David B. Stayton, Sr.

 

SOURCE: "Portrait and Biographical Album of Champaign County, Illinois," Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887
SURNAMES: BARTLEY, BEARD, MCELWEE, STAYTON

DAVID B. STAYTON, Sr., a prominent and influential farmer of St. Joseph Township, is of Scotch ancestry, and spent his earliest years in the Blue Grass regions, where the first representatives of the family settled upon their arrival in this country. His father, Joseph STAYTON, also a native of Kentucky, was there reared and married, and eight years after the birth of his son, our subject, departed from the scenes of his youth and early manhood to seek his fortune in the Prairie State. He came to this county in the fall of 1830, accompanied by his family, and purchased forty acres of land on the east fork of Salt Creek in St. Joseph Township. Here he lived and labored, the soil yielding him a rich return for his industry, and here he spent the remainder of his life.

He wisely invested his surplus capital in additional land, and at the time of his death was the possessor of 300 acres, all improved with the exception of a valuable timber tract of eighty acres. The father of our subject was twice married, and became the parent of eighteen children. Of these there are living but three of the first marriage, and but two of the second. David B., of our sketch, was the third child and second son, and first opened his eyes to the light on the old farm in Mason County, Ky., June 23, 1820. Although but a boy when the removal was made to Illinois, he remembers many of the incidents connected therewith, and the country as it appear at the time. There were then only two families in St. Joseph Township, and no school was established until four years later, consequently the educational advantages of young Stayton were extremely limited. In the winter of 1834, one William Peters donated the use of his kitchen to the juvenile pioneers, their studies being conducted by John Lard, who, when not occupied in school, engaged in whipsawing and farming in the neighborhood. Our subject availed himself of school privileges for a few weeks during the winter seasons, but his services were for the most part urgently required upon the farm, where he remained with his parents until reaching manhood.

The young men of those days, usually before they were out of their teens, began to make their calculations for the future, which almost without exception included domestic ties and a home of their own. There then appeared no more worthy ambition than to build up a good homestead and leave an honorable name to posterity. It would be well if the principles inculcated by the pioneer fathers and mothers had prevailed until this day, for it was these sentiments, in connection with others fully as worthy, which resulted in such a perfect building up of the great West, and in giving to the historian the fine material which he now has to work upon. David Stayton in taking the first steps toward the consummation we have alluded to, began as a farm laborer in the neighborhood of his father for the munificent wages of $12 per month. There were few luxuries with which to coax his money from him, so he lived economically and carefully, saved what he could, and the following year proudly took possession of his father’s farm as a tenant and also at the same time took unto himself a wife, Miss Sarah, the daughter of Jacob and Sarah BARTLEY, of Pickaway, Ohio. Later the young people removed to section 16, in St. Joseph Township, which is included in his present homestead. His first purchase consisted of 160 acres, to which he added from time to time until he had a clear title to an entire section. After his children were grown and began to establish homes for themselves he divided the land among them, reserving but 220 acres for himself and wife. Of the offspring of Mr. and Mrs. S., seven in number, only four survive, namely, Elizabeth, the wife of John S. MCELWEE; Joseph H.; David B., Jr., and William J. They are all located in the neighborhood of their father’s farm, and are highly respected citizens, having done ample honor to the early training of their wise and excellent parents.

Mr. Stayton, as one of the pioneers of Champaign County, was early in life called upon to assist in the adjustment of its local and business affairs, although he had no ambition whatever for office. The first position which he was called upon to fill was that of Justicre of the Peace, but he refused to qualify and they were obliged to seek a more willing candidate. Afterward he was prevailed upon to serve as Constable three and one-half years and subsequently was elected Collector of St. Joseph. He was Supervisor one year, and afterward held the offices of Assessor and Collector for a period of twenty-five years in St. Joseph, the duties of which he discharged with conscientious fidelity.

Mr. Stayton was a stanch supporter of the Democratic party until near the close of Buchanan’s administration, when he began to feel that there was reason for a change in his sentiments, and believing that the Union should be preserved at all hazards, he therefore cast his vote for Abraham Lincoln at the next Presidential election, and since that time has affiliated with the Republican party.

Mr. Stayton is of an affable and genial disposition, which at once secures him the respect and friendship of stranger and citizen alike. He possesses more than ordinary intelligence and is most entertaining to converse with, being able to place before the mind’s eye of his hearers a vivid picture of the early days when he joined in the chase after deer and wolves, and when the cry of the hounds was music to his ears. He was of stout and muscular frame, very active on his feet, and possessed the hardy spirit and the nerve which made him a general favorite and the admiration of the pioneers for miles around. He is wisely spending his declining years in the case and comfort which he has so justly earned by a life of industry and economy and, surrounded by hosts of friends, is passing down the sunset hill of life with a clear conscience, and as one who will leave a good record when he passes from the scene of action.

The mother of our subject in her girlhood was Miss Anna BEARD, a native of the same county in Kentucky as David Beard, who was born in the Blue Grass regions and traced his lineage back to a good old family of German descent. Mrs. Stayton was a true pioneer wife and mother, looking well to the ways of her household, carefully training her children, and possessed of all womanly virtues. Her death took place on the old homestead in St. Joseph Township.