Hiram L Staples

The Staples/Fairbrother families left Renova about 1881 with their young son Leroy and returned in the vicinity of 1900. Dakota Territory had been brutal in many ways. Olive and Hiram Staples had 3 girls born there but lost a baby boy. The weather was difficult. One Fairbrother descendent John remembers a story told by his father Tom of someone (he thinks a family member) going into town in the middle of winter and never returning. In the Spring thaws his body was found in a snow bank. Hiram Staples and Thomas C Fairbrother were aging and for whatever reasons the families left the now state of North Dakota and returned to Renova, Pennsylvania. Hiram died in 1901 and Thomas C in 1903. Leroy was now the man to support his mother and grandmother. Now they had family in Maine, Pennsylvania and North Dakota and I believe other areas of the developing country and probably in California also.

Back in Renova,Pennsylvania, they built a house on Pennsylvania Ave. I think this was the house at 441 Pennsylvania Ave. At least the 1910 census shows the remaining Staples/Fairbrother family living here. Hiram Staples and Thomas Fairbrother had died by now and Caroline Fairbrother and her daughter Olive Fairbrother Staples were living here in 1910. Olive Staples' son Leroy and her daughter Caroline lived here too. Leroy had noticed the lovely young woman living nearby on Pennsylvania Ave and courted and married Ethel Haas in 1909 and she moved in with him and her in-laws. Her parents William and Elizabeth Haas and siblings lived just down the street at 423 Pennsylvania. One brother was married and living there with his parents. Other of her siblings eventually married and raised their families in that same house. Her brother John Haas was married and also lived with his wife Edith a bit further down at 417 Pennsylvania Ave. Leroy Staples' sister Lulu Belle had married William Ream and in 1910 lived at 437 Pennsylvania Ave.

In the near future Ethel's sister Ruth Haas would marry Sam Long. Sam and Ruth would also live nearby on Pennsylvania Ave. and when Ruth died, Ethel's sister Esther Haas married Sam Long and raised her sister's children. At this point I am not sure if there were other immediate family (or to be family) living in this block. I note that at 415 Pennsylvania Ave was a family of Samuel and Annie Edwards. I do know that Caroline Staples (Leroy's youngest sister married Jerry Edwards. Am not sure if Jerry was his actual name or only a nickname or if he was related to this Edwards family. In addition Ethel Haas Staples had two half sisters who were married with children who also lived on Pennsylvania Ave. John and Mary Jane Haas Wertz lived at 425 and Maggie Haas Heim lived at 307. There was a Battorf family living at 315 and I know that Tom Fairbrother (Olive's brother) married a Helen Battorf from Renova, Pa.

So the Staples children grew up many years living on Pennsylvania Ave in Renova joined by many cousins living very nearby and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents everywhere. And so the Staples children grew up with multiple cousins to play with. The Railroad employed most of the Haas and Staples and other men in the family. So my father shared remembrances of playing with his cousins and getting disciplined by grandparents and aunts and uncles. Someone was always looking.

As told by Barbara Staples LaFave-daughter of Clyde Staples

Hiram L. Staples/North Dakota

This information was received from Janet Keen Jones

               Hiram Staples served in the Civil War registering at Augusta, Maine.  He became partially deaf during the battle of Winchester.  He did not report his hearing problem as he thought it would get better in time, also so many were worse off than he.  The story goes that he met Thomas Fairbrother during the war.  When the war was over, Hiram went back home.  His parents had passed away, and he had a disagreement with his siblings.  He joined up with Tom Fairbrother in PA.  Thomas C. Fairbrother was married to Caroline Mackie.  Caroline’s dad ran the shingle mill in Queens Run.  The war ended in 1865 and Tom came home and shortly thereafter Hiram joined him.  Olive Fairbrother and Hiram were married by Rev. Quigley in North Bend, PA on 24 Feb 1879.  The two families packed up sometime in 1880 and moved to North Dakota in a covered wagon.  The men worked on the railroad.  The family settled in Brightwood, Richland County, North Dakota. 

 There is a Census which is very unusual in the Dakota Territory Census of 1885.  It shows documentation of the Fairbrothers and Hiram in Richland county during that time. c

Return from Dakota Territory to Pennsylvania Ave in Renova, PA 1910 , Pennsylvania Ave, Renova, PA The Staples/Fairbrother families left Renova about 1881 with their young son Leroy and returned in the vicinity of 1900. Dakota Territory had been brutal in many ways. Olive and Hiram Staples had 3 girls born there but lost a baby boy. The weather was difficult. One Fairbrother descendent John remembers a story told by his father Tom of someone (he thinks a family member) going into town in the middle of winter and never returning. In the Spring thaws his body was found in a snow bank. Hiram Staples and Thomas C Fairbrother were aging and for whatever reasons the families left the now state of North Dakota and returned to Renova, Pennsylvania. Hiram died in 1901 and Thomas C in 1903. Leroy was now the man to support his mother and grandmother. Now they had family in Maine, Pennsylvania and North Dakota and I believe other areas of the developing country and probably in California also.

Back in Renova,Pennsylvania, they built a house on Pennsylvania Ave. I think this was the house at 441 Pennsylvania Ave. At least the 1910 census shows the remaining Staples/Fairbrother family living here. Hiram Staples and Thomas Fairbrother had died by now and Caroline Fairbrother and her daughter Olive Fairbrother Staples were living here in 1910. Olive Staples' son Leroy and her daughter Caroline lived here too. Leroy had noticed the lovely young woman living nearby on Pennsylvania Ave and courted and married Ethel Haas in 1909 and she moved in with him and her in-laws. Her parents William and Elizabeth Haas and siblings lived just down the street at 423 Pennsylvania. One brother was married and living there with his parents. Other of her siblings eventually married and raised their families in that same house. Her brother John Haas was married and also lived with his wife Edith a bit further down at 417 Pennsylvania Ave. Leroy Staples' sister Lulu Belle had married William Ream and in 1910 lived at 437 Pennsylvania Ave.

In the near future Ethel's sister Ruth Haas would marry Sam Long. Sam and Ruth would also live nearby on Pennsylvania Ave. and when Ruth died, Ethel's sister Esther Haas married Sam Long and raised her sister's children. At this point I am not sure if there were other immediate family (or to be family) living in this block. I note that at 415 Pennsylvania Ave was a family of Samuel and Annie Edwards. I do know that Caroline Staples (Leroy's youngest sister married Jerry Edwards. Am not sure if Jerry was his actual name or only a nickname or if he was related to this Edwards family. In addition Ethel Haas Staples had two half sisters who were married with children who also lived on Pennsylvania Ave. John and Mary Jane Haas Wertz lived at 425 and Maggie Haas Heim lived at 307. There was a Battorf family living at 315 and I know that Tom Fairbrother (Olive's brother) married a Helen Battorf from Renova, Pa.

So the Staples children grew up many years living on Pennsylvania Ave in Renova joined by many cousins living very nearby and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents everywhere. And so the Staples children grew up with multiple cousins to play with. The Railroad employed most of the Haas and Staples and other men in the family. So my father shared remembrances of playing with his cousins and getting disciplined by grandparents and aunts and uncles. Someone was always looking.

As told by Barbara Staples LaFave-daughter of Clyde Staples

There is a re-enactment of the Battle of Mansfield in Mansfield, LA which Hiram L. Staples fought in. Look for the History of Cumberland, Maine.