Heres another re-posting.. Thomas Stafford supposedly son of James and Polly Eskridge Stafford.. Check out the stories on this person.. Thomas Stafford had always told his family he was (1) born in Ireland, (2) ran away from home about the age of 15 or 16, (3) stowed away on a ship bound for the United States, (4) was caught during the crossing, (5) sold as an Indentured Servant for 10 years upon arrival in the US to pay his passage, (6) that his owner trained him as a stone masson and they became close friends, (7) his owner released him after only serving three years of his ten year requirement, (8) that his owner gave him a pair of shoes and a primer (elementary book on reading and writing), (9) that he met and married and had several kids, (10) that he went off to fight in the Civil War, (11) that after he returned from the Civil War he found his wife and kids gone with noone knowing where, (12) then he met and married Sarah Ann Brown who already had a son named Walter Brown, (13) that they bought and lived on a small farm in North Carolina, (14) that they had a son they named Luther while living on the smalll farm in North Carolina, (15) that they sold the farm and moved to Middle Tennessee where they had more children, died and was buried.. . Thomas always told the US Federal Census Taker he was born in Virginia as is recorded on the 1870 and later census reports. Based on the age he gave on those reports, he was also born about 1816 or 1817. . . The investigation to learn the names of Thomas parents and siblings as well as those of his second wife, Sarah began with Thomas and his claim of being born in Ireland. Searching all available records on Ireland, nothing was found that matched the dates and stories told by Thomas. After communicating with the Archives in Dublin and researching the history of Ireland, it was discovered that many of the government public records were destroyed by fire on three separate occasions, twice in civil unrest and once by government order when the second world war began to spread. The church records were not lost in the fires and are in tact. It was also discovered there is a Virginia Ireland in the Lurgan Parish in Cavan County. The Cavan Genealogy Firm was hired to research our Thomas. After weeks and months, it was determined that there were no records of our Thomas to show he was from any part of Lurgan Parish. It was noted; however, that there were a lot of Staffords on the southwest coastal areas of Ireland. Another genealogy firm was hired for that area and they, too, did not find any records of our Thomas Stafford. During this time, it was also discovered that there were 48 Thomas Staffords who came to the US from Ireland, England, and other countries during the early 1800s. Each one on the immigration records as well as on passenger lists were investigated over a period of more than a year and found could not be our Thomas due to the years, marriages, and locations of deaths.. . The next step was Indentured Servitude. Now, if Thomas was born in 1816 or 1817, and did run away from home at the age of 15 or 16, that would have put him arriving in the US about 1830 or 1831. It was found that Indentured Servitude was abolished prior to that time and based on the national database containing the names of all induntured servants, our Thomas could not have been an Indentured Servant. . . Thomas did, in fact, have a first and second wife. In a streak of luck, it was discovered that Thomas was actually born to James and Mary Stafford who lived in Person County, (originally Caswell County) North Carolina in 1817. James and Mary sold their farm, moved to Fayette County, Tennessee near what is now Oakland, TN, and bought land near James brother, Eli. Thomas grew up there, met and married Mary E Bomer who was also born in North Carolina and was living in Fayette County, Tennessee with her family. Thomas and Mary had three daughters, and moved onto a farm in LaGrange, Tennessee where Thomas worked as an Overseer. They are shown there in the 1850 Census. Then, Thomas left to places unknown prior to 1860 for Mary and her daughters are shown on the 1860 census as living near Jackson, Tennessee but still in Fayette County.. . As stated earlier, Thomas claimed he fouhgt in the Civil War. The only known photo of him in the possession of the Stafford family has him wearing a dark colored-high stiff collar double breasted coat. He claimed he served in the Confederate Infantry. During a close examination of the enlarged black and white photo in 2010, it appeared there were discrepancies when compared to photographs of all known Union and Confederate coats. A copy of the photo was sent to three major Civil War Museums as well as to the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the United Daughters of the Union. None of these five organizations could identify the coat as a Civil War coat but was made to look like one. Based on his life and locations, no Civil War Record has ever been found on our Thomas to substantiate his claim.. . Thomas life is picked back up on the 1870 US Federal Census as married to Sarah Ann Brown and living on a small farm in Madison County, North Carolina. The community was Spring Creek. It was later discovered that the Spring Creek area of Madison County is where Sarah Ann Brown was born and raised. Now, Thomas and Sarah married in 1868 in North Carolina. It is believed by some family members that Sarahs son, Walter Brown, whom she had prior to her marriage to Thomas was actually Thomas and her son and they gave him the last name of Brown to hide the affair. Walter was born in 1863 which was about the time Thomas would have been back in the hills of North Carolina prior to the start of the Civil War. It is further known that while with his first wife, Thomas had Mary name one of their daughters Sarah Ann. It is believed that was his way of remembering an old flame from back in North Carolina.. . Following their marriage, Thomas and Sarah had a son they named Luther. Shortly afterwards, they sold thier farm in Madison County, North Carolina, moved to Middle Tennessee where they settled on a small farm on Stiversville Road in Maury County, Tennessee where they had the rest of their children, died, and were buried nearby..
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 15:46:17 +0000
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