HENRY C. STANLEY

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LINCOLN CO. BIO. INDEX

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      HENRY C. STANLEY, born August 27, 1838, in Edwards county, Illinois, was the son of William and Maria (Gum) Stanley, pioneers of Edwards county.  William Stanley was born in Washington county, Ohio, removed at an early age to Edwards county, where he held the office of justice of the peace for twenty years, and where he died, February, 1892, being at the time of his death in his seventy-seventh year.  His wife was native of Wabash county, Illinois, lived for a time in Ohio, and died about five years ago in the same county as did her husband, and at about the same age.

      Mr. Stanley grew to manhood in the county of his nativity, where he attended school held in a primitive log house, one of his schoolmates being Elmina Gould, to whom, August 30, 1859, he was married.  Mrs. Stanley's father was Philander Gould, born in West Virginia, but reared in New York.  At the age of nineteen he removed to Edwards county, where he spent the remainder of his life, dying in his seventy-fourth year, in 1890.  Mrs. Stanley's mother, Sarah Knowlton in single life, was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1816, raised a family of ten children, to whom she was ever a faithful and devoted mother, and died in 1876.  Both she and her husband were ambitious, energetic and relentless workers throughout their lives.

      Soon after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley migrated to Clay county, Illinois, and in 1877 to Murray county, Minnesota, where they continued to make their home until coming to Lincoln county, Washington, in 1892.  Arriving here they at once settled on their present farm, seven miles north and two miles east of Mondovi, which at that time was unimproved railroad land.  With the scanty means at his command, Mr. Stanley at once began earnestly to improve his land, and as times permitted added to his original holdings until he now has four hundred acres, for the most part agricultural land, adorned with a good seven-room house, commodious barn, outbuildings, etc., all of which represent the work of his own hands.  Besides his home, he has a quarter section of land near Fruitland, Stevens county.

      Nine children, six of whom are living, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley.  The names of those living are: Ira P. and William T., of Stevens county; and Edson G, Elmer C, Florrie E. Reynolds, and Rollo C, all of Lincoln county.

      Both the parents are devoted members of the United Bretheren church and are actively interested in educational matters.

      Mr. Stanley served in the Civil war, enlisting in Company F, One Hundred and Forty-third Illinois Regular Infantry, in April, 1864, and was given an honorable discharge in the fall of the same year, his service having been chiefly in the states of Tennessee and Arkansas.  Mr. Stanley cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, and has since been an unswerving Republican.