Figure of the Week

Albert Clift (c.1813-1890) was the son of Fielding Clift (c.1772-1856) and Sallie Elkins of Stafford County, Virginia.  In 1850, Albert paid taxes on 200 acres on Accokeek Run.  In 1865, he was appointed one of the committee “to Care for Citizens Made Needy by the War.”  In 1871, he was appointed to the original Board of Commissioners of the Free Bridge (now Falmouth Bridge) that was tasked with building a new bridge over the Rappahannock River.  Albert Clift served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors from 1873 through 1884, during which time he was chairman.  An interesting entry concerning Albert Clift appeared in the Stafford court minutes of Sept. 22, 1885.  Albert had been “charged with a grave capital felony, we deem it but an act of justice to the accused–whose fame and happiness are deeply implicated in such a prosecution–to enter of record, not only the discharge of the accused from further trial, the charge being wholly unsustained, but that in our opinion nothing has been proved upon the trial of the cause which should impair the high standing of Mr. Clift, in the County of his Nativity and where he has always resided, as a citizen of great moral worth and integrity.”