The Stamps family is an American ancestral group consisting of patrilineal descendants of 17th century Virginia colonists whose surnames were "Stampe," "Stamp," or "Stamps." During the late 18th century, Stamps descendants moved south and west from Virginia, eventually settling in Southern states like Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas. Stamps men have volunteered for service during every American conflict since the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

Origins

The Stamps surname is derived from the French region of

Étampes Étampes () is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southwest from the center of Paris (as the crow flies). Étampes is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department. Étampes, together with the neighboring ...

, southwest of Paris. Eventually, bearers of this surname settled in London and anglicized their surname from "d'Étampes" to "Stampe." The first recorded spelling of the family name occurred in 1191. In that year, the Pipe Rolls of the City of London listed a "John de Stampes." Sir Thomas Stampe appears in the Feet of Fines for Essex, 1424.

Arrival in America

One of the first Stamps in America was Thomas Stampe, who on May 15, 1635 left for Virginia from London aboard the "Plaine Joan" and quickly established himself in the New World. By August 1638, he controlled on the Nansamond River and of mostly swampland in James City County, where he operated a mill.

French & Indian War

Dr. Timothy Stamps (1728–1800) was a physician who studied in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in the early 1750s. He volunteered as an ensign with the Fauquier County Militia,

1st Virginia Regiment The 1st Virginia Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Virginia Line that served with the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. History Origins The regiment originated from the Charles City-Henrico County Regiment of ...

during the

and was promoted to captain. One family history states that at one point, he brought a sickly George Washington back to health. After the war, he acquired of Virginia land. When war broke out with

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, he eventually became a major and was noted for supplying the colonial troops with homemade ammunition.

Revolutionary War

Timothy's son, Thomas Stamps (1750–1840), volunteered as an ensign with the Halifax County Militia,

2nd Virginia Regiment The 2d Virginia Regiment (the spelling most commonly used in period references) was authorized by the Virginia Convention, July 17, 1775, as a force of regular troops for the Commonwealth's defense. It consisted of seven companies, 476 privates ...

during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

. He was promoted to captain. After the war, he moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...

along with his father and son, where he purchased land. Later he participated in the 1820 Georgia land lottery and received 250 acres (1 km²) in present-day

Gwinnett County Gwinnett County ( ) is located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It forms part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. In 2020, the population was 957,062, making it the second-most populous county in Georgia (after Fulton ...

, northeast of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

War of 1812

Moses Stamps (1772–1850) and Eason Stamps (1793–1895) were the son and grandson of Thomas Stamps, respectively. Moses volunteered as a captain during the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It ...

and commanded his son Private Eason Stamps. Eason would later also fight in the 1836 Creek War as a captain. The

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

wrote a short article about him in 1895, noting that he was 102 years old and was ill.

Civil War

Many Stamps fought in the

Confederate Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighti ...

. The favorite sister of President Jefferson Davis, Lucinda Farrar Davis, married William Stamps in 1820. President Davis presented his nephew Isaac Davis Stamps (Lucinda Farrar Davis's son) with his presentation sword given to him by the Continental Congress of the Southern States at the outbreak of war to carry into battle. Captain Isaac Stamps was killed during the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of th ...

. Fletcher Moreland Stamps was a farmer in Carrol Country, Georgia. When war broke out, he volunteered to serve as a medic in the 19th Georgia Infantry. The 19th began the war in Virginia, was transferred to Florida, and surrendered in May, 1865 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Many published accounts of Confederate Veterans confuse Fletcher Moreland Stamps with his cousin, F.M. Stamps (killed in 1862 and buried in Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery). The records confusing F.M. Stamps with Fletcher Moreland Stamps extend to those kept in the Georgia Archives. Fletcher Moreland Stamps is buried at Salem Baptist Church near Bowden, Georgia. The church is on property donated by him, as he was one of three founders of the local Baptist church following the war. Several other Stamps are buried around the large monument identifying the family plot.

World War I & II

To mention only two of the hundreds of other Stamps soldiers, Drure Fletcher Stamps served as an infantry chaplain during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and Lt. Col George M. Stamps piloted a

B-17 The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theate ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Col Stamps was one of the youngest pilots of the war.

Other notables

William Stamps Farish II William Stamps Farish II (February 23, 1881 – November 29, 1942) was a pioneer in East Texas oilfield development, president of Standard Oil and a founding member and president of the American Petroleum Institute. He was a member of the influ ...

, president of

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

of New Jersey, the forerunner of

Exxon ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November ...

, from 1937–1942, carries the Stamps name because his father was named for his great-uncle, CSA veteran William Stamps mentioned above. The legendary gospel group, the Stamps Quartet, led by Frank Stamps in the 1920s produced the first ever southern gospel hit single "Give The World A Smile." Frank and his brother

Virgil Oliver Stamps Virgil Oliver Stamps (1892 – 1940) was a shape note promoter, singer, composer, and singing school teacher. V. O. Stamps was born in and raised in the Stamps Community in Upshur County, Texas, and was a key individual in early gospel music pu ...

were posthumously inducted into the

Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, ...

in 1997. Professor

Richard B. Stamps Richard B. Stamps (born 1942) is a retired American associate professor of anthropology at Oakland University and Chair of The Ambassador Leonard Woodcock Legacy. He taught from 1974 to 2012, retiring after 37 years of teaching. He is an expert ...

is an expert on the archeology and cultural anthropology of Taiwan and China. George Moreland Stamps, also mentioned above, is a principal developer of the modern fax machine. Thomas Paty Stamps saved over 100 family-owned farms in Georgia and Texas as a result of federal bankruptcy litigation throughout the 1980s. Dr. Robert Julian Stamps, has a doctorate in theology, with a primary expertise in the Christian ceremony called the Eucharist. He once served as chaplain at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is also an accomplished hymn composer, his most famous hymn being "God and Man At Table are Sat Down", a favorite communion hymn of the late Pope John Paul II. He is a student of American history, particularly the American Civil War, and is currently writing a novel based on that conflict. He is married to Ellen de Kroon-Stamps, born in Holland, a former secretary to holocaust survivor, evangelist and writer Corrie ten Boom. Ms. ten Boom's biography "The Hiding Place" was depicted through film, and starred Tony Award winning actress Julie Harris.

Popular culture

Stamps, Arkansas Stamps is a city in Lafayette County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 1,693 at the 2010 census, down from 2,131 at the 2000 census. History A post office has been in operation in Stamps since 1887. The community has the name of the ...

, named for settler Hardy James Stamps, is the setting for

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

's autobiography ''

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' is a 1969 autobiography describing the young and early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of charact ...

''.

Notes

References

*Seales, Bobby Joe. "Stamps-Massey Ancestors". Alabaster, Alabama: 1970. *Stamps, Charles T. and William T. "The Stamps Family History and Lineage". Clinton, Utah: 1986. *Stamps, Elizabeth Belk. "To China With Love". Oxford, Georgia: 1972. *Tuck, Henry C. "Four Years at the University of Georgia, 1877-1881". Athens, Georgia: 1938.

External links

Stamps Family Genealogy Page

Stamps Family Charitable Foundation, Inc

Stamps Family Genealogy Forum

Stamps Quartet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stamps Family American families of English ancestry American families of French ancestry