Dear Vicky
I don't know if this will reach you as it's way past the date of your last posting - but here goes. I too have a distant link with James Stafford and have puzzled over the Sarah Anne and Elizabeth conundrum. It does appear that James is the son of Elizabeth and not Sarah so I'd be interested to hear if you worked that one out. My interest is in James' parents, James Stafford senior and Jane (nee McMaster) who brought up a young girl described as their granddaughter by the name of Mary Richie. She was my g.g.grandmother and was supposedly (on her marriage certificate) the daughter of Colin Richie. The trouble is that I can't find her birth (in Scotland - she is only two years younger than her aunt Margaret) or any connection with the Staffords to confirm that she is their granddaughter. James and Jane did have an elder daughter, Mary who doesn't seem to have travelled with them to the I.O.M. and may have been Mary's mother. I don't suppose you have any info on her? Your James and Sarah Anne and Bessie Kelly their neice , daughter of Margaret Stafford and John kelly appear on the 1881 census. I have quite a bit of onfo on James' siblings, but as I say my interest is in his youngest illigitimate (I assume) sibling/neice.