This site is dedicated to the rarely researched line of the Stanfield family, Eli Stanfield, who was born 1st Feb 1802 in Greene County, Tennessee. I have found that there are only a couple of people researching this line, so if anyone has any information please contact me. There are many unknowns in this research. I would especially like to hear from any of Eli's descendants, and from anyone who can make corrections to this research. Click on a family name at the bottom of the page to take you to that line of descent.

I'll begin with Eli, most earlier Stanfields of this line are already well documented and are easily found on other sites. Eli Stanfield was born on 1st Feb 1802 in Greene County, Tennessee. In about 1806, he moved with his grandfather the Quaker, Thomas Stanfield to Ohio. Thomas Stanfield was born on 29 Dec 1747 in Delaware and died 11 May 1823 in Logan County, Ohio his wife was Hannah Vernon b. 1749 and d. 1830 in Logan County, Ohio. She came from a very old aristocratic family, dating back to times before the Conqueror in Normandy. Many Quakers were migrating north at this time. It perhaps might have been due to their objection to the use of slavery. But, also at this time there was a division growing among Quaker thought. Thomas is the only known Stanfield to make this migration to Logan County, Ohio. I have yet to find anything about Eli's upbringing, but he appears to be on the Census of 1820 of Logan County, Ohio as being with Thomas. By 1830 he was a head of household in Logan County, Ohio. Eli had four wives as follows, I only know the date of death of #4, Sarah Mikesell.

Eli Stanfield was born on 1 Feb 1802 in Greene County, Tennessee. He died 31 March 1876 in Hopeville, Clarke County, Iowa and was buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Afton, Union County, Iowa. Some evidence says that Eli's father's name was William Stanfield b. about 1771 and died in 1806 in Blount County, Tennessee. Though it is not conclusive that this was Thomas Stanfield's oldest son's name, William had two sons, Eli and William (both raised by Thomas).

Eli married (1) Nicy (or Nica) Dumas New on 30 March 1824 in Ohio. Nica Dumas New was born in about 1804 and died in 1835 in Indiana. They had the following children:

1. Mary E. Stanfield b. 1825 in Ohio. She died in 1866 in Iowa. Mary married Ezekiel Hinton on 25 July 1847 in Elkhart, Indiana. She was Hinton's third wife. Hinton died in 1871 in Iowa.

2. William Wesley Stanfield b. about 1829 in Ohio. Served with the 14^th Iowa during the Civil War. According to military records, his name was Wesley. Married Louisa C. They had three sons: Charles W. Stanfield b. 1856, Francis Lacy Stanfield b.abt 1852, and Edward Stanfield b. abt 1859.

2. Elizabeth A. Stanfield b. 1830 in Michigan. She died in 1907 in California. She married Ezekiel Hinton's son, Seburn Case Hinton on 27 July 1852 in Des Moines, Iowa. She was also known as Eliza A. Stanfield. Eliza and Seburn lived in Wilson County, Kansas from at least 1867 until about 1885 when they moved to Eureka Springs for Seburn’s health. Seburn was a son of Ezekiel Hinton. Charles W. Stanfield (W. W. Stanfield’s son) is seen living near them in 1880 in Kansas.

3. Minerva E. Stanfield b.1832 in Ohio and died sometime after 1910, probably in Missouri. She married a man with the last name Fetters. She must have been married only for a short while sometime in the 1850s. She is with Eli and family in the Census for Barrien County, Michigan in 1850, and again in the 1860 Census for Marion County, Iowa (where she is shown with the name Fetters in the household. It is quite possible that the later child in the family, Sarah J. [see below], might have been her daughter. From about 1880 she seemed to live in the household of brother Eli M. Stanfield for the rest of her life.

