| Notes |
- The earliest records found listing Absalom are in the early 1780's in Montgomery County, Virginia. He and his wife Nancy had property on the Clear Fork of Wolf Creek, at the head of the Clinch, which is about where the town of Gratton now is, east of the city of Tazewell, Virginia. As new counties were formed, that part of Montgomery County became Wythe County, then Tazewell County, Virginia. In about 1805, Absalom and Nancy moved to Floyd (now Pike) County, Kentucky, on the Tug Fork of the Sandy River near where Williamson, West Virginia now stands. Absalom died after 1825 in Pike County, Kentucky.
Early records listing Absalom Stafford - notice the spelling variations:
----------------------------------
Absolom Stafford is on the 1782 Montgomery County land tax list.
He is the only Stafford listed.
----------------------------------
Absalom Stafford was shown on at least one list of the Montgomery County, Virginia
Militia during the American Revolution, Capt. Love's Company.
On other lists of the Montgomery Co. Militia, Henry Stafford and James Stafford are listed, Capt. Trigg's Company. Henry Stafford is listed as above 50 years old on a 1781 Montgomery Co. Militia list. Are Absalom, Henry, and James somehow related? There weren't many families there in that era, and close proximity often meant they were related. However, Montgomery County covered a large area at the time. The "Giles Co. Staffords" moved to Virginia from Pennsylvania in 1785, so they weren't in the area yet.
----------------------------------
Abslum Stafford gave consent to the marriage of his daughter Sarah, widow of
Andrew Dials, to Michael Stump, in Aug. 1788.
----------------------------------
Absalom Stafford signed the petition to form Wythe County, Virginia in 1793.
----------------------------------
Absolom Stafford is on the 1793 Wythe County, VA personal property tax list.
He's the only Stafford listed, showing one male over 16 and 2 horses.
He's in the third section - area north of Walker's Mountain.
----------------------------------
Absalom Stafford land grant, 3 Oct 1796, Wythe County
300 a. On the Dividing waters between Clinch and Wolf Creek Grants No. 36, p. 245
----------------------------------
He evidently had land on Wolf Creek before Wythe County was formed:
Alexander Stewart, 21 Sept 1794, MONTGOMERY County
200 a. On the Clear fork of Wolf Creek between ABSALOM STAFFORDS & Samuel
Sallards Improvements. Grants No. 30, p. 84
----------------------------------
Absolum Stafford is listed on the Petition to Form Tazewell County, Virginia 1797-98.
----------------------------------
1800 Wythe County personal property tax list A has Absalom Stafford on page 23,
as well as John Stafford on page 21.
Note: Absalom's name has been transcribed as "Abraham" on the 1800 Wythe tax list, but looking at the original document, the old handwriting was hard to read, and it's Absalom.
----------------------------------
From the Archives of the Pioneers of Tazewell County, Virginia by Nellie Schreiner-Yantis: There's a section showing all the taxpayers in Tazewell County each year from 1801 to 1820. Absalom was on the tax list for 1801, 1802, 1803, and 1804, then no other year.
Absalom and Nancy his wife sold their property in Tazewell County on Sept. 10, 1801 and on October 11, 1804.
On Sept. 13, 1804, Absalom Stafford was exempted from county levy and poor rates on account of old age and infirmity.
At first it seems that the above record may have been the reason why Absalom didn't show up on the Tazewell County tax lists after 1804, but on October 22, 1805, there was a court record:
"John Pruett vs. John Justice. It appearing that Absalom Stafford and Nancy, his wife, are material witnesses for the pltf., it is ordered that deposition be taken of them in FLOYD COUNTY, Kentucky."
It seems clear that Absalom and his wife moved to Floyd (now Pike) County, Kentucky between October 1804 and October 1805.
----------------------------------
In 1810, Floyd County, KY, on both the tax list and census, Absalom is the only Stafford listed. This would have been in the part of Floyd Co. that became Pike Co. In 1815, on the Cabell County, Virginia tax list, Absalom and John were the only Staffords listed. Cabell County, Virginia was just across the Tug Fork from Pike County, Kentucky.
----------------------------------
1810 Floyd County, Kentucky census:
Absalom Stafford 10001-00101
<10, 10-16, 16-26, 26-45, 45+
Absalom and his wife were both in the oldest age bracket (over 45 years old). Also in the household is a young woman between 16 and 26 years old, and a little boy under 10 years old. This is probably Absalom's granddaughter Polly Dials and her first son Absalom Dials. Polly and her two sons are shown later in the Pike County, Kentucky records.
----------------------------------
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.
----------------------------------
Henry Runyon, John Stafford's brother-in-law, was given $20 for the year (taken off his taxes) in 1825 for caring for Absalom Stafford and his wife. Henry also lived on Pond Creek (where John and Nancy Runyon Stafford lived) in Pike County:
Pike County, Kentucky - County Court Order Book No. 1 - Page 133 -
November 14, 1825
" Ordered that Henry Runun Receive
H. Runyon ) Receive twenty Dollars for Keeping Absalem Stafford and
Conttee ) wife twelve months to be Collected out of the next County levy "
Absalom Stafford may have been John Miles Stafford's grandfather.
|
Abt 1738 - Aft 1825 (~ 88 years)
[1] 