Charles Stapley, Sr.

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel 1847–1868 Nathan C. Tenney Company (1858)

Age at departure: 57

Find a Grave

Birth: Mar. 15, 1800 Kent, England

Death: Mar. 26, 1886 Toquerville Washington County Utah, USA

son of Henry Stapley & Elizabeth Tarbutt. Charles STAPLEY (born 1800) led his family to Australia in 1838, then to Utah USA in 1854, where many became prominent Mormons. Charles Stapley, a transplant from San Bernardino, is generally credited with growing the first alfalfa in Dixie and probably Utah. Animal forage was scarce and that remained a problem until alfalfa (called "lucerne" by the pioneers) was introduced into the area by Charles Stapley who returned to this area when the Saints were called back from San Bernardino, California, in the winter of 1857-1858. A letter sent by R. F. Goold to the Deseret News in 1861 states there were a few small patches of alfalfa growing. Bleak's Crop Report of 1864 states that lucerne was grown in several towns in Washington County. In 1864 in Toquerville where Stapley lived there were 24 acres being grown. It took several more years before its production was sufficient to supply their needs. Native forage was so scarce that straw and other substitutes were sometimes fed to the animals, which didn't give them the necessary strength to do a hard day's work.

Family links:

Spouse:

• Sarah Bryant Stapley (1802 - 1879)

Children:

• Charlotte Stapley Hawker (1823 - 1913)*
• Charles Stapley (1824 - 1904)*
• Hannah Maria Cox Rawlings Humes Stapley Buck (1826 - 1909)*
• Thomas Stapley (1832 - 1912)*
• James Stapley (1838 - 1920)*
• Robert Dent Stapley (1841 - 1919)*
• Sarah Stapley Reeves (1843 - 1926)*
• John Stapley (1846 - 1859)*
• Calculated relationship

Burial: Toquerville Cemetery Toquerville Washington County Utah, USA

Maintained by: L Despain Originally Created by: Utah State Historical So... Record added: Feb 02, 2000 Find A Grave Memorial# 145994

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Apr 17 2016, 3:40:57 UTC
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jun 5 2020, 1:15:00 UTC