4. Pleasant H. Stanfield b. 20 March 1835 in Indiana and died on 6 May 1917 in Creston, Union County, Iowa. He was also buried at Greenlawn Cemetery in Afton, Union County, Iowa. He married Harriet Terrell who was born in 1835 in Ohio and died in 1908 in Iowa. She was also buried at Greenlawn Cemetery. Pleasant was known as P.H. Stanfield and served in Co. C of the 22nd Reg. of the Iowa Infantry during the Civil War. There is also a Grand Army of the Republic stone at his grave (an organisation of Union Veterans now know as Sons of Union Veterans). He was named after a friend the Stanfields had when they moved to Ohio, Pleasant Harris (though this person might actually have been a relative from Nancy New‘s family). Pleasant Harris was a nearby farmer. Many family group sheets online list Pleasant as being born in 1838 and his mother as Laura Ann Phelps. Audrey has proved conclusively by way of his death certificate that he was born in 1835 and his mother was Nicy (or Nica) Dumas New. The death certificate also lists his profession as “wagon maker” like his father and so many other relatives. (Though in 1917 one would think that this profession would be on its way out). One child was Clara Stanfield Gray who was born in 1858 in Iowa. Clara married Daniel Gray in Union County, Iowa in 1893. She died in 1939 in Union County and was also buried at Greenlawn Cemetery. Another was Ella Stanfield.

Eli next married (2) Laura Ann Phelps in 1835 in LaPorte County, Indiana. Laura was born in 1816. Eli next married

(3) Harriet Thomkins in 1839. Harriet was born in 1821. There are no known children from their marriage, but there is quite a gap between the birth of Pleasant Stanfield (1835) and the birth of Eli's next child in 1846.

Eli next married (4) Sarah Mikesell on 14 July 1842. Sarah was born in 1807 in Dayton, Ohio and died in St Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri on 3 May 1892. Her parentage is still not known, other than census records state that her father was born in Pennsylvania. Most Mikesells from Pennsylvania were descended from a man named Meixell who had immigrated from Germany. Eli and Sarah lived for many years in the area around Hopeville and Afton, Iowa. When Sarah died, the Afton Enterprise ran the following obituary:

"May 12, 1892. Mrs Sarah Stanfield, step mother of P.H. Stanfield of this place died at St Joseph, Mo. on May 3rd aged 85 years. She formerly lived here and at Hopeville, where the father of the Stanfield boys died. She was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1807. She was always held in high esteem by her step children and those who knew her in this, and other places which she resided. She was living with a daughter in St Joseph at the time of her death and was buried there. The relatives of the deceased, though widely scattered, will feel her loss, and have the sympathy of their friends."

The children of Eli and Sarah were as follows:

1. Samuel K. Stanfield b. June 1846 in St Joseph County, Indiana and died in [probably October] 1912 in Liberty County, Texas. He was buried at the Stanfield Family Cemetery in Liberty County, Texas. Worked in the late 1860s and early 1870s for a railroad in St Joseph, Missouri. He will be continued in Generation Two.

2. James M. Stanfield b. June 1850 in Barrien County, Michigan. He died sometime after 1890. He married Annice (sometimes called Anne) who was born in Missouri. Some sources say that James was born in Indiana, but most census reports put it as Michigan. The children of James and Annice were: Thomas E. Stanfield b. 1878 in Missouri d. 1966 in California, Sarah Gertrude Stanfield b. 1881 in Missouri d. 1963 in California, James Stanfield b. 1886 in Missouri, and Pleasant Stanfield b. 1890 in Missouri. Sarah Gertrude Stanfield married Stephen M. Collins. The family, along with, it appears, Thomas E. Stanfield moved to California in about 1929.

3. Sarah J. Stanfield b. 1852 in Michigan. The Census of 1880 puts her birth in Indiana, but the Census of 1860 says Michigan, and Eli and family were in Michigan during most of the early 1850s. In the 1860 Census, Sarah is put down as a Stanfield, but in the 1880 she appears to be a Fetters. Sarah might possibly be Minerva's daughter, or else married into the Fetters family herself. After the census of 1870, nothing else has been found on her.

4. Thomas Stanfield b. 1855 in Marion County, Iowa and died sometime after 1880. He married Elizabeth who was born in 1858 in New York. Thomas worked for many years as a clerk.

5. Eli M. Stanfield b. Oct. 1858 in Marion County, Iowa. As of 1880 he was working as a painter and living in the household with his mother and sister, Minerva. He died sometime after 1910. He was still living in St Joseph, Missouri at that time. He married Josephine who was born about 1867 in Missouri in 1885. They had the following children: Roy B. Stanfield b. 1889, Emery Stanfield b. 1892, Charles W. Stanfield b. 1894, Glenn E. Stanfield b. 1898, George W. Stanfield b. abt 1899, and Harry D. Stanfield b. abt 1901.

