Staggs Family History

My ancestors in the United States

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      Eliza Ann Ayers (1832-1920)

      BIRTH: Jun 1832, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, USA
      DEATH: 1920, Vanport, Beaver, Pennsylvania, USA
      FATHER: Richard Ayres (1790–1866)
      MOTHER: Elizabeth “Eliza” McCreary (1793–1873)
      SPOUSE: Jacob Stone (1822–1888)

      When Eliza Ann Ayers was born in June 1832 in Beaver, Pennsylvania, her father, Richard, was 42, and her mother, Eliza, was 39. She had three sons and two daughters with Jacob Stone between 1851 and 1863. She died in 1920 in Vanport, Pennsylvania, having lived a long life of 88 years, and was buried in Beaver, Pennsylvania.

      The life of Eliza Ann Ayers

      A Woman of Quiet Strength, Sharp Wit, and Enduring Independence

      Eliza Ann Ayers was born in June 1832 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Richard Ayres, a Maryland‑born farmer of English descent, and Elizabeth McCreery, an Irish immigrant whose resilience and practicality shaped the Ayers household. Eliza grew up in a family that had only recently migrated from Maryland, part of a small but tightly knit cluster of Ayers and Stones who settled along the Ohio River in Moon Township and Vanport.

      By 1850, nineteen‑year‑old Eliza was living not with her parents but in the household of her uncle, Thomas W. Ayres, a respected figure in the community. This arrangement was common in mid‑nineteenth‑century Pennsylvania, where young women often lived with older relatives for work, schooling, or domestic support. Her brother McCreary Ayres lived there as well, suggesting that Thomas’s home served as a stabilizing center for the extended family.

      Around 1849, Eliza married Jacob Stone, a ship carpenter born near Baltimore who had come to Beaver County as a child. Their marriage united two families whose migration paths had paralleled each other from Maryland to Pennsylvania. Together they built a life rooted in hard work, faith, and the rhythms of the river communities that sustained them.

      Eliza and Jacob raised four children who survived to adulthood—Thomas Wesley, Richard Carnegie, Ida Antha, and Charles M.—and endured the loss of an infant daughter, Rachel. In 1872, the Stones joined the westward movement and relocated to Platte County, Missouri, where Jacob turned from ship carpentry to farming. Life on the Missouri frontier demanded resilience, and Eliza met its challenges with the same quiet determination that marked her entire life.

      Letters from the period reveal a woman of sharp intelligence and strong opinions. She was known for her dry humor, her moral clarity, and her ability to speak plainly when the situation required it. Family stories describe her as a woman who could be stern when necessary—especially in matters of courtship—but who loved her children fiercely and expected them to live with integrity.

      After Jacob’s death in 1888, Eliza returned to Vanport, Pennsylvania, where she lived independently for more than thirty years. The 1895 tax rolls list her as the owner of House & Lot 55, and the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses show her as a literate, self‑sufficient widow who owned her home free of mortgage. Even in her eighties, she remained the head of her household, reading newspapers, writing letters, and keeping up with the affairs of her community.

      In her final year, the 1920 census records her living with her daughter Ida, who had returned to care for her aging mother. Eliza died later that year at the age of 88, closing a life that spanned from the era of riverboats and frontier migration to the dawn of the modern industrial age.

      Legacy of Eliza Ann Ayers

      Eliza Ann Ayers left a legacy of strength, independence, and quiet leadership. She raised children who carried the Stone name into Pennsylvania, Missouri, and beyond:

      • Thomas Wesley Stone, who remained in Beaver County and anchored the family’s presence there.
      • Richard Carnegie Stone, who became a respected millwright and engineer in Missouri.
      • Ida Antha Stone, your great‑grandmother, who carried the Stone line into the Staggs family.
      • Charles M. Stone, who raised a large family in Missouri and extended the Stone presence into the twentieth century.

      Eliza’s life reflects the story of countless American women whose names rarely appear in history books but whose influence shaped generations. She endured migration, frontier hardship, widowhood, and the loss of a child, yet she remained steadfast—literate, capable, and independent until the end.

      More than a century later, her legacy lives on in the families she nurtured, the home she maintained, and the strength she passed to her descendants. Through her children and grandchildren, including your own line, Eliza Ann Ayers continues to stand as a quiet but powerful matriarch of the Stone and Staggs families.

      Parents

      FATHER: Richard Ayres (1790–1866)1
      MOTHER: Elizabeth “Eliza” McCreary (1793–1873)2

      Married

      Jacob Stone (1822–1888)

      Children

      • Thomas Wesley Stone (1851–1941) married Minnie Maginnis (1854–1942)
      • Richard Stone (1858–1926) married Eva E Barnes (1861–1911)
      • Rachel Stone (1859–died before 1870)
      • Ida Antha Stone (1861–1930) married Hudson Randolph Staggs (1848–1916)
      • Charles Stone (1863–1936) married Elizabeth —- (1867-1925)

