Daniel Staley
Daniel Staley was born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in the year 1816. His father (Joseph Staley) was born in North Carolina in 1780, emigrated to Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1802, when there were only four houses in Dayton. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and fought the British and Indians in northern Indiana. He died in 1867. Daniel, the subject of this sketch, was raised on a farm. His mother died when he was but nine days old. When thirteen years of age he was put out among strangers, and from that time to the present he has fought the battle of life without any aid. He received his education at the common schools of his neighborhood. After arriving at manhood he followed teaching school during the winter, and worked on the farm in the summer. In 1851 he married Miss Margaret J. Jackson. After marriage be continued to work on a farm until 1858, when he went to Dayton and entered the Recorder’s office as Deputy Recorder, at which he continued until 1861, when he enlisted in the army in the 74th O. V. I. and served over two years, when he was discharged on account of disability and returned home to Dayton. In 1864 he was elected Treasurer of Montgomery County, and was re-elected in 1866, serving two full terms. Again in 1868 the party to which he belonged nominated him for the third term, but he was defeated at the election. The balance of the ticket was defeated by over one thousand votes, while Mr. Staley only fell short between two and three hundred. In politics Mr. Staley has always been an unflinching Republican. In 1879 his name was brought forward by his friends for Treasurer of the State, and at the Convention had the unanimous support of several counties, but on account of his geographical location—other candidates for other offices being from the same part of the State—he withdrew his name from the Convention. Mr. Staley in 1869 moved with his family to Shelby County and located two miles N. E. of Sidney, in Franklin Township, where he owns a farm of six hundred acres. On this farm Mr. Staley makes a specialty of raising thoroughbred cattle as well as the grades. He has among his herd quite a number of registered cattle, whose records are to be found in The American Herd Book. His aim is to improve the stock of cattle through western Ohio. His sales of stock extend for many miles.
Mr. and Mrs. Staley have raised a family of three children, whose names and date of birth are as follows: Joseph P. born 1852; Cerenia J. born 1855; and Daniel W. born 1861.
From History of Shelby County, Ohio; R. Sutton & Co, Philadelphia PA, 1883