[Many family group sheets on Eli Stanfield which are on the internet put him as having a son named Joseph Stanfield who was born in about 1851 in Iowa. Audrey in California has brilliantly solved this puzzle we believe. This Joseph is James M. Stanfield. On one census his name was abbreviated “Jas.” and was later miss-transcribed as “Jos.”. All names and dates on this and later censuses add up for this being James.]

Eli might possibly have had other children, as yet unknown.

This family moved around quite a lot. Careful study though shows that they always were on the frontier. When Thomas Stanfield (the Quaker) moved to Logan County, Ohio - at the time, this was the frontier. In fact, adverts and newspapers from the time show that there was trouble getting people to settle the area. As the frontier moved west, so seems Eli. First to Indiana and then Iowa (which not long before had been made a state and opened to white settlement). Eli's profession was a wagon maker and teamster. This would have been a very valuable occupation on the frontier. There were earlier Stanfield relatives in Iowa and Missouri, maybe this played a part in his move. But, one thing is certain, Eli could demand a much higher price for his skills on the frontier than if he had stayed in Ohio. Eli’s brother, William Stanfield, Jr was also a wagon maker at one time. William eventually went to California with his daughter Mary Jane where he owned a couple of hotels. He died in Yuba County, California in 1859. Another of Williams children was Thomas Stillwell Stanfield, a long time Circuit Court Judge in Indiana, and several times elected to the Indiana Legislature.

Samuel K. Stanfield was born in June1846 in St Joseph County, Indiana. On official documents, etc. he was known by his initials "S.K. Stanfield", but otherwise he was called "Sam". He went through most of his schooling in Iowa and sometime in the 1860s, he moved with the Eli Stanfield family to St Joseph, Missouri. By the late 1860s to early 1870s he was working for a railroad out of St Joseph, Missouri. Sometime between about 1871 and late 1876 he turned up in Texas, probably Harris County. On 20 Dec 1876 he married Elizabeth R. (Long) Golden, the widow of John W. Golden, who had died in 1874. The family soon after moved north to Grimes County, Texas where Samuel began farming. This would probably been about the same time that the Long family moved there, in about 1877 or 1878. It is said that they lived on the Golden family's ranch. Sometime after 1882, Elizabeth died and around 1884 or 85, Samuel left the ranch, it is said because he couldn't buy any of the land. It is thought that he moved to Montgomery County. Several other Goldens and Longs were living there at the time as well. By 1898 he moved to Liberty County, Texas where he had acquired land along the Trinity River and began to farm and built a house there. Besides farming, he also operated a ferry across the Trinity River, and it was one of the few crossing points at that time. He also ran a successful gristmill. On 2 June 1903 he was appointed the first postmaster of Romayor, Texas and continued that position until he died in 1912. It is not known in exactly which month he died, but the new postmaster was appointed on 17 Oct 1912. In one photo Samuel appears to be wearing a Grand Army of the Republic membership medal (now called the Sons of Union Veterans). No service records have been found yet. Several Samuel Stanfields served in the army from Iowa and Missouri (one even being born in 1846), but none have been found yet that match him. It is known that he was married at least twice:

First he married Elizabeth Rachel Long Golden b. 6 July 1852 in Louisiana, the daughter of Andrew S. Long and A.C. Long. She was the widow of John W. Golden who died in 1874. They were married in Harris County, Texas on 20 Dec 1876. They were probably married in the town of Spring, Texas because this is where the Longs were living at the time. Samuel and Elizabeth had the following children:

1. Ida Viola Stanfield b. 5 Sept 1877

2. Samuel Eli Stanfield b. 5 Aug 1879 d.1910 Buried at the Stanfield Family Cemetery, Liberty Co., Texas

3. Minerva E. Stanfield b. 25 Dec 1880

4. Thomas Kinley Stanfield b. 9 March 1882 and died in 1932. More on him in Generation Three.

5. Katherine "Kate" Stanfield b. Oct 1889 [Listed here, but it is uncertain whether Elizabeth was her mother]. She married into the Walker family. Died after 1960 Beaumont, Texas.