      Documents

      • Birth
        • June 1832 (Reported in the 1900 census; supported by age in 1910 & 1920)
      • Death
        • 1920 (She appears alive in the 1920 census and disappears immediately afterward; no 1922 primary source matches her identity. Vanport Cemetery records list her burial in 1920)
      • Census
        • 1850 United States Federal Census3 > Pennsylvania > Beaver > Moon > Name: Eliza A Ayres; Gender: Female; Race: White; Residence Age: 19; Birth Date: abt 1831; Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Moon, Beaver, Pennsylvania, USA; Line Number: 29; Dwelling Number: 24; Family Number: 24; Household members:
          Thomas W Ayres (44), Eliza Ayres (36), Eliza A Ayres (19), McCreary Ayres (18), Janna Ayres (15), Abilard Ayres (10), Phelix Ayres (8), Henrietta Ayres (6), Thomas J Ayres (4), Robert Ayres (2), Clarinda J Ayres (1)
        • 1860 United States Federal Census > Pennsylvania > Beaver > Borough > Name: Jacob Stone; Age: 38; Birth Year: abt 1822; Gender: Male; Race: White; Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Home in 1860: Borough, Beaver, Pennsylvania; Post Office: 0; Dwelling Number: 701; Family Number: 650; Occupation: Ship Carpenter; Personal Estate Value: 100; Inferred Spouse: Eliza Stone; Inferred Child: Thos W Stone; Rachel Stone; Household members: Jacob Stone (38),Eliza Stone (30), Thos W Stone (9), Rachel Stone (1)
        • 1870 United States Federal Census > Missouri > Platte > Pettis > Name: Jacob Stone; Age in 1870: 48; Birth Date: abt 1822; Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Dwelling Number: 241; Home in 1870: Pettis, Platte, Missouri; Gender: Male; Post Office: Parkville; Occupation: Farmer; Male Citizen Over 21: Yes; Personal Estate Value: 1000; Inferred Spouse: Elizabeth A Stone; Inferred Children: Richard Stone; Ida A Stone; Chas K Stone; Household members: Jacob Stone (48), Elizabeth A Stone (40), Richard Stone (12), Ida A Stone (9), Chas K Stone (6), Elizabeth Ayers (13)
        • 1880 United States Federal Census > Missouri > Platte > Pettis > 097 > Name: Jacob Stone; Age: 59; Birth Date: Abt 1821; Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Home in 1880: Pettis, Platte, Missouri, USA; Dwelling Number: 3; Race: White; Gender: Male; Relation to Head of House: Self (Head); Marital Status: Married; Spouse’s Name: Eliza A. Stone; Father’s Birthplace: Maryland; Mother’s Birthplace: Maryland; Occupation: Farmer; Household members: Jacob Stone (59), Eliza A. Stone (48), Ida Stone (19), Charles Stone (17)
        • 1900 United States Federal Census > Pennsylvania > Beaver > Borough > District 0019 > Name: Eliza A Stone; Age: 67; Birth Date: Jun 1832; Birthplace: Pennsylvania, USA; Home in 1900: Borough, Beaver, Pennsylvania; Sheet Number: 2; Number of Dwelling in Order of Visitation: 41; Family Number: 48; Race: White; Gender: Female; Relation to Head of House: Head; Marital Status: Widowed; Father’s Birthplace: Maryland, USA; Mother’s Birthplace: Maryland, USA; Mother: number of living children: 5; Mother: How many children: 5; Can Read: Yes; Can Write: Yes; Can Speak English: Yes; House Owned or Rented: Own; Home Free or Mortgaged: Free; Farm or House: House
        • 1910 United States Federal Census > Pennsylvania > Beaver > Borough > District 0017 > Name: Eliza A Stone; Age in 1910: 74; Birth Date: 1836; Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Home in 1910: Borough, Beaver, Pennsylvania, USA; Sheet Number: 5a; Street: Washington; Race: White; Gender: Female; Relation to Head of House: Head; Marital Status: Widowed; Father’s Birthplace: Maryland; Mother’s Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Native Tongue: English; Home Owned or Rented: Own; Home Free or Mortgaged: Free; Farm or House: House; Able to read: Yes; Able to Write: Yes; Enumeration District Number: 0017; Number of Children Born: 4; Number of Children Living: 4; Enumerated Year: 1910
        • 1920 United States Federal Census > Pennsylvania > Beaver > Bor > District 0024 > Name: Eilza E Stone; Age: 88; Birth Year: abt 1832; Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Home in 1920: Bor, Beaver, Pennsylvania; Street: Jefferson Street; House Number: X; Residence Date: 1920; Race: White; Gender: Female; Relation to Head of House: Head; Marital Status: Widowed; Father’s Birthplace: Maryland; Mother’s Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Able to Speak English: Yes; Home Owned or Rented: Owned; Home Free or Mortgaged: Free; Able to read: Yes; Able to Write: Yes; Household members: Eliza E Stone (88), Anita I Staggs (daughter, 58)
      • Other

      Footnote

      1. The father of Eliza Ann Ayers was Richard Ayres (1790–1866) Born Maryland; buried Vanport Cemetery; proven by family manuscript, census correlation, and sibling group
      2. The mother of Eliza Ann Ayers was Elizabeth “Eliza” McCreary (1793–1873) Born Ireland; married Richard ca. 1826; buried Vanport Cemetery
      3. In the 1850 census, nineteen‑year‑old Eliza Ann Ayers was not living with her parents, Richard Ayres and Elizabeth McCreery, but instead appears in the household of her uncle, Thomas W. Ayres, in Moon Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. This arrangement was common in mid‑nineteenth‑century families, where older, established relatives often housed younger kin for work, schooling, or