This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

Neither the John, Sr. or the John, Jr. Bibles gives Delila Ruark Stanford’s death date, but we know she died sometime after the year 1860 because she appears for the last time in that Marion County census. Mr. Robert Stanford told us that John Stanford was referred to as “Grandsire” Stanford and Delila was referred to as “Dicey” Stanford. In the 1860 Marion County census, Delila is referred to as “Nancy Stanford,” bom in Maryland and age 82. We suspect the census taker in 1860 made a mistake and recorded her first name wrong as often happened. He probably misunderstood the elderly woman as “Nancy” when she was actually saying “Dicey.” She also appeared in the 1850 Marion County census as “D. Stanford,” bom in Maryland, and age 71. The John Stanford, Sr. Bible records her birth as June 30, 1779, and she is referred to as “Delila Ruark.” The John Stanford, Jr. Bible makes no reference to his mother or father. We have never found Delila referred to as Nancy on any other record. To give this issue the benefit of doubt, we will refer to her as Delila “Nancy” Ruark Stanford, thinking Nancy may have been a “nick name” she sometime used.
Searching the internet on “Ancestory.com” and the “Find-a-Grave” web site, we have found researchers that have identified Delila Ruark’s parents as John Hezekiah Ruark (also spelled as Rook, Rooks, Rooke, etc.) and Mary Elizabeth Stanford. John H. Ruark was bom in 1750 in Worchester County, MD, and died in 1797 in Chatham County, North Carolina. They show Mary Elizabeth Stanford died in 1790 and was the daughter of Jonathan Stanford, Sr. and Elender / Eleanor, maiden name unknown. Other researchers name his parents, grandparents, etc. The only problem is that no one gives any sources, and this information should not be considered without further independent research.
Mr. Baxter said that he was told that the old Stanford home was located not far from the Howard Cemetery in the southern part of what was then Marion County on the “Old Federal Road.” This was one of the main highways in the southern part of the United States at the time. This road ran west from Washington, D.C., down through Marion County, and crossed the Pearl River at Ford’s Ferry just below what is now called the Sandy Hook community. The “Federal Road” was opened in 1805 as a mail route, and served as a pathway for countless settlers from Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia into the Western frontier. Mr. Baxter told us that John and Delila “seem to have had little in the way of worldly goods, but seen to have possessed a tremendous store of human kindness. They seem to have been a refuge for every nomad and traveler who chanced along the old highway.” It should be noted that the old homestead was located on Clear Creek, and now called the Clear Creek Community in the south-west comer of Lamar County. Prior to 1904, Lamar County was part of Pearl River County and prior to 1890, that area of Pearl River County was part of Marion County, MS. John Stanford lived a few miles north of his daughter and son-in-law, Jesse Cameron, in what is now Pearl River County, and earlier, Marion County. In the 1850 Marion County census, they lived six residences apart, but keep in mind, that could be several miles in a rural community.
Some of the older descendants believe that the early Stanfords were of English or Irish origin and that John and Delila Stanford were Baptist, but we noticed the old Stanford, Sr. Bible was published in New York in 1832 for the “Methodist Episcopal Church.” The John, Jr. Bible was the same, except it was printed in 1839. We have
2