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, where he
died Dec. 25, 1858, aged 67 years. The widowed
mother returned to Yonkers and died there in 186o.
The marriage of Mr. Stapleton to Mary Wood took
place April 21, at Poughkeepsie. She was born Oct.
17, 1829, 10 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 lack-
ing 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, lierse1f~ 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 zr 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 fotmer. 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 wwn 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.
Portrait and Biographical Album of Whiteside County, Illinois, Pg 206
Chapman Brothers Publishing Co., Chicago, 1885.,
