My Genealogy Hound

AUSTIN H. STAFFORD, ex-clerk of the courts of Chautauqua county, commander of James M. Brown Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and a member of the reliable and successful pension attorney firm of Waiter & Stafford, of Jamestown, was born in the town of Ellington, Chautauqua county. New York, August 27, 1843, and is a son of Lieut. John A. and Polly (Rubblee) Stafford. Among the early settlers of the town of Ellington, this county, was John Stafford, the paternal grandfather of Austin H. Stafford. He was a carpenter and contractor and married Sophia Randall, who bore him nine children: Abel, Sophia, Electa, Isaac, Sally, Orinda, Russell, Martin and John A. On the maternal side, Austin H. Stafford's grandfather was Rolli Rubblee, a native of Lanesboro’, Massachusetts, who settled in the town of Ellington in an early day — 1823. When he first came he traded his horse on his land and then walked back to Lanesboro' and brought out his family. His wife was Betsy Green. He was a farmer and one of the founders of the old Christian church of Ellington. Lieut. John A. Stafford (father) was born in 1817 and died in his native town of Ellington in 1844. He was a carpenter by trade, a well-respected citizen of the community in which he resided and was a lieutenant in the New York militia. His wife was Polly Rubblee, and they had three children: Martin J., who enlisted in Company A, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols., in July, 1862, fought at Fort Sumter, in the Wilderness campaign and at Fort Fisher, and died at home in 1872 from the effects of exposure; Joseph, who was the first man in April, 1861, to enlist in Company H, 37th regt., N. Y. Vols., served two years, re-enlisted, became a member of Company K, 9th N. Y. Cavalry, served till the close of the war and now resides at Midland City, Michigan, where he is an oil producer; and Austin H. Mrs. Stafford, after her husband's death, married Joseph Nestle, and is now seventy three years of age.

Austin H. Stafford received his education in the common schools. When a boy he worked in a woolen factory until he was thirteen years of age. He then learned the carpenter and cooper trades, and in 1867 became proprietor of a butter-tub and cheese-case manufacturing establishment at Ellington. In 1869 he was unfortunate enough to have his left hand so badly crushed in the factory as to be unable to work any longer at that business. He then engaged in the produce business, which he followed until 1885, when he was elected county clerk by the Republican party of Chautauqua county, and ran 700 votes ahead of his ticket. He served very satisfactorily in that office, and at the end of his term in 1888 he took one year's vacation from business, which he spent in traveling. In January, 1890, he and Joseph M. Walter formed a partnership under the firm-name of Walter & Stafford, and became United States pension attorneys and notaries public in Jamestown. In a few months they have handled a large number of cases and have been very successful.

On February 6, 1869, he married Louise M., daughter of Warren Arnold, of Ellington. They have two children: De Leo and James P.

The military career of Mr. Stafford commenced on August 4, 1862, when he enlisted in Company B, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols. He served in the Army of the James, Army of the Potomac and under Sherman in North Carolina. He participated in many battles and numerous skirmishes with his regiment. He was in the very front of the storming of Fort Fisher, and was honorably discharged June 13, 1865. When the Grand Army of the Republic was organized in the county he became prominent in the movement and has served as commander of three different posts. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., Royal Arcanum, Odd Fellows and Jamestown Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Stafford has always been a republican, is proud of the fact of casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1864 and has been chosen repeatedly by his party as a delegate to State and county conventions. In addition to his Jamestown agency Mr. Stafford has a controlling interest in a very profitable real estate business in the city of Buffalo, N. Y. Active, energetic and reliable in whatever he undertakes, he is now in the midst of a very successful business career.