Some thoughts on the origin of the name Stafford and how it relates to the Downing family.
So I was talking with a cousin about our family history and he asked about the origins of the name 'Stafford'. I've been giving this some thought and thought I'd post to the thread about it.
We can say with certainty that the name appeared in the Downing family sometime prior to 1734 (thanks to the Dreenan Lease). Since Stafford Downing (I) was a fully grown man when he obtained the lease, it seems likely to have entered the family either at or before the beginning of the 18th century.
Now an old tradition that seems to have been present in protestant families, as well as culturally Scottish families, is the preserving of the names of families married into theirs in the form of first and second names. The Drumard Downings give us examples of this tradition in names such as 'Dawson Downing' and 'Rowe Downing'. The practice seems to be particularly prevalent in well-to-do protestant families. I would theorise this is likely because of the social advantages in showing off your family's social connections through marriage. When researching the Bell part of my tree in Tyrone I encountered local names in Coagh such as 'Hamilton Bell', 'Arthur Hamilton Bell' 'David Miller Bell', etc, so the practice was not uncommon.
If we were to accept, for sake of argument, that this was the origin of the name in the Downing family, then where might it have come from?
The earliest origin point I can find for the name in the local area is Sir Francis Stafford. In 1572 the English built a castle in Portglenone whose garrison was captained by Francis. He then later became Governor of Ulster and named his home Mount Stafford (the castle is long gone but the name is memorialised in the name of Mount Stafford Road, to the north of Portglenone). He reputedly died in 1609.
He seems to have had a number of children with his wife Anne Grogan, but the only ones I can find record of are; Edmund Stafford, who later became Sir Edmund of Mount Stafford, his father's heir, Mary Stafford who married John Echlin Esq. of County Down, and a Martha Stafford who married Sir Henry O'Neill of Edenduffcarrick ('Shane's Castle') south of Randalstown and east of 'Staffordstown' which I presume has a link to the Stafford family, but I've yet to find a good source.
Sir Edmund died childless in March of either 1644 or 1645. In his will he made his nephew Francis Echlin Esq. his heir. Upon succeeding in 1645, Francis took the name and arms of Stafford. I won't belabour the point by listing the entire pedigree, suffice to say that the 'mainline' branch of the Stafford family appear to have been present in Portglenone right down until the end of the 17th century and into the beginning of the 18th. However, it seems to me that a lot of the family tree is incomplete, and so there are likely many children we're not aware of.
So where does that leave us? Assuming again that Stafford (I) was named for a marriage, and assuming also that he was born sometime in the early 18th century, that gives us a gap of about 100 years to play with between the death of Sir Francis Stafford and Stafford Downing's birth.
I think it may be notable that, despite the seemingly close-links that Dukewm has shown between the Dreenan and Drumard Downings, there appear to be no Staffords in the Drumard branch at all (Dukewm, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong). I would suggest that any potential Stafford family ancestry is therefore potentially confined to the Stafford branch. If we also hypothesise that Stafford (I) is the first to bear the name, then perhaps the Downing - Stafford marriage might be close to him, perhaps his own parents or grandparents? Food for thought.
It's here I'd like to throw in a little wildcard - a Stafford O'Neill who I can't place. There is a tombstone in Fallsburgh, New York for a Stafford D. O'Neill (b. c1777 - d 1851). Based on the name of a son, John Dennison O'Neill, I'd suggest that's likely what the initial 'D' means in this Stafford's name. Newspaper reports suggest he came and settled in Fallsburgh in 1805. Now his year of birth places him too early to be a son of James O'Neill and Esther Downing.
He might, of course, not even be anything to do with the Stafford families of Dreenan, but it makes me wonder, given the name and the use of another surname as a seemingly-hereditary middle name. I got in touch with some of the owners of these trees. and sadly no one knows where this Stafford came from, other than 'Ireland'.
