Stafford Plantation Tennessean William Joseph Stafford and his second wife, Martha Cartwright, moved their family to this area in 1822 as part of Stephen F. Austin's "old 300" colony. Here they reared eight children and developed a plantation with a sugar cane mill and cotton gin. The plantation, known as Stafford's Point, produced sugar with a high molasses content and prospered even when local cotton production was low. During the Texas Revolution, Mexican troops burned the plantation buildings, but the family rebuilt, and the settlement surrounding the plantation became a commercial center, known today as Stafford. This site is thought to be the cemetery of the early Stafford Plantation.