Christopher M. Stafford, son of Jonathon Stafford and Phebe Orr, was born on May 26, 1808 in Manchester, Ontario County, New York. He married Emily Rockwell, sister of Orrin Porter Rockwell, on January 7, 1830. To their union were born eight children.
Christopher claimed to attend school with the Smith children and eat meals at the Smith farmhouse. He claimed that young Joseph Smith told him where money was hidden. He remembered Joseph Smith as a fortune teller and a money digger. He claimed to have worked with Joseph Smith on numerous occasions.[1]
In 1831, Christopher and his wife moved to a 63-acre farm northeast of Auburn, Geauga County, Ohio. He attended the Free-will Baptist Church. From 1850 to 1880, Christopher was a farmer in Auburn[2] He died on January 12, 1892 in Auburn and was buried in the Maple Shade Cemetery.
[1] Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview, p. 33; Anderson, Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reexamined, pp. 68, 99.
[2] US Federal Census, 1850, 1870, 1880.