Richard Adams Stafford

Richard Adams Stafford

1784-1823

Coshocton County, Ohio

RICHARD ADAMS STAFFORD was born 31 July 1784, in Frederick County, Virginia, the third of ten children born to Richard and Catharine Brobeker Stafford.  Allegany County, Maryland, marriage records show he married Mary Ann Walker 23 May 1809, but Family Bible records record the date as 15 June.  Ann was born 27 Sep 1791 in Virginia, probably the daughter of Henry Walker.  Richard and Ann had at least five children—three sons and two daughters.  Richard died in the spring of 1823 in Coshocton County.  Ann Walker Stafford moved to Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, and died there 11 Oct 1869.  She is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery, Zanesville.  His burial place is unknown

His full name and birthdate are recorded in the Family Bible of Richard and Catharine Stafford, copies and transcriptions of which were provided by Rita Kay Stafford Fawcett of Lake Alfred, Florida.  Richard’s marriage to Ann Walker and the birth of his first child are also recorded in the Family Bible.  Their marriage record is on file in Allegany County, Maryland. 

Like his brothers William and James, Richard Stafford went to sea as a young man.  In 1806, he swore to his citizenship while in the city of New Orleans and was given a U.S. Seaman’s Protection Certificate.  At the time, he was about 22 years of age, six-feet-one-inch tall, with sandy hair, brown eyes, and light complexion.

At the time of his father’s death in 1808, Richard took from the estate a watch valued at $25 and 100 bushels of corn valued at $29.

Richard is recorded in the 1810 Census for Hampshire County, Virginia, next to his brother Joseph S. Stafford, his household consisting of himself, a wife, and one son.  Bible records show that son to be James Madison Stafford, born 13 June 1810.

About 1812, Richard brought his family to Coshocton County, Ohio, settling near his brother Francis Asbury Stafford Sr.  Early Ohio Settlers:  Purchasers of land in Eastern and East Central Ohio 1800-1830, shows a land purchase of r08 t04 s14 near his brother Francis, dated 25 August 1812.  He enlisted in Russell’s Battalion of Ohio Militia during the War of 1812.  A History of Coshocton County states that he was a wagon maker and early justice of the peace.  He is recorded in the 1820 Census for Coshocton County with a household consisting of himself, his wife, two sons and two daughters, and an unknown male born 1794-1804.

Richard died in 1823.   HIs estate papers are on file in the Coshocton County Court House, Will Book I.  Court proceedings commenced 17 April 1823.  Guardianship of his four children—James, Henry, Eliza, and Mary—was granted to John McBride in August 1823.  Henry, Eliza and Sally Stafford (probably their cousin) are recalled as being part of the local school in 1825 in the writings of William Culbertson of Zanesville.  An additional son may have been the Stafford boy killed by a lightning strike in 1814.

Ann moved her family into Zanesville after Richard’s death, where she is recorded in the census from 1830-1860.  The 1830 and 1840 census shows a household consisting of Ann and two daughters, with an additional unidentified female in 1840.  Thereafter, Ann Stafford is recorded in the home of her daughter Eliza Wilkins.

Nothing further is known of James Madison Stafford or Mary Stafford.  Eliza Stafford Wilkins and her family are well documented in Muskingum County, Ohio, and Henry Walker Stafford we have traced to Alabama and Florida.

Eliza Stafford Wilkins

Eliza Stafford is the easiest to identify after her father’s death, as she remains in her mother’s household, or Ann lives with her, until Ann’s death in 1869.  Eliza was born 1818 in Coshocton County, Ohio.  She married Cornelius “Neil” Wilkins 05 September 1843 in Muskingum County, Ohio, and they had two children—Ann in 1845, and John in 1847.  Neil Wilkins was an apprentice gunsmith with Elijah Ross in Zanesville, and was killed in an accidental shooting in the gun shop in 1848.  Eliza’s only great-grandchild died as a child, thus ending the line.

