Colonel Robert Stafford

On Cumberland Island, GA there is a cemetery at the community called Stafford, off the main road, before Stafford House. There is a coquina wall around 4 marked old graves.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the early 1800's he owned most of the island. He had been born there and had worked for the Shaw family who owned the plantation. The land had originally been owned by General Nathaniel Greene. It was his grand-daughter Louisa Shaw that he worked for. Eventually he owned the land that was called "Stafford Plantation."

He never legally married, but had a common law slave wife named Zabette, with whom he had six children. Zabette and the children eventually either just prior or in the very early stage of the Civil War went to the north. She would later return, but not the children, only to find him then in his old age with another ex-slave woman and had two children.

At his death he left nothing for Zabette or the children.

Source of Bio: charlott jones (#47003358)

comments

It is actually not true he left nothing for Zabette and their children. He died suddenly in New London, where his mother was from, and his legacy was "lost" until his granddaughter's step father discovered it at the death of Ellen (Stafford) Engels, and obtained $92,000 for his stepchildren. See the article here: "An unexpected fortune"

From Cumberland Island Researchers Aid:

Robert Stafford (1790-1877) of Cumberland Island, Georgia, had two extralegal wives (slaves). The first liason began in about 1839 and was life-long. The slaves involved in this family, which we will call the Bernardy-Stafford family, were all white-skinned. Stafford shipped his family off to Groton, Conn, by 1850. He supported them by creating lifetime trusts that lasted long after his death in 1877.

The second liaison may have begun about 1850 or so. Apparently the slave was named Judy. Two daughters were born. The elder was named Cornelia. The younger, named Nanette or Nannie, was born on Cumberland Island, June 20, 1854. They were brought up in New Jersey by a white man named George E. Webb, his wife Eliza, and their daughter Sarah E. Webb. Sarah Webb was mentor and tutor to her charges; and she grew especially fond of the younger daughter, Nanette. Judging from Stafford’s funding of the first family, reason exists to suppose Stafford also financially aided his second family.

• page 317 of Robert Stafford of Cumberland Island: Growth of a Planter By Mary Ricketson Bullard
• Frau Doktor Nancy Stafford of Georgia: From Slave to Physician By Mary R. Bullard and Tracy Moxhay Castle. The African Diaspora Archeology Network: March 2009 Newsletter.
• Cumberland Island Researchers Aid
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Oct 3 2016, 6:36:59 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Oct 3 2016, 6:57:13 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Oct 3 2016, 6:57:51 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Oct 3 2016, 6:31:59 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Oct 3 2016, 22:21:19 UTC
• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Oct 4 2016, 0:32:27 UTC