I will be putting together a table of colorful ancestors whether it was due to political dissent, just general major trouble making or outright murder (murderers or murdered) these people left behind a slightly unusual personal portrait. This is just the first round, I will be adding many more to this list.

You can vote for the "Most Colorful" Stafford Ancestor. Click the "Most Colorful" link.

Valentine B. Stafford G Grand Father: Shot in a bar according to my grand father. He was very young when his father disappeared and didn't know much about this except that he made someone very angry. (ya think?)
Robert F. Stafford
Father to Valentine above. He and his Cousin Robert E. Stafford.
Involved in a Feud including many murders and lots of mayhem that resulted in the un-incorporation of an entire county in Texas. Here is the link if you would like to read about it.

William Stafford 1622-1728

Brother of John Stafford 1669-1733

In the Colonial and State records of North Carolina, is the statement of the President of the Proprietors of NC complaining that William Stafford was talking to the men who had enlisted to fight the Indians, and that most of them had subsequently resigned from his army. A little later is found a letter from the President to the Governor of Virginia asking him to extradite William Stafford, brother of John, who had fled to Virginia to avoid execution because of these subversive acts. He later returned to NC and was a farmer.
Sir William Stafford 1554-1612 1575; Apparently became a courtier and suddenly left London for Dieppe, 1585; returned, 1586; accused of involvement in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1588.
Sir William Stafford of Grafton Born: Bef 1512, Chebsey, Staffs., Rochford, Essex & London Died: 5 May 1556, Geneva

Accompanied by his wife, children, sister, cousin and servants, he settled in Geneva in Mar 1554, being known there as Lord Rochford. He soon became embroiled in its disputes and on returning there after the uprising of 1555 he was nearly killed in an affray.
Edward Stafford 3rd Duke of Buckingham was born 1478, and executed 1521 1478–1521, English nobleman; son of Henry Stafford, 2d Duke of Buckingham. The attainder (1483) of his father was reversed on the accession (1485) of Henry VII, and after Henry VIII came to the throne (1509), he was made lord high constable, lord high steward, and a privy councilor. However, although Buckingham appeared to be high in the favor of Henry VIII, the king was both jealous and suspicious of him because of his wealth, his lands, and his descent; on the paternal side he was a descendant of Thomas of Woodstock, son of Edward III, and his mother was a sister of Edward IV’s queen. He came to represent those nobles who resented the power of Cardinal Wolsey and their own exclusion from high offices. In 1521, Buckingham was arrested and tried on trumped-up charges that he had countenanced prophecies of his own succession to the throne and had expressed his intention to murder the king. He was executed.

Buckingham (Edward Stafford) is a minor character in Shakespeare's Henry VIII.

Henry Stafford 2nd Duke of Buckingham was born 1455, and was executed 1483

Henry Stafford 2nd Duke of Buckingham, played a major role in Richard III of England's rise and fall. He is also one of the primary suspects in the disappearance (and presumed murder) of the Princes in the Tower.
When Henry Tudor tried to invade England to take the throne from Richard in October 1483, Buckingham raised an army in Wales and started marching east to support Henry. Buckingham tried to escape in disguise but was turned in for the bounty Richard had put on his head, and he was convicted of treason and beheaded in Salisbury on 2 November. There was little resistance and he was executed for all to see in the market place on All Souls Day (2nd November).
There is no agreement about the date of his death as some recount he was beheaded on the 16th December. The deed took place outside the Blue Boar and the Saracen's Head taverns and today is marked by a plaque on the side of Debenhams department store.

Henry Stafford 2nd Duke of Buckingham: Character in Shakespeare's Richard III.

Humphrey Stafford of Grafton Sir Knight
Born: Abt. 1427, Grafton, Worcestershire, England

Died: 8 Jul 1486, Tyburn

Executed by order of King Henry VII for siding with Richard III. 8 July 1486 Tyburn.

Father: Humphrey Stafford of Grafton Sir Knight

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