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Note: y Township (photocopies received from the Morgan County Public Library in 1998): BENJAMIN STAFFORD, pioneer farmer of this county, was born in Highland County, Ohio, May 28, 1810, and is the third of seven children born to Robert and Sarah (Bullick) Stafford, natives of North Carolina, and of English ancestry. Benjamin accompanied his parents from Ohio to Indiana in 1818. They located in Monroe County, and remained there until March, 1820, at which time the family came to this county. The county was then a wilderness, and was not then organized, the Indians roaming at their sweet pleasure through the leafy forests. Robert entered land, and made a home in the wilderness, amid bears, wolves, panthers and other wild animals, and, with the poorest advantages for an education, Benjamin grew to manhood. On Febrauary 15, 1830, he was married to Ruthie Gifford, a native of Indiana, and a daughter of Jesse and Sarah (Marshall) Gifford. They had one child, Sarah (deceased), and the mother dying, Mr. Stafford was married to Margaret Price on March 17, 1835. Eight children were born to this union, of whom six are living-Nancy J. (Woods), John, Marion, William, Benjamin, Bernard and Grant. Mrs. Stafford having departed this life, Mr. Stafford was agin married. He took for his third wife, Mrs. Susan Fry, by whom he has had seven children, of whom six are living-Mary (Passor), James, Priscilla (McKinley), Martha (Myrick), Emeline (Gooch) and Oliver P.M. Mr. Stafford and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Stafford began life by clearing out a farm in the wilderness, and enduring great privations. He has succeeded, and now owns seventy acres in this township. He alone has made from the green woods the home which he now occupies. His only help has been a faithful and saving wife, who has been indeed a helpmeet(sic) in all his struggles and adversities. Although Mr. Stafford is seventy-three years of age, he has a robust constitution and promises to live many years of usefulness in the township which he has helped to build up. He is very strong in Christian faith, and faithful in the performance of his duties, and has read his Bible through nearly fifty times during the last twelve years. He could not read a word until he was forty years old. Mr. Stafford is much prized as a good neighbor and citizen, and is fully appreciated in the community in which he has moved so long.
Note: From the History of Morgan County, Indiana, copied from biographical sketches, page 269, Cla
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