Henry W. Stafford

In searching the 1850 and 1860 census , there is only one possibility that matches a son of Richard and Ann Stafford.  There is a Henry W. Stafford in Greene County, Alabama, living in Choctaw County, Alabama, in 1860, with his family moving to Putnam and later Duval County, Florida, after his death.  He was born 1814 in Ohio, presumably in Muskingum County.  He was likely raised in the home of John McBride in Zanesville, but on 10 June 1841 he married Nancy M. Hall in Greene County, Alabama.

Land records for Choctaw county, recorded in the land office at St. Stephens, show him making purchases in 1854, 1859, and 1861.  In 1855, he was the postmaster at Bladen Springs, Choctaw County, Alabama.

Henry and Nancy Stafford had seven children—James R. Stafford, born 1843; Ann R. Partridge, born 1845; Mary J. Stafford, born 1847; William A. Stafford, born 1850; Sarah E. Stafford, born 1852; Henry W. Stafford, born 1854, and Ida Stafford, born 1858.

Henry died between 1860-1870, though the exact date and place of his death is currently unfound.

SAGA OF THE PARTRIDGE WELL DRILLING COMPANY

by Ada LeBaron Partridge

 I never heard my father-in-law, Mr. Hugh Partridge, speak his father’s name or refer to any of his father's family.  According to my mother-in-law he parted company with his father, Mr. Benjamin S. Partridge, the night his mother, Annie Rebecca Stafford Partridge died.  That was in June 1892.  She said he only stayed with the family for his mother's sake, to whom he was devoted, and when she was gone he left.  When I asked why, she said, "Because he felt his father was unkind to his mother."  She also told me that the night his mother died Hugh came to see her and that was the night she promised to marry him.  What a comfort that must have been to him!  They were married a year later in Jacksonville, Florida.

So, Mr. Benjamin Partridge, as far as is known is the 1st generation of well drillers.  All I know about Benjamin that is authentic can be found in the Partridge family Bible.  This Bible was started at the time of his marriage.  There are two entries and they read:

Births

Benjamin S. Partridge
born April 18th, 1841, in Mobile, Alabama

Annie R. Stafford
born October 14th, 1844 in Warsaw, Alabama

Marriages

Benjamin S. Partridge and Annie R. Stafford
Married November 9th, 1865 at Clinton, Alabama, by Rev. A.P. Silliman.

The Benjamin Partridges moved to Florida some time between Oct. 1868 and March 1878 for the Bible entries under births are:

Hugh Partridge, born Oct. 28, 1868 in Greene County, Alabama.

Edith M. Partridge, born Mar. 28, 1878, in Georgetown, Florida
Florence M. Partridge, born Mar. 15, 1879 in Georgetown, Florida
Dottie Partridge, born Jul 6, 1881 in Jacksonville, Florida; died Dec 30, 1881, Georgetown, Florida
Nanny Partridge, born Jul 2, 1883 in Georgetown, Florida; died Dec. 6, 1883, in Georgetown, Florida

Harry Eugene Partridge, born Oct. 9, 1886, in Jacksonville, Florida.

These were all the children listed and I have often wondered about the lapse of almost ten years between Hugh and Edith.

Judging from these entries, the family spent time between Jacksonville, and Georgetown, which is a small city on the St. Johns River about 70 miles south of Jacksonville.  I visited Georgetown many years ago and drank water from the well there which we were told was drilled by Benjamin Partridge.  Benjamin also drilled a number of wells in and around Jacksonville, and probably some for the city but I have not been able to find any records of them.  What other type of work he may have done I have no way of knowing.  Nor at what time he left this city.  There is an entry in the Bible in Mrs. Hugh Partridge's handwriting which reads:  Benjamin S. Partridge died in California.  There is no date.

The second generation of Partridge well drillers.

