A man who has performed well his part as a factor in the body politic of Nodaway county is Charles W. Stafford, one of the enterprising young farmers of Polk township, and no one questions his standing as an energetic citizen of the township in which he lives and of which he is a native, having been born here on July 15, 1872. He is the son of John L. and Sarah (Pruden) Stafford, the father a native of Indiana, in which state the mother was also born; there they grew to maturity, met and married and from thence they came to Nodaway county, Missouri, in the fall of 1868, locating in Polk township where they lived until 1875, when they moved to Green township, where Mrs. Stafford died August 18, 1897. Mr. Stafford later sold his farm and moved to Burlington Junction, where he now resides. He is well known in the western part of the county. To Mr. and Mrs. John L. Stafford eight children were born, named as follows: Maggie is teaching school in St. Joseph, Missouri; George is living in Maryville; Hettie is the wife of Henry McComb, of Wilcox, this county; Charles W., of this review; Lue is the wife of W. F. Bolin, of Maryville; Emma is the wife of Edward Bolin, of Maryville; Maud; Inez died in infancy.
Charles W. Stafford was reared on the home farm in Nodaway county and was put to work in the fields when he became of proper age, and he was educated in the common schools. He remained at home until his marriage, which event took place March 30, 1893, while living in Green township. He selected as a life partner Edith Blanche Lawson, who was born in Jackson county, Indiana, February 24, 1878. She is the daughter of James and Rachael (Weddle) Lawson, the father a native of Kentucky and the latter of Indiana. They came from Indiana to Nodaway county, Missouri, and settled in Green township in 1888, where Mr. Lawson died October 31, 1894. Mr. and Mrs. Stafford are the parents of four children, three of whom survive, namely: Ernest, Mildred M.; Hugh M. died in infancy; Lyonel M.
Mr. Stafford takes a great deal of interest in political matters and he has always been a Republican. He and his wife are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally, Mr. Stafford is a member of the Yeomen of America and the Woodmen of the World. He has always followed agricultural pursuits and stock raising and has been very successful in each, now owning a well improved and neatly kept farm of one hundred and sixty acres, on which stand excellent buildings of all kinds.
Source: B. F. Bowen & Company. Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri. Indianapolis, Indiana: B. F. Bowen & Company. 1910.