The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-01-15
A NOTABLE FAMILY.
Brother and Sister both Achieved Ma
tiOnnl Reputation,

EAST ARLINGTON, W., Jan, OVll, loJz'
To the Editor Of the Bdnner:-DEAR
SIR:-I enclose slip taken from the Cairo,
ILL.,, Sunday Morning Telegram of Dec.
goth, ult., thinking perhaps you would
like to copy it in your paper. Both Mr..
and Miss Stafford were widely known in
Vermont, and in fact in almost every
State in the Union. S.
The deaths Of DIR. Mary J. Stafford and
her distinguished brother, Governor A.
p. X. Stafford, that followed each other
in quick succession at TarpOn Springs,
Florida, have already been referred to at
length in the columns of the Telegram
when they occurred. They were brother
and sister of the late A. b. Stafford who
was 50 well known in Cairo, in whose
memory the library building on Wash
ingtOn avenue was erected by his widow,
Mrs. Anna E. Stafford, who still lives in
the city. Both had lived long and use
full lives and both achieved National re-
putation in their separate lines of work.
That this is so, may be seen from the
comments of the press upon their death,
from all parts of the country.
Referring to the death of Gov. Stafford,
the Chicago Tribune of Friday, says:
"a. p. X. Stafford, an early Territorial
Governor of Arizona, died Monday
night at his residence in Tarpon Springs,
Fla. His death was the elimination of a
six-months' illness from nervous pros
tratiOn.
"While governor of Arizona Ire was in
strumental in securing the construction
of the Unio0 Pacific road through that
territory. He drove the last spike on
the road. To his aggressive policy was
due the subjugation of the hostile Indian
tribes. He was one of the old style
rough and ready frontiersmen, and while
governor of Arizona in the early days of
that territory he had many thrilling ex-
periences.
''Seven years ago Mr.. Stafford became
largely interested in Florida real estate
The town of Tarpon Sp ings was founded
and largely owned by him. He has been
active in booming Florida land, and for
several years has been secretary of the
Hamilton DisstOn Laud Company. He
also owned extensive interests in Cali
fornla gold and silve" mines.
'His wife, son, Leandro r., and a
daughter, Mdrgarita, urvive him."
A Boston correspondent of the Chicago
Inter- Ocean sends that paper the follow
ing special telegram under date of Dec.
10th:
''Dr. Mary J. Stafford, formerly of Bos-
ton and Chicago, who died recently in
Florida, whittier she went few years
ago in search of health, was a native of
the South.
During the war, it is said, she was
the first woman in the United States to
administer relief on the field of battle.
She went up and down the river in the
transports, assisted III the hospitals, and
in every way through life and time and
means into the service. All through
that part of the country she was idol
lied by the soldiers, many of whom still
recall her name with tender gratitude.
For five years she travelled in almost
every European land, as well as in Egypt
and the Orient, filling her mind with
rich stores of knowledge and experience,
and winning back by degrees the blessed
boon of health.
son her return from Europe, Miss
Stafford spent three years in New York
studying medicine, and after her gradu-
alton she applied to the medical faculty
of the University of Vienna for permits
sion to study there. 1t was readily
granted and she at once returned to
Europe, studying for nearly three years
in Vienna and other places.
LAS physician, DR.. Stafford practised
in Chicago and Boston. In this city she
also taught for years in the medical de-
partment of the Boston University. DR..
SafTo was one of the first women in
Boston to be elected to serve on the
public school committee, and here as
everywhere she was faithful in the high
est degree. She was warmly interested
in all cases of reform and in efforts to
better the condition of working girls
The correspondent is in error in say
ing that DR.. Stafford was native of the
south. She was born at Morristown,
Vermont, where also her brother was
born.
1t may be matter of news to some of
the readers of the Telegram to know that
DR.. Safford's first service to the Union
soldiers referred to in the above dis
patch, was here in Cairo. 1t was Just
after the battle of Belmont, Mo-, twenty
five miles below here, in the fall of 1861.
The United States troops under Gen.
Grant had suffered terribly there, and
hundreds of them were brought back to
Cairo with grievous wounds. The hos
pital accommodations there were of
primitive nature and much suffering en-
sued.
Miss Safford's tender heart was touch
ed with pity, and she went into the hos
pital to do all in her power to aid the
busy surge MS. Her def fingers aided
in binding up many a wound, while with
words of encouragement she cheered
them up to stand their sufferings as
bravely as possible. Seeing how much
she could accomplish she was not con-
tent to assist only in the hospital, but
the day after the battle she went on a
transport from here with the surgeons
to the field of car age itself and bravely
worked in caring for the wounded who
had been left on the ground. Returning
to the city she devoted days and weeks
in her work of humanity. The writer
who was searching for cOmrade known
to be wounded, found him in a hospital
tent with bullet wound through each
cheek. The missed had knocked out a
few teeth but his tongue was unhurt,
and his first words were TO invoke bless.
ings upon the head of the Little Cairo
Angel" as that was the title won by
Miss Stafford, and by which hundreds of
old soldiers yet living will remember
her by. All will shed a tear of regret
when they know that she is dead"
NO USE FOR A TRUNK.
One of the Barge Office people is tell
ing a very funny story about a young
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