William J Stafford, the namesake of the City of Stafford, Texas, was born in Tennessee, and before coming to Texas in 1822 he operated plantations in Mississippi, and Louisiana. Mr. Stafford was one of the first of Stephen F Austins Old 300 Colonists. His first wife, Martha Donnelle, died in 1818, and he quickly married Martha Cartwright, with whom he had four children. In 1824, he received title to 1½ leagues and a labor of Land now in Fort Bend and Waller counties. His Fort Bend County plantation called Stafford's Point had a cane mill and a horse-powered gin, but he lost it all, when he had to flee Texas, after killing a man named Moore. While he and his family were away, Santa Anna's Army stopped at the Plantation on their way to eventual defeat at the Battle of San Jacinto. Before leaving however they burned everything to the ground. In December 1838 fifty citizens of Fort Bend County petitioned Congress to allow Stafford to return home and be exempt from judicial prosecution, because the man he had killed, had been "destitute of character" and was "much addicted to brawls." After receiving Executive Clemency from the House of Representatives, William Stafford returned to live at Stafford's Point until his death, sometime before September 25, 1840.