and trust in the community. The life of the widely known and eminently popular subject of this sketch affords a striking example of what a man plentifully endowed with good common sense, supplemented by sound mental discipline, accomplished in days gone by, when opportunities were not so numerous as at the present time and many discouraging circumstances had to be surmounted and obstacles removed from his pathway of success. The life of Seth Stafford has had a farther-reaching effect and perhaps a greater influence for good than the
majority of men of his day and generation in eastern and central Indiana. Many
youths who formerly sat at his feet received instruction in the mysteries of books and in the greater and more important matter of how to live up to their highest ideals of manhood are found today filling important stations in the world, blessings to society and true helps to humanity. A benefactor of his kind and long a prominent factor in moulding the character and controlling opinion in his community, this veteran educator and honored citizen still remains to make the World brighter and better and from the topmost round of the ladder of success now looks back over a well spent life,seeing therein little to regret and much to commend.
The paternal ancestors of Mr. Stafford came from Scotland in a very early day and settled in North Carolina. Many years ago there was born in Randolph county, that state, one Eli Stafford, who when a young man married a neighbor girl by the name of Elizabeth Pritchard. They were poor people, but, blessed with exuberant spirits and abundantly endowed with that admirable quality known as self-reliance, resolutely faced the future and carefully formulated their plans for the years to come. Realizing that but little could be accomplished in their native state in the way of acquiring a competence and having favorable reports of the new and fertile Indiana country, they loaded their few household effects on a one-horse cart and started for the wilds of what is now Henry county. Mrs. Stafford and
her sister-in-law rode, while the husband walked, carefully selecting the most favorable routes over hills and through swamps, and in this manner after a long and tedious journey, attended with many hardships and not a few dangers, the couple finally reached their destination.This was as early as the year 1818 and for some time after his arrival Mr.Stafford worked on a lease, which he took to clear a certain amount of land within the present limits of Wayne County. After laboring hard for two years he sold the lease and improvements for one hundred dollars and with this sum of money entered eighty acres in Greensboro township from which in due time he cleared a very respectable farm. About the year 1834 he built a mill on his place of forty acres, the first enterprise of the kind in that part of the country and subsequently purchased another eighty-acre tract on which he spent the remainder of his life, dying at the advanced age of eighty years. Eli
Stafford and wife were zealous members of the Society of Friends and are
remembered as among the first of that religious body to settle in the county
of Henry. They were kind-hearted and true, lived lives of usefulness, filling up the measure of their days with good deeds and always exerted a wholesome
influence in the community where they resided. Eight children wereborn to
this excellent old couple, namely: John. Cynthia, Phineas, Abigail, Achsah,
Seth, Elizabeth and Sarah.
Seth Stafford, the direct subject of this review, was born on the original family homestead in section 24, Greensboro Township, Henry County, November 5, 1830. The story of his youth is similar in many respects to the early life of many of our best public men. In summer he worked beside his father and brothers on the farm, laying up stores of health and strength for the trying demands of his subsequent professional career. Here was formed the intimate acquaintance with the affairs of daily life, its difficulties and needs which was to keep him ever after in warm sympathy with those who toil. In his home life tinder its firm but kindly parental government was acquired that habit of industry and those principles of integrity, independence and love of right, which have been such marked characteristics of the man. In the wintertime he attended the subscription schools and made substantial progress,meantime developing a taste for books and a fondness for learning which awakened a desire for greater scholastic training than the means at hand afforded. Actuated by this desire,young Stafford finally entered Antioch College at Yellow Springs. Ohio, when that institution was under the management of that noted educator and celebrated American, Horace Mann. While there he studied with great assiduity with the object in view of preparing himself for teaching and on leaving college took charge of his first school in his home township and from the beginning demonstrated peculiar abilities and fitness as an instructor. He began his pedagogical work in Henry Township, receiving the magnificent salary of ten dollars a month, boarding himself. Mr. Stafford's experience in the educational field took a wide range and extended over many years filled to completion with toilsome duty faithfully and conscientiously performed. His methods did not,like many of the more modern schools, tend to dull uniformity; they gave to the ambitious youth opportunities to acquire a training that tended to individual development and that personal independence and self-reliance which peculiarly fit the pupil to grapple with the various questions relating to American industrial and political life. Being far in advance