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It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

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Our Joshua Stanford’s name is listed on a granite marker on the lawn of the Warren County Courthouse in Warrenton, GA. It is dedicated to the soldiers buried in Warren County who fought in the War of American Independence.
While we feel comfortable saying our John Stanford is the son of Joshua Stanford, we now ask who were the parents of Joshua Stanford? We found a source called “Georgia Memoirs,” published in 1895 by the Southern Historical Association of Atlanta, GA. It consists of stories by prominent Georgia citizens at that time. In Vol. 1, page 1068, an attorney from Harris County, GA by the name of Lycurgus L. Stanford tells the story of his ancestors. He said he was bom in Putnam County, GA, the son of Nehemiah and Elizabeth (Wyatt) Stanford in 1831. He also states that his grandparents were Levin and Eleanor (McGhee) Stanford, and Levin was bom on the “eastern shore of Chesapeake, and migrated to Georgia in 1800 where he settled in Warren County, Georgia.” Levin then moved in 1808 to Putnam County, GA, where he died.
Lycurgus Stanford also stated that his paternal great-grandparents were “Joshua and Elizabeth (McGhee) Stanford,” and Joshua was a “native of England” while Elizabeth was from “Scotland.” Joshua and an unnamed brother “immigrated to this country with Lord Cecil to Maryland and settled on the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay.” Lycurgus further said Joshua Stanford was a “soldier in the Patriot Army during the Revolutionary War, was captured, and imprisoned on a Man-of-War (ship) for six months.” He also states that “Joshua’s brother immigrated south to one of the Carolinas.”
With Lycurgus Stanford bom in 1831, he was surely old enough to remember stories of his ancestors. Keep in mind that Joshua died in 1826, just five years before Lycurgus was bom. Much of Lycurgus’ information seems correct based on other sources, but we cannot verify the information regarding the name of Joshua’s wife and that Joshua was bom in England. When he said Joshua came to Maryland with “Lord Cecil,” we could not help but question that statement. The only “Lord Cecil” we can identify is Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. Lord Baltimore was bom in England in 1605 and died in 1675. There is no way that Joshua came to this country with Lord Baltimore if he and “Lord Cecil” are one and the same person. Perhaps Lycurgus Stanford was mistaken about how Joshua came to this country, or it was an earlier ancestor he was confused with.
In another source, “Store Ledgers of John Nelms (1758 - 1787) in Salisbury, Wicomico District, Maryland,” we find something interesting. Today, Wicomico District is a county on Chesapeake Bay with Dorchester County to the north and Somerset County to the south. Wicomico County was cut out of Somerset and Worchester Counties in 1867. For many years prior to 1867, Wicomico was recognized as a “District” in Maryland without official political borders. Also prior to 1867, the old city of Salisbury was in Somerset County, MD. This explains why land records show Joshua Stanford and family living in areas relatively close to Salisbury in the mid and later 1700s.
In these old ledgers, we find Joshua Stanford paid his father’s bill at Nelm’s General Store on January 6, 1770, and his father has been identified as “Jonathan Stanford, Sr.” Then on April 5, 1779, we find Joshua Stanford paying on the account of his brother, Jonathan Stanford, Jr. Others purchasing goods during this time were David Stanford, Jesse Stanford, Miss Mary Stanford, Thomas Stanford, and William Stanford.
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