p. 205

            Simon Stapleton, farmer in Clyde Township, located on section 18, was born Dec. 25, 1827, in Earleaten, Yorkshire, England.  William Stapleton, his father, was a dresser of woolen goods and married Susan Tong.  Both were of English parentage and ancestry, and they had nine children. 

            Simon is the sixth child, and when he was 14 years of age the father, mother and seven youngest children came to America.  The children whom they left behind had become the heads of families.  The family landed at the port of New York in April, 1841.  They went thence to Jersey City, where the father found remunerative employment in a pottery and continued to labor in the same establishment two years.  In 1843 they removed to Little Falls, in the same State, where the senior Stapleton obtained a situation in the same business in which he was engaged in his native country.  In 1845 another transfer was made to Bloomfield, N.J., where the father worked three years as a cloth dresser.  At the expiration of that time they removed to West Hoboken, N.J., in the vicinity of the city of New York.

            Prior to this period, Mr. Stapleton had remained an inmate of the household of his father, but on their locating at Hoboken he determined to fit himself for the calling of a carpet weaver, and after spending five years in the accomplishment of his purpose he went with his father and family from Hoboken to Haverstraw, on the Hudson River.  There he and his father obtained employment in the mills and were occupied some time in the pursuit of their respective callings.  Meanwhile he was married and later came West, his father going to Yonkers, in the State of New York, in 1851, where he remained about two years, and while he maintained his residence there visited his native home in England.  After his return to the United States, he removed to Astoria, L.I.  A year later he went to Franklin, wehre he died Dec. 25, 1858, aged 67 years.  The widowed mother returned to Yonkers and died there in 1860.

            The marriage of Mr. Stapleton to Mary Wood took place April 21, at Poughkeepsie.  She was born Oct.17, 1829, in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England, and is the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Browbent) Wood.  They belonged to the class who worked in the factories of that country, and when the daughter was 12 years of age, in 1841, the family emigrated to America, locating in Haverstraw.  Later on they went to Webster, Mass., where they resided two years.

            In 1850 Mr. and Mrs. Stapleton and the parents of the latter came to Whiteside County, and were among the very earliest of its permanent pioneer element.  Mr. Wood died May 9, 1884, ten years lacking one month subsequent to the death of his wife which occurred April 9, 1874.  They had four children, the two eldest being twins, of whom Mrs. Stapleton is one.  She has, herself, been the mother of 12 children, nine of whom are living.  Susan married Frank Mills, a farmer of Clyde Township.  Joseph married Nellie Leech and removed to a farm in Clark County, D.T.  James married Phebe Fletcher and is a resident of the county last named.  Simon is also living in Dakota.  Lucy married Pierce Smith, of Union Grove Township, and he is employed by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad corporation as a telegraph operator.  Jane is the wife, of Morris Weaver, a farmer of Mt. Pleasant Township.  Charles, Frederick and Edward are the names of the youngest children who survive.  Mary A. died when she was 21 years old.  William died in infancy.

            On coming to Clyde Township, Mr. and Mrs. Stapleton located on 40 acres of land given them by the parents of the former.  On this they have maintained their homestead without intermission, with the exception of two years, when they lived at Port Byron, Rock Island Co., Ill.  They have added materially to their original acreage and now own 260 acres of well improved land, including 20 acres in timber.  Mr. Stapleton has made all the improvements on his place, which is one of the best in Clyde Township.  He is an earnest Republican and influential in politics in the locality where he is a citizen.  He has devoted his interest and energies to the educational development of the township and has served in the several official positions of the school district in which he resides.