[Two of Elizabeth's daughters from her marriage to John W. Golden also lived in the Stanfield household: 1. Sarah Lavenia who was born on 11 Feb 1871 and died in 1894, and 2) Mary Jane who was born on 15 Aug 1874. One child Eliza Ann lived only for several months in 1873. Elizabeth Rachel Long married John W. Golden in Harris County, Texas on 18 Dec 1869]

Second Samuel married Theodocia V. Hall who was born in Feb 1874 in Texas. She was the daughter of James Henry Hall and Mary Jane Webster who lived in Walker County, Texas. They were married in Montgomery County, Texas on 15 Aug 1890. She was buried at the Stanfield Family Cemetery in Liberty County, Texas with "Mrs S.K. Stanfield" written on the stone. Their children were:

1. Pleasant Stanfield b. March 1891. Buried at the Stanfield Family Cemetery.

2. William Wesley Stanfield b. 30 Sept 1892 and died 18 June 1960 in Many, Louisiana where he had settled. He was a veteran of WWI. He settled in Sabine Parish, Louisiana.

3. Minerva Stanfield b. April 1894. One of the Minervas was buried at the Stanfield Cemetery, which one is not yet known.

4. James Stanfield b. 3 Nov 1895 and died in Europe during WWI on 3 Sept 1918, only slightly over a week before the end of the war. He was buried at the Stanfield Family Cemetery.

5. Patrick H. Stanfield b. 2 Feb 1898 d. 21 May 1923 Buried at Blue Water Cemetery in Polk County, Texas. Veteran of World War I

6. John Stanfield b. 12 Nov 1902 d. 29 Apr 1976. He settled in Polk County, Texas, buried at Blue Water Cemetery there. Veteran of World War I. John was a farmer.

7. Edwin H. Stanfield b. 14 Dec 1905 and died in 1977 In some records he is called Edward and in others Edwin. He went by "Ed". He married Maudie Walker. He settled in Montgomery County, Texas.

8. Susie Stanfield b.8 June 1908 d. 5 July 1991 . Buried at Blue Water Cemetery, Polk County, Texas. Married William Tullos, Jr on 9 August 1925. Susie, John and Patrick all settled in the small community of Ace, Texas.

[There were quite a number other children. A transcription of the Stanfield Cemetery done in the 1970s shows one baby's grave and six unidentified infant graves.]

As said before, Samuel worked for a railroad in the late 1860s and early 1870s in St Joseph, Missouri. It also happens that it was in St Joseph that the "Fast Mail" method was invented, the system where mail gets sorted on a mail car as the train speeds to its destination. This could be one clue as to how and why Samuel turned up in Texas. Especially in light of the fact that he qualified as postmaster. This is so far unproved though. There were Stanfields who arrived in Texas earlier than Samuel, but they were from other lines of the Stanfield family. They would have been very distant cousins and he would not have known them, as they had migrated to Texas from other areas.

1. L. E. Stanfield b. 2 March 1907 in Liberty County, Texas and died in Feb 1981. He had three wives. 1) Estelle Jones died in 1939 age 24 and was buried at Shepherd Cemetery, 2) Edith Irene Hapner of Parsons, Kansas b. 1922 d. 1 Jan 1965 and was buried at the Stanfield Family Cemetery, and 3) Della Neal

2. Daughter Stanfield b. about 1908, she died while still a child and is buried at Shepherd Cemetery, San Jacinto County.

3. Samuel Kinley Stanfield b. 9 Nov 1910 in Big Creek, Liberty County, Texas and died 26 July 1974 in Liberty County, Texas. He married Fay Gauldock of Houston County, Texas. More in Generation Four.

4. Lois J. Stanfield

5. Fred Stanfield b. 10 Feb 1918 in Liberty County, Texas and died on 1 Sept 1979 and is buried at Romayor Cemetery in Liberty County. Long time foreman of Governor Bill Daniel's Plantation Ranch in Liberty County. He helped develope Governor Bill's own BD breed of cattle. No one knew cattle better, and he was one of the last of the true cowboys.

6. Virgil E. Stanfield