Mr. Hugh Partridge was 24 years old when he left his father's home in 1892.  At that time he was working in a hardware store.  I am not sure when he first drilled wells.  In the Florida Geological Survey, 3rd Annual Report 1909-1910, published in Tallahassee, Florida is listed, "Well #1 in St. Augustine, Florida was drilled in 1897 by Mr. Hugh Partridge."  Also in Artesian Water in the Florida Peninsular, a publication fo the US Department of the Interior, 1936, are listed several wells drilled by him.  one for the city in the Ortega section, one at the Venetia Yacht Club, one in Yukon, across from the Naval Air Station, one in Bayard, Fla., and one in Orange Park, Florida.  There are many more, but I do not have the locations.  Most of these wells are still being used.

Hugh was a very intelligent man as well as a capable one and he did other contracting work such as bulkheading and small bridges.  He also was a recognized inventor and in the late 1800s he worked on automobile improvements, even designing a car.  He had one of the first cars in Jacksonville.  Later he designed a farm tractor and the family lived for a few years in Safety Harbor, near Tampa, Fla., where the tractor was being built.  This was about 1917 or 1918.  He also invented a low pressure water sprinkler called the RIP (Rosborough, Ingles & Partridge) for the three men who formed a company to manufacture it.  This sprinkler is still on the market under other names.  Hugh also perfected a special type of interlocking cement bulkhead pile and used it on most of his bulkheading jobs.  This was never patented so others have used it too!

Mr. Hugh Partridge was well known and respected in business circles in Jacksonville.  He was loved by his family and he maintained a fine home for them.  He was devoted to his younger sister, Florence and they saw each other often but he saw very little of Edith, his older sister, or of Harry, his younger brother.

Hugh's mother was a Stafford before her marriage to Benjamin Partridge.  The Staffords were from Alabama, and some of them were living in Jacksonville at the same time the Partridges lived here.  I don't know when they moved here but according to the letter (which Cousin Abbie so kindly sent me) written by Mrs. Ben Partridge (Annie Rebecca Stafford Partridge) to her sister-in-law, Mrs. George T. Lyndall (Martha Jane Partridge Lyndall) dated Feb 22, 1892 from Jacksonville, Fla, her mother, sisters and brother had been here "20 years".  Mrs. Ben's mother was Nancy Malvina Hall, daughter of James Roddy Hall and Rebecca E. Norris, of Alabama.  Mrs. Stafford had just passed on when the letter was written, February 1892.  Twenty years previous would have been 1872.  According to the Bible entries I figured Ben moved his family here between 1868 and 1878.  They may have all moved at the same time.  Three of Mrs. Ben's sisters and one brother lived together with her mother next door to the Partridge home.  None of the four ever married.  Their names were Mary Jane 1847-1924, Sarah Eugenia 1851-1911, Henry W. Jr. 1854-1934, and Ida 1858-1938.  Perhaps they helped take care of the little family after Mrs. Ben's death in June 1892, for Edith was only 14, Florence 12 and Harry 6 years old.  However, Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Partridge were in constant touch with them and cared for them during the last days of the Stafford family.  Aunt Ida lived to the age of 80.  I can remember her very well.

When my husband, Merritt Ingersol Partridge, was about 17 years old insisted on leaving Florida Military Academy where he went to school because he wanted to work with his father, Hugh Partridge.  This he did, drilling wells and putting in bulkheads along the St. Johns River.  I met him shortly after this and I can remember going out to the job with him.  At that time the well drilling rig consisted of a wooden scaffold about 30 feet high rigged with a gasoline engine and tackle in the scaffolding with which they drilled the hole and drove down the pipe.  It was very hard work and also set and muddy.  Later Mr. Partridge bought a well drilling machine.  It was a Keystone and this was used for many years, until my husband sold it and had a more modern well drilling machine made.  My husband, nicknamed Pat by his friends, continued working with his father and they had a very fine relationship.

 Mr. Hugh Partridge passed on in March of 1930.

