Martha Ann Stiars

                      Land Sales                           

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 STAFFORD COUNTY COURTHOUSE - STAFFORD, VIRGINIA

 

There are two entries in the Stafford County Records concerning the sale of land to Martha Ann Stiars. The first appears in the 19^th May, 1858, of the Minutes Book, Page 220, as follows:

 

Page 220                                  A Deed of Bargain and Sale from John H. Suttle and C. F.

$2.25 Pd.                                 Suttle to Martha Ann Stiars with the Certificate of Acknowledgement

Of the said John H. and C. F. Suttle and assessed was this day

Received in court and ordered to be recorded.

 

 

 

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The second, is the sale of the land in Deed Book 12, Page 174, from Martha Ann=s son, William Wesley Stiars to Gustavus Payne for $150 on 19 June, 1909. This property is designated Lot as APart of Lot 81" in both the 1861 and 1865 Land Tax Records for Stafford County. Her sister, Mary Jane Taylor Stiars, owned the next door lot, Lot 80, also in both records. By comparing the lot descriptions, Martha Ann=s as depicted above in the sketch and Mary Janes=s purchase of land on 24 August, 1867 (which has AMrs. Stiars on one side and the house lot of Misses Barnes on the other C extending back to the Mill Race@) with the current (2002) Land Tax Map, Insert 53D, depicting most of Falmouth, only Lots No. 11, 11A and 13 north of Forbes Street meet the criteria. These lots:

a. are both oriented front to south and back to north.

b. are adjacent to one another.

c. are basically of  the same dimensions now as they were in 1865

d. extend up to the now course of the AMill Run@

 

The original Deed was lost or destroyed during the Civil War when the Union Army was in control of the Falmouth area and had to be recertified after the war.

 

Martha Ann Stiars - spelled Stairs, Styers, Staiars etc over the years C was born, according to her death record, in Stafford County, to John Henry Taylor and Mary Catharine Mitchell Casey. John went by Henry for many years and Mary went by Catharine. They were married on 8 October, 1821, in Caroline County, with Caleb Mitchell, her father, providing security. John Henry Taylor purchased land in Spotsylvania County at the intersection in Marye. In 1834, he was sentenced to prison for life and transferred all of his assets to Thomas M. Casey to be held in trust for his wife and unnamed children, who were: Martha Ann, Mary Jane^[1], John Henry, Thomas Wesley and William Frank Taylor. The indenture establishing this trust was written on 1 September, 1834, in Caroline County and entered into Spotsylvania County Records on the 3^rd of September, 1834. John Henry stated, therein, that his mother was Sarah Taylor, widow of Major Taylor. 

 

Martha Ann, b:c1823,  married William E. Stiars b: c1820. and lived on a part of her mother=s land until they purchased it from her. They also owned adjacent acreage they had purchased from William E.=s father, John George Stiars. Sometime around the 1850 census, they all moved out of the Marye area. John George had died and his wife (Betsy Dillard) and children, except for William E.,  moved into Fredericksburg. Mary Jane ATaylor@ had married William E.=s brother, John Henry Stiars b: c1821,  and they moved, along with Catharine Taylor up to Falmouth. Martha Ann and William E. followed.

 

William E. Stiars died on the 17^th of March, 1858, in Falmouth, according to his obit in the Fredericksburg News of 23 March, 1858. I always wondered how Martha Ann supported their two children, Edward R. and William Wesley, with her husband gone and throughout the Civil War. But, with the proof that John Henry and Catharine Taylor were her parents and that all of the property that the girls obtained were through their trustee, H.B. Barnes, it is obvious that they were living off of the trust provided by John Henry Taylor^[2].

