I have a book done by my great grandfather, Christy Leroy Stafford and many other relatives published in 1938. It also has the Deal (Diehl) genealogy. It is about the descendants of Alford Monroe Stafford and Martha Elizabeth Foster, whose father was Isaac Foster of SC. Alford Monroe was the son of John Stafford who was the son of William Stafford and Frances Mason who emigrated to Virginia from England in 1622. They are all part of my line.

Some say William was married to Anne Mason. If you know if this was the same or different person as Frances, please let me know. It is possible he was married to both sisters according to one source. I have just started to research him. Apparently, he was the ward of Francis Mason who seems to have transported people to the colonies. It may even be that William worked aboard ship and sailed the ocean more than once before settling in Elizabeth City, VA. See http://immigrantservants.com/servant/show.php?servant=6333

The Stafford/Deal book says Mary Moris (one "r") was born 14 Jan 1822. No DOD given. It lists her husband as Nimrod Lunsford, Jr., son of Nimrod Lunsford, Sr. and Rebecca Foster. Mary Morris is the sister of my direct ancestor John Richard Stafford: b. 29 Nov. 1819, d. 5 Sep 1888.

The Lunsfords and the Staffords intermarried quite a bit and were founding families of what is now Alexander County, NC. The cemetery where many of the Staffords and Lunsfords are buried is Friendship Evangelical Lutheran in Bethlehem (Wittenburg community) although the mailing address is Taylorsville, NC.

The associate pastor at the church is getting me a book of the church history.

I have put much of the Stafford/Deal book I have on my family tree and tried to add to it with additional research. If you send me your user name or email, I'll connect you to it.

You may already know most of this. If so, perhaps it will help someone else.