The Third generation of Partridge well drillers

Mr. Merritt Ingersol Partridge became the third generation of the Partridge family to drill wells.  At the passing of his father he continued with the work on hand.  All went smoothly for several years.  My husband was capable and work was plentiful.  I helped with the office work and kept the records.  We drilled deep artesian wells, 750 feet, just as Benjamin and Hugh had done.  However, Merritt or Pat, as I called him, saw a need for small water systems to supply homes and small businesses, so he had a small well drilling machine built and we began to specialize in rock well, from 60 to 250 feet deep, and pumps to give the system pressure.  Rock well do no flow under their own pressure as the artesian wells do.  This little rig paid for itself over and over again.

When the depression came, about 1933 in Florida I believe, there was no contracting work of any kind for several years.  The machinery sat in the back yard and we soon were financially at rock bottom.  Pat found enough odd work to keep us in food but not enough to pay other bills.  Our needs were modest but bit by bit we lost everything but the home, and we almost lost that.  There was no sale for the machinery so that was saved.  At last Pat got a job with the Motor Transit as a mechanic.  It paid about $60.00 to $80.00 per month depending on the hours worked.  In about a year there began to be a little business so he worked at the Transit Co. at night and took care of the little business in the daytime.  After about a year of this he was able to give up the night work and devote all his time to the business.  Gradually business picked up and we took on a partner, a Mr. French, who had drilled oil wells and was used to large equipment.  He ran the big rig and my husband the small one.

There was a good bit of government work to be had.  This was the time of President Roosevelt and the WPA.  We branched out to include concrete work and Mr. Hugh Partridge had done.  The business was going very well and we were making sufficient profit for both families.  However, Mr. French was never quite happy working with our deep well drilling machine.  He was used to very large machines that could drill oil wells.  So he left us for a Jacksonville firm that drilled larger water wells than we did.  He also left us with contracts to fill which we had bid on with his abilities in mind and with no experienced person to take his place.  But we managed.  And business continued to improve.

In 1940 the Florida National Guard was mobilized by the government.  My husband had been a member of the Coast Artillery Corps of the National Guard for many years.  The men were given the choice of being discharged honorably or being inducted into the army.  My husband enjoyed the military and would have loved to go with his outfit.  We talked it over carefully for there were three things he could have done.  He could have gone with his outfit and leave me to run the business, or I could have gone with him, or he could resign and stay home.  We had two boys, Donal who was ten years old and a new baby boy, Hugh.  His choice was to stay home.

In February 1941 while completing a wall in Middlesburg, Florida, a piece of the equipment broke and fell on my husband, causing his death.  I was left with the two boys to support and no trained skills with which to apply for a job.  We had contracts to fill so the next Monday morning, March 2, 1941, I sent the men out on the job.  One of our workers was a trustworthy black man, Frank Stokes, who had worked for Mr. Hugh Partridge and was a skilled driller.  I decided to continue the work each day and solve my problems as they arose.  I dropped the concrete work as I did not know how to figure the materials needed and I concentrated on the well drilling, which consisted of artesian wells up to four inches in diameter and rock wells and pumps.  I had a lot of practical knowledge in that line as my husband had included me in the business and always told me about each job including the problems that arose.

The work went along satisfactorily and I cleared enough to encourage me.  Also people seemed to have confidence in me when I made contacts with prospective customers or when I visited the job.  However, there was a national problem which caused me some concern.  Our country was on the brink of war.  I had no assurance that the business could continue as well drilling supplies such as pipe, gasoline, and tires were also war needs and would be hard to get.  Also contacts might be scarce.  As a precautionary measure I enrolled in adult classes in business, which were being held in the old Duval High School building.  I hoped to become skilled enough to be able to find a good job if necessary.  I learned a great deal but after short four months the business demanded my full time.  When war did come water was considered a necessity.  People could not live without water!  Anything connected with water was given top priority.  The rating given our business was one of the highest and it enabled me to get all the materials needed.  This was a miracle for metal, gas and rubber were the most critical war needs.

