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One of Stephen F. Austin's "Old 300," William J. Stafford (1764-1840), founded the settlement of Stafford's Point on the 6819.7-acre land grant he received in the winter of 1824. Bringing his family and slaves from his Louisiana sugar plantation, he was planting much land and had a sugar mill and cotton gin in operation by 1834. His manager, Clement c. Dyer (1800-64), a lawyer, political leader, and (later) county judge, married Stafford's daughter, Sarah (1809-74). Early residents of the Stafford's Point community included families of Sam Bell, Elijah Roark, Dr. P. W. Rose, Moses Shipman, and Mr. West. Dr. Rose, a former U. S. Army surgeon, tended the sick and also hired (1834) a teacher for his children and ten others studying in a one-room schoolhouse. In the "Runaway Scrape" of 1836, the settlers and their slaves fled east as Santa Anna's Army camped here, pillaging homes and mills. Stafford's Point was resettled after the War for Independence, and again prospered. The buffalo Bayou, Brazos & Colorado, first railroad in Texas, was completed from Harrisburg to this village in 1853. From 1915 to 1925, a number of Sicilian families moved here from brazos County. Stafford's Point was incorporated into the town of Stafford in 1956. |
