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Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/yh.2ADI/1250
Message Board Post:
I'm looking for information on Sterling or Starling Stafford. He was listed in the
1830 census of Morgan County. I do not know if he was related to Grant Stafford, also in
Morgan County at this time. What little information I do have was listed on
FamilySearch.org with no sources cited. Here is what they had -
Sterling or Starling Stafford, born 1807 Highland, Ohio, son of Robert Stafford and Sarah
Bullock. Sterling married Sarah Elliott in Morgan County on 4 September 1828. Sarah was
born 20 November 1808. Sterling died before 17 April 1838 - no explanation given for this
date.
FamilySearch.org also lists that Sterling and Sarah had a daughter named Harriet Stafford.
Harriet Stafford married Levi Farnsworth in Des Moines County, Iowa on 15 April 1860. In
the 1860 census of neighboring Lee County, Iowa, Levi and Harriet are shown with an
8-year-old Horace William Stafford in the household. Horace is my wife's
gg-grandfather, born in Lee County, Iowa in 1852.
This leads to many unanswered questions. Was Harriet the daughter of Sterling and Sarah?
Was Harriet the mother of Horace? Or was Harriet the wife of Sterling and Sarah's
son? Was Harriet an unwed mother, or did she possibly marry a cousin?
As Sterling Stafford was believed to have died about 1838, I checked the 1840 Morgan
County census for Sarah Stafford, but did not find her. I don't know if she died,
remarried, or moved on. Sarah and Sterling were shown to have a son and daughter in the
1830 census - I don't know what their names were, or where they were later located.
Any help with this family will be greatly appreciated.