Son of Thomas and Elizabeth Stafford, b-1636, d-Mar 20, 1718. Thomas Stafford, father of Samuel, b-Warwickshire, England, abt 1605, of Plymouth, Mass., as early as 1626, of Portsmouth or Newport, RI, Mar 1638, then of Providence, where he constructed the first grist mill at the mouth of the Moosausick river. He removed to Old Warwick from Providence 1650 and at the head of Mill Cove built a grist mill for the settlers. He was admitted freeman in 1638. It is related of him that he died at Warwick in 1677, "aged and worn out with labor, but industrious and prosperous." A desc., Thomas Stafford Drowne, D.D., of Garden City, LI had in his possession about 1886, the original family Coat of Arms, carved in wood, brought from England, bearing the inscription: "The Family of Stafford,of Warwickshire." Samuel, husband of Mercy, was admitted freeman 1669, chosen one of Governor's "Assistants" in 1674, which he declined to serve, and was elected deputy from Warwick to the Colonial Assembly, 1679-82-86 and 1705. He is said to have been a man of much influence and greatly esteemed. His sisters, Sarah and Deborah, were the wives of Mercy's brother, Amos. Both Mercy and her husband, and many of their earliest descendants, are buried in the old Stafford family burial ground near Conimicut Point. (History and Genealogy of Stukely Westcott, Vol. 1, Pg. 144, 1932)748