 

According to the Stafford County Death Records, Mary Catharine Taylor died in February, 1874, and John Henry Stiars with whom she was living, was appointed executor of her estate. Again, as reported in the Stafford County Death Records, Martha Ann Stiars died on 30 May, 1882. Mary Jane Stiars died sometime prior to the Stafford County Circuit Court held on the 1^st of April, 1880, when the court directed a Acommission@ to settle her estate. This was followed by an entry into record on 19 February, 1881, transferring the 10 acres she owned outside of Falmouth to John B. Shelton after a public auction. Then, a second, entered into record on 3 September,, 1883, transfers two lots C the one in which she lived at the time of her death that she had bought from Benjamin Hall by Deed dated 30 April, 1868 C and the one called ACooper=s Shop@ that she had bought by Deed bearing the date of 24 August, 1867. Both were sold to Alexandra Armstrong. There is no record, found as yet, of John Henry Stiars and Mary Jane Taylor=s marriage, nor of their deaths.

 

There is no will of record for Martha Ann. However, the land apparently went to both of her sons under inheritance laws. For, Deed Book 8, Stafford County, records a Deed entered in record on 18 February, 1899, wherein her eldest son, Edward R. Stiars^[3] and his then wife, Eleanora Stiars, transfer in Lynchburg, their share of Martha Ann=s property to his brother, William Wesley Stiars. This Deed reaffirms that they are the only heirs of law, confirms the bounds of the property and the fact that the original was lost in the war.  Also, by this time, William Wesley=s first wife, Sarah Payne had died and he had remarried to Emma Jefferson Dickinson, a widow, and daughter of James and Martha Parker Jefferson of Fredericksburg.

 

William Wesley Stiars had four children by Sarah Payne Stiars C all born in Falmouth. They were:

a. Ada Mariah Stiars, b: 13 Nov. 1872, D: 11 Mar. 1963 in Washington D.C. She married

    in Fredericksburg, Bowie Gray Mills, b: 26 Apr. 1873 d: 10 Mar, 1946 in Washington.

    Both are buried in the Arlington National Cemetery for his service in the Spanish-              American War.

b. Dolly Anne Stiars (Birth reported as Rosetta) B:Dec 1874 and died 17 Apr 1944

    married in Fredericksburg 31 Jan 1901 Alexander Shelton (a widower), b: c1868 in

    Spotsylvania. I have no death record for Alexander. Dolly was buried in        the Bethel

    Church Cemetery, Stafford. No Headstone.

c. William Thomas Stiars, b: 9 Dec, 1876, D: 21 Mar, 1970, in Fredericksburg. Va:

    8 Aug, 1897, in Fredericksburg to Agnes Collins, B: 27 Apr, 1872 D: 17 Apr, 1959.

   Both are buried in the Fredericksburg City Cemetery.

d. Cora Lee (Cody) Stiars b: 25 Nov 1880 d:20 Aug 1971 in Washington buried in the

    Cedar Hill Cemetery in Washington. She married 26 Apr 1899 in Fredericksburg

    Peyton Bailey Flagg b: 7 Nov 1868 in Caroline Co. d: 23 Nov 1928 in Washington. He

    is buried in the Flagg Family Cemetery in Caroline Co.

 

Sarah Payne Stiars= Obiturary in the 3 July, 1894 Free Lance indicates she died at her residence on AUpper Main Street@. This would be 1809 Princess Anne St. in Fredericksburg. She was buried in the grounds next to the Falmouth Union Baptist Church. No Headstone. William Wesley then married Emma Jefferson Dickinson, the widow of Abner H. Dickinson, who had died 19 July, 1895 and was buried in the Fredericksburg City Cemetery. William Wesley and Emma were married 3 June, 1797, at the home of Mr. John Layton by Rev. Dr. T.H. Dunaway. William Wesley was a ADresser@ at the Woolen Mills. Emma brought one child to this marriage as a result of her marriage to Abner H. Dickinson.

e. Abner H. Birdsong Dickinson. ABirdsong@ being part of his official name. He was

    named after an old conductor on the RF&P Railroad. The 23 June, 1891 Free Lance

    Reports he was born last Wednesday. After his mother died, he lived with William T.