| Notes |
- John is probably the son of Dinah Stafford, circumstances as yet unknown.
These Staffords were in Kentucky before going to Indiana.
The first names appearing on this chart are those of John Stafford & Betsy Wainscott Both were born & reared in NC. We have no record of John & Betsy Stafford until we find them in Franklin Co, IN where in March 1812 their oldest son William was killed by the Indians. I have 2 versions of this incident. This one taken from the History of Franklin County, Indiana, "Stafford (1st name not given) & Tone were burning brush on Salt Creek 1 night, when at least 3 Indians crept upon them & murdered them in cold blood. 2 of the Indians were killed by the enraged neighbors, & a third was unknown for yrs, when a slip of the tongue by an Indian (Bill Killbuck) implicated himself, & he was killed in 1820. "This occurred when the British incited the Indians to pillage the frontier settlements & to murder the pioneers. The other version was written by Precilla (sic), wife of William Stafford in 1897. John & Betsy Stafford's "oldest son William was 16 yrs old when he was killed or taken by the Indians. This was just before the younger William was born. He was named for the older brother. The family had lived in IN only a short time before this happened. They lived in a tent house. A neighbor boy who was with William digging potatoes ran to the house with a tomahawk in his stomach, & told them that William was killed or taken by the Indians, then the boy dropped dead. They grabbed the children & ran out into the willows where they stayed all night. The next morning, they saw the smoke & knew the house had burned." Gertrude's father, William Stafford, remembered hearing his grandfather, Tyra Stafford tell of his brother having been killed by the Indians, but he thought it happened in KY. He always said his people came from KY. Gertrude thinks they must have lived there for a while at least before going to IN. The Staffords were real pioneers. Of the boys, Enoch remained in IN. In 1840 Tyra & John lived in Southeast IA, near Fairfield & William in Atchison Co, MO. John came on west to Montgmery Co, IA & was on of the 1st settlers in this county. Tyra came later & his son Aaron & family came in 1853. All 3 died here. In 1852 William left MO & went to OR & settled in the Mohawk Valley. Some older letters, that had been written to John & Ellen (Aunt Nellie) Stafford contained much of the information given on this chart & enables us to locate the descendants of William, Enoch, & Susan Stafford Shaw. Obituary of Samuel Osmer Julian states that John Stafford resident with his daughter Sarah Stafford Julian in Cass Co, IN in 1836, returned to Rush Co, & was later scalped & killed by Indians. John Stafford is listed in the 1817 Brookville Twp, Franklin Co Tax List.
About 1836, John Stafford came from Rush county, Indiana, and lived with his daughter, Mrs. Sallie Julian and her husband Geo. Julian, who then resided on the farm now belonging to Ed Douglass, in section 16, Clay township. He was a soldier in the United States army under General Wilkinson and engaged in Cass county's only battle, that of Old Town on Eel river, August 7, 1791, where he was wounded and made a cripple for life. By virtue of his service in Cass county's only battle and his residence with us in early days he is one of our honored and respected pioneers. It will therefore be of interest to notice the last sad experience of his, among the Indians, and is worthy of record in Cass county history, although the incident occurred in Rush county after he went out from our midst. John Stafford located in the midst of a dense forest and made what was called a brush house or tent, by setting four forks in the ground, laying poles across and covering it with brush and leaves and closing the sides with the same material, thus he occupied his first rude house in Hoosierdom. It' was the custom for pioneers to fire a brush heap at night and work by the light it gave in clearing the land. One night John Stafford and his son and Billy Tune, a helper, were thus working by the brush light when suddenly Indians in ambush fired upon them; one of Stafford's legs was shattered and he was at the mercy of the savages. Billy Tune was shot and mortally wounded. John Baker, grandfather of J. J. Julian, of Clay township, lived in a cabin about a mile distant from the Stafford camp to which place the Stafford family hurried as the Indians placed the torch to their rude domicile made of extremely inflammable material. Billy Tune also was able to reach the Baker home where he died two days later. "When Mr. Baker and other friends returned to J. Stafford, who was unable to walk owing to his fractured leg, they found him lying in a dying condition, where the Indians had scalped him. Thus perished one of Cass county's early and honored pioneers and who was the only soldier that fought and was wounded on Cass county's only battlefield.
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Abt 1768 - 1836 (~ 68 years)
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