Emanuel Stafford and wife 

27.  Emanuel W.⁴ Stafford  (William¹ James² Grant³) Born about 1828 in Indiana or Ohio.¹   Little work has been done for this branch on the Stafford family.  Emanuel does not appear on the 1850 census in Grant Stafford's household and no Emanuel W. Stafford has been located anywhere else in 1850 using the Ancestry and HeritageQuest online census indexes.  Grant's will indicates that Emanuel was not in Morgan County in 1852 when the will was written.  He apparently left Indiana and may have followed others "rushing for gold" in California.  The tone in Grant's will indicates that this was not of his liking and that Emanuel needed to reimburse the estate and especially his younger brother Wiley for such "adventures." 

It is interesting to note that the writer of the biographical sketch about Grant that appeared in the newspaper does not list Emanuel, his wife nor children.²  Grant's will is the only documentation found to date documenting that he had a son, Emanuel W. Stafford.³  In 1860, an Emanuel Stafford is found living with Elijah Breedlove and his family in Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio.⁴  There is some evidence that this Emanuel Stafford may be Grant Stafford's son.  A short notice appeared in the Indiana Journal in 1857 about the marriage of Emanuel W. Stafford and Mary A. Breedlove.⁵  The 1870 census also provides further evidence that the Indiana Emanuel W. Stafford is connected to the Champaign County, Ohio family.  In 1870, there is a young man named Scott W. Stafford, who lives with Emanuel and Mary A. Stafford.⁶  Grant Stafford names a young boy, Scott Stafford, as one of his heirs.  While this is not conclusive evidence, it also is not contradictory.  In addition, two other children of Grant Stafford married people carrying the Breedlove surname lending support that there was a strong connection between the Breedlove and Stafford families.  

The Champaign County, Ohio family continued to live in the same general area for several years.  Emanuel and Mary Stafford nee Breedlove are found there in 1870⁶ 1880⁷ and Mary Stafford is there in 1900.⁸  Neither she nor Emanuel are found in subsequent census records suggesting that they died before the 1910, 1920 and 1930 census records were recorded.  The 1880 census documents that the elderly widow, Mary Breedlove, lives in the household enumerated immediately after Emanuel Stafford's household.⁷  That dwelling is occupied by a family headed by Albert J. Weaver, his wife Mary, and the grandmother, Mary Breedlove.  This suggests that Mary Weaver is probably the daughter of Emanuel and Mary Stafford nee Breedlove and that the grandmother Mary Breedlove is probably Mary Stafford's mother and widow of Elijah Breedlove.  Research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

In 1900, Mary A. Stafford lives and her daughter, Effie E. Stafford, lived in Urbana, Ohio at 552 Main Street.⁸  By then Effie was 30 years old and still single, but working outside the home as an insurance agent.  Her mother, Mary A. was 66 years old and listed as a widow.  She did not work outside the home.  This record also states that Mary A. Stafford was the mother of 4 children with 3 living at that time, but the composite information from all of the census records for Emanuel and Mary A. Stafford indicate that they were actually the parents of 5 children.

The research done for Emanuel W. Stafford is not considered to be completed.  Many records are still needed and research in Champaign County, Ohio is needed to determine if there is indeed documentation directly stating a connection between the two men named Emanuel W. Stafford.  Research is needed to learn more about Emanuel Stafford and to extend his line forward. 

Comments:

• Research is needed to extend Emanuel W. Stafford's line forward in time.

• Is there a link between Emanuel W. Stafford, who lives in Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio in 1860 with Elijah and Mary Breedlove?

• What evidence is there to support this conclusion other than his name?

• Obituary or marriage record may help to connect the two men.  

• There is supposed to be a notice of Emanuel W. and Mary Ann Stafford nee Breedlove's marriage published in the Indianapolis Journal, 27 October 1856 on page 2, column 5.  [Working on getting copy of this notice.]