Grant "Granville" James Stafford and Eliza Ensley

20.  Grant Stafford³ (William¹ Robert²) b. after 1824;¹  He was the son of Robert Stafford.  There is some question who his mother actually was and the date of his birth.  In order to determine when Robert's son, Grant, was born we can use the status of the heirs during the settlement of their father’s estate and the census records to help estimate their ages.  At various places in the probate record Robert's heirs were named as interested parties to the proceedings of the estate settlement and their status as adult or infant was mentioned as well as their place of residence.  The table below summarizes this information.  Note:  the names are spelled as they were recorded.

 Summary of information 11 November 1833

Summary of information 10 November 1834:

On 12 February 1845, Hezekiah Davison, agent for Moses Davison, filed the receipt of Grant Stafford, for his share in the estate of Robert Stafford deceased.²  This record provides some evidence that this Grant Stafford was born after 1824, which is at least 20 years after the Grant Stafford, who was the son of Robert Stafford's brother, James.

In 1850, Grant Stafford lived in Bartholomew County, Indiana³ and that is where he and Eliza Ensley married on 07 October 1847.⁴  A portion of the Johnson County town of Edinburgh extends into Bartholomew County so finding him there is not contradictory evidence.  The town of Edinburgh in Johnson County is where his nephews from his brother, William lived and is just across the county line.  In 1850 the census taker wrote his name as Grant Stafford, but in 1860 he was in Johnson County and the census taker recorded his name as Granville.⁵  In all subsequent records his name is recorded as Grant Stafford or Grant James Stafford.^6,7,8,9

When the census was taken in 1850, Grant and Eliza lived with someone named Prudence Cochran in German Township, Bartholomew County, Indiana.⁴  Their relationship to this woman has not been determined at this time.  However, studying that record carefully one will find that there are two households headed by people with the surname Ensley.  Although, no research has been done on the Ensleys, it is quite probable that Eliza is related to these people.  Following Grant and Eliza through the available census records provides evidence that they did not settle in one location for the first 20 years of their lives together.  By 1860 they lived in Blue River Township, in Johnson County, Indiana where Grant farmed.⁵  In 1870, they were back in German Township again⁶ and some time between 1870⁶ and 1875 they moved their family to Wilson County, Kansas.⁷  They remained in Wilson County for the next 25 years where they are enumerated in 1875,⁷ 1880⁸ and 1900.⁹

According to the 1900 census, Eliza was the mother of 9 children, but by that time only 2 still were living.⁹  Research is needed to establish when their children died and where.  If the two who were living married this line may still have descendants living today.  This work should be done to complete this line of research.

Hypotheses and analysis of data:

Documentation to establish his mother's name has not been found to date.  Evidence I have uncovered while researching Robert Stafford's life has caused me to draw different conclusions than that published by other genealogists.  The bullet points below list my hypotheses.  The evidence for my conclusions is shown in the table below listing the evidence I have collected for Robert Stafford with links to the documents.

• Robert Stafford married 2 times (1st) to Sarah Bullock in 1802; (2nd) to Isabella [surname unknown] - she may have been the daughter of Hezekiah Davisson, but this has not been proven.  Supporting this hypothesis is the fact that Moses and Hezekiah Davisson were appointed guardians for Robert Stafford's minor children after his death.

• Robert and Sarah Stafford migrated from Guilford County, NC to Ross County, OH in about 1804

• Robert and Sarah migrated from Ross to Highland County, OH in about 1813 

• There is a wide gap in the ages of Robert Stafford's heirs; suggesting that the children do not have the same mother.  Court records in Johnson County, Indiana indicate that Robert Stafford was married to an Isabel or Isabella Stafford.

• My hypothesis is that Sarah Stafford nee Bullock died in Ohio about 1814-1816.  After her death, Robert Stafford and his children migrated west to Indiana by 1820.

• Robert married to a woman with the given name Isabella.  The evidence for this conclusion is provided in the warranty deed for the sale of the Morgan County land and court records in Johnson County, Indiana.

• Robert Stafford's children did not all have the same mother.  Note the gap in the ages of his children as were stated his probate file.  It lists the children that are minors and those that are adults also specifying their places of residence.  It is the combined evidence presented in the documents below that support these conclusions.  The biographical sketch for his son, Benjamin, lists Sarah Bullock as Benjamin's mother.