During the war years the business flourished.  We did a great deal of work for the government, some of which was so guarded that I was not even allowed on the job site.  Some of this work was out of town along the ocean front.  I was grateful and derived a certain amount of satisfaction from having "made good" in the business world, but I never lost the feeling that I should be prepared in some way to do something that would bring in a good living salary.  In 1944 I enrolled in the Jacksonville Junior College for night classes.  They were housed in the old Garner residence on Riverside Ave.  Since that time they have become the Jacksonville University and have a beautiful campus on the St. Johns River in the Arlington section of this city.  I had nothing particular in mind as this was my first college level work.  I attended whenever possible for several years.  I earned almost two years credit.

The fourth generation of Partridge well drillers

Now enters the fourth generation of well drillers.  When my sons Donal Merritt Partridge graduated from High School at the age of seventeen all he wanted to do was to drill wells.  No amount of persuasion could get him to go to college.  So I put him to work.  He worked hard and did well.  He loved the business.  It occurred to me that now was the time for me to do that "something" I had held onto for so long.  In 1950, I enrolled at the University of Florida in Gainesville, to complete my college work going into education.  This would give Donal and opportunity to prove his ability to run the business.  If he was successful, I planned to sign over the business to him when he reached the age of 25, which would be in 1955.  In the mean time I was preparing myself for a teaching career.  Don became a fine young business man and did well with the work.  When I graduate din February 1952 I started teaching.  At the age of 25 Don became sole owner of the Partridge Well Drilling Co. and the fourth generation of well drillers in Jacksonville, Florida.  (I continued with my career in education and earned a master's Degree in 1965, going into Library work in the public schools).

Through the years Donal has earned for himself an enviable name as a fine businessman and a skilled and knowledgeable well drilling contractor.  He has built up the business from a small two rig outfit employing 2 to 4 men as needed, to a company operating six rigs and employing 18 to 20 men.  He can drill rock wells and install and service the pump.  He can drill artesian wells two to six inches in diameter and from 700 to 800 feet deep.  He also can do test borings which are often needed by the government or by companies to determine the ground formation to a certain depth.  Don has also taken an active interest in the problem of water supply and conservation.  He has been a member of the Florida Water Well Drillers Association for many years, having served as president and also as treasurer.  Several times he visited the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee in connection with possible regulation of well drilling operations and in the interest of water source conservation in the state.  Other operators consult him in regard to drilling procedures and companies consult him for correct information in regard to water needs.  He is a member of the National Water Well Drillers Association, attending their yearly convention in order to keep up with the latest drilling techniques and drilling equipment improvements.  He has many business and personal friends through the state.  I am not only proud by impressed with what he has accomplished in the past 25 years.

Donal has a fine family.  His wife Margaret helps with the office work and bookkeeping.  He has two daughters, Diane and Linda.  His son Donal Merritt Partridge Jr. is called Pat for his grandfather.  Pat has completed two years of college and spends all his spare time and vacation working with his father.  He also enjoys well drilling and is now operating one of the rigs.

So the saga of the Partridge Well Drilling Company will go on into the fifth generation.

Addendum 

Perhaps you have wondered what happened to the other boy.  Hugh Partridge, born August 2, 1939 showed definite musical talent at an early age.  When he was 10 years old he selected the viola as his instrument.  by the age of 16 he was playing in the Jacksonville Symphony.  From time to time he worked with his brother.  Donal gave him the opportunity to become a partner in the business and handle the pump and pump servicing part of the work, which was a very generous offer.  After much serious thought, Hugh decided to make music his career.  He has been first chair viola in two large Symphony Orchestras and is first chair viola in the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra each summer.  He has taught in two universities, Wichita State University being the last, and is very well known in his profession.

Hugh has three sons:  Hugh III, Merritt and Miles.  At present he is living in Cary, NC, and playing in the North Carolina State Symphony.  Next year he plans to teach again.