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Sarah Frances Andrews (1826-1911) was from Essex County, Virginia.  She married John Newton Harper (1823-1907) of Alexandria.  In 1879 Sarah Harper purchased in her own name Mt. Pleasant, a large tract of land on the north side of Aquia Creek on which large scale commercial freestone quarrying had long been conducted.  The Harpers lived on…

Evalina Green (c.1845-1926) was enslaved to the Moncure family of Somerset.  She was about 17 years of age when Burnside’s troops invaded Stafford.  Her family, who were also enslaved at Somerset, left with the soldiers, but Evalina made the difficult decision to remain.  Although advised to leave by her mistress, she stayed at the only…

Robert Hayman Gray (1873-1958) was the son of Robert Atchison Gray (1830-1915) and Adelaide Gettys Hayman (1830-1921).  For some 25 years he presided in Stafford’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court and was a member of the county school board.  He never married and resided at Eastwood, the old Gray family home that was once part of…

John Gray (1809-1848) was the son of John Gray (1769-1848), a Scottish merchant and owner of Traveler’s Rest on the Rappahannock River east of Fredericksburg.  The Grays owned and operated the old Newton’s Mill on which was “fixed one of Davidson’s Cotton Gins, with 51 saws.”  William Walker ran the mill and John Gray advertised…

Henry Tyler Garrison (1842-after 1914) was the son of Robert Garrison (c.1808-c.1852), a merchant in the upper part of Stafford County.  During the War Between the States, Henry T. Garrison served with the 9th Virginia Cavalry.  He married Susan Ann Ransdell (1842-c.1903).  The Stafford court records include the following, “Ordered that H. T. Garrison, an…

Col. William Garrard (c.1715-1787) owned Garrard’s Ordinary across U. S. Route 1 from the present Stafford Courthouse.  It was located about where the Valero convenience store now stands.  He was the son of Nathaniel Garrard of Westmoreland County, Virginia.  William’s first wife was Mary Lewis (c.1721-c.1748).  He married secondly Mary Naughty (c.1721-c.1762).  In the 1750s…

Alexander Gaddess (c.1767-1815) was the son of Alexander Gaddess (died 1785), both of whom resided at Palace Green on the border of Wide Water and modern Aquia Harbour subdivision.  The surname sometimes appears in the early records as “Gaddis” but a branch of the family that moved to Baltimore, Maryland used the “Gaddess” spelling.  The…

Thomas Fristoe (1767-1815) was the son of Daniel Fristoe (1739-1774), a minister at Chappawamsic Baptist Church in northern Stafford.  Several of the Fristoe family were well-respected leaders in the early Baptist Church.  Thomas served in the War of 1812 as a captain in the 45th regiment of Virginia militia (Stafford County).  In Missouri there is…

John Fox (c.1770-1843) was the younger half brother of Nathaniel Fox (1748-1819) who appears in late eighteenth century Stafford records.  From 1791 to 1794 John served as Deputy Clerk of Court for Stafford County.  He married Nancy “Ann” Threlkeld (1772-1828), the daughter and only child of Elijah Threlkeld (1744-1798).  By means of this marriage he acquired Coal…

Capt. William Ford (1788-1834) was the son of James Ford (1768-1863) and Elizabeth Taylor of Stafford.  His first wife was Deborah Thompson Duncan (died 1813) of Baltimore, Maryland.  He married secondly Elizabeth Allen Hore (1791-1822), the daughter of Elias Hore (1748-1852) and Theodosia Waller (1753-1829), also of Stafford.  During the War of 1812, William Ford…

Murray Forbes (1782-1863) was the son of Dr. David Forbes (1751-1789) and Margaret Sterling (1754-1806), the daughter of the last Laird of Herbertshire.  Murray was born in Dumfries, Prince William County, but decided upon a mercantile career rather than medicine.  He moved to Falmouth and in 1815 married Sallie Innis Thornton (1799-1885), the daughter of Francis…

Robert Lawrence Flatford (1852-1898) was the son of Robert Flatford (c.1810-1892) and Eliza Jane Harding (c.1812-after 1892) of Loudoun and Stafford Counties.  The elder Robert was a blacksmith by trade and lived in a log house across Garrisonville Road from modern North Stafford High School.  That house remains standing, though it has been covered with…