Clara (Staats) Funston ~ wife of Fred Funston ~ Richland
“Portrait and Biographical Album of Jefferson and Van Buren Counties, Iowa.”
Lake City Publishing Co. Chicago: 1890
JOHN P. STAATS, one of the early settlers of Jefferson County, residing on Sec. 1 Black Hawk Twp., traces his ancestry back through several generations to PETER STAATS, of Holland, who in colonial days left his native land and crossed the Atlantic to America, settling in New Jersey. His son, PETER JR., enlisted as a private in the Revolutionary War, but ere the close of the struggle had been promoted to the rank of Captain for meritorious conduct. He participated in the hard fought battle of Monmouth. His son, PETER P. STAATS, who became the father of our subject, was born in New Jersey, acquired a good commercial education and in the early years of his manhood engaged in the mercantile business in Western New York. Sept. 7, 1809 he married MISS CATHERINE VOORHEES, of New Jersey, who was of Dutch descent.
In 1839, PETER STAATS removed with his family to Jersey County, Ill., where he purchased a farm which his sons managed and which continued to be his home until his death in 1871. He had survived his wife several years. Dutch Reformed Church. Unto MR. and MRS. STAATS five children: JOHN P., of this sketch; ABRAM, now deceased; JAMES M., an Illinois farmer, who died in 1883; SUSAN, deceased wife of JAMES QUICK, and PETER A., a farmer of Texas.
JOHN P. STAATS….was born 19 Nov. 1813 in New Jersey…fitted himself for a seafaring life and obtained a midshipman’s commission, but when he was about ready to sail, an uncle of his met his death on the ocean, which accident aroused the fears of his parents who induced him to give up his cherished plan. On Nov. 14, 1833, he married MISS MARIA BARCALOW of New Jersey….In 1853 he crossed the Father of Waters into the new State of Iowa and made a location in Jefferson County…. During the residence of the family in Illinois, MRS. STAATS was called to her final home, leaving seven children, the eldest of whom, CATHERINE, is now the widow of DANIEL LEE, of Adair County, Iowa; CLARA is the wife of FRED FUNSTON of Richland; FARRINGTON B. is a farmer of Missouri; THERESA is the wife of JASON SQUIRES, of Des Moines; SUSAN wedded JAMES W. DONOVAN, contractor of the capital city; VOORHEES is living near Ft. Scott, Kan. MR. STAATS was a second time married, in Iowa, in Nov. 1854, to MRS. AGNES BONSER. By her former marriage the lady had two daughters, LAURA and ORPHA, and by the present marriage three children: CHESTER L., at home; AGNES M., wife of WILLIAM HICKS, of Washington Co., Iowa; and JOHN, who is employed as telegraph operator on the Rock Island Railroad and is now in Colorado.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~iajefferhttp://www.rootsweb.com/~iajeffer