of the majority of teachers in intellectual ability and professional training, his services were eagerly sought by the more intelligent communities and he never experienced any difficulty in securing schools, although his salary at first was very meager. As years went by men of his abilities began to command much more liberal remuneration, accordingly his salary was gradually increased until he received larger wages than were paid to any other teacher in the county. Mr. Stafford never permitted him self to fall behind the time,but by spending his vacations attending normal schools and other institutions always kept in touch with the general trend of educational thought. He was always a high-grade teacher and as such introduced many reforms, which had a far-reaching effect upon the educational system of Henry County and in other counties where he was employed.His standing as the most scholarly as well as the most successful teacher of his day in this part of the state was universally conceded by school met: and never questioned by the public. He threw all of his powerful personality into the work, which he pursued with the interest of a born enthusiast and to his indefatigable labors are many of the leading men of this country and elsewhere indebted for the instruction and gentle but firm admonition which led to the success which they have since obtained. Mr. Stafford taught and attended school continuously from 1848 to 1878, during which period he led to the pathway of knowledge hundreds of boys and girls who have since become the moral bone and sinew of the country. He appears to have been born for the high office, which he so long and so faithfully filled and retired there from only when he thoughtit his imperative duty so to do. Mr. Stafford was married on the 8th day of March, 1860, to Miss Rebekkah J. Albertson, of Wayne County, this state, a union resulting in four children, Julia, Charles, Milton and William M. Julia was born September 20, 1862, graduated from Spiceland Academy and is now the wife of Clinton Newby; Charles, whose birth occurred on the 21st day of November,1867, married Virgie Parker and lives on a farm adjoining his father's place; Milton was born September 9,1873, married Miss Minnie Stratton and is one of the highly esteemed citizens of the community in which he lives; William M., who was born July 28, 1877, is an alumnus of Spiceland Academy, also attended Earlham College and has taught in the public schools of this County. Since the year 1874 Mr. Stafford had lived in section 24, Greensboro Township, on a farm, which he purchased of his father for one hundred dollars per acre. He has a beautiful and attractiveplace, well improved, his large and imposing brick dwelling of eleven rooms being one of the most desirable as well as one of the most valuable rural homes in the county of Henry. The place and everything thereon bear evidence of thrift and prosperity, directed and controlled by good taste, the orchards,graceful shade trees and well-kept
lawns bespeaking a home where genuine hospitality and true refinement reign
supreme. Mr. Stafford is a birth-right member of the society of Friends, in which he has held various official positions, amongothers those of clerk and correspondent. In the year 1878 he was acknowledged as a minister and since then has devoted part of the time preaching for his home congregation and as an evangelist at other places where his services are requested. As a minister he has been instrumenital in accomplishing much good wherever he has exercised the duties of his holy office, being a good speaker a clear, logical reasoner with a sufficiency of pathos in his sermons to make them interesting and very reflective to his auditors. Mrs. Stafford has also been very active in religious work, for a number of years holding the position of elder in the church, in which capacity she has done much to strengthen and build up her own an dother local societies.
Not only as an educator and leading churchworker is Mr. Stafford known, but as an enterprising, public-spirited citizen,interested in the material development of his township and county, his position has long been duly recognized. He is a Republican in politics and keeps himself well informed relative to all great national and international questions,always taking an active interest in the issues, which divide parties and affect legislation. At different times he has served on United States juries and as a leading member of the Henry County Historical Society has done much to collect and put in permanent form many interesting facts concerning the early history and development of this particular part of the state. His life has been a very active one and the amount of good he has accomplished will only be known in the great day when the Books are opened and every man rewarded according to the deeds done in the body. The retrospect of a long and useful career is his and the future awaits him with bountiful rewards. Mr. and Mrs. Stafford have in their possession two old parchment deeds, one executed October 15, 1835, and bearing the signature of President Andrew Jackson, or Old Hickory, and the other bearing date March 15. 1837,the year of the great panic, and the signature of President Martin Van Buren.
Census:
- Listed as a farmer with his wife Rebecca.
- Listed as a minister, with wife and children Julia and Charles.
- Listed as a farmer with wife, daughter and 3 sons. Parents born in NC.
- Listed as a farmer with wife, daughter and 3 sons. Parents born in NC.
- Listed as a farmer, with wife Rebecca.
- Listed as a farmer with wife Rebecca J.
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1830 - 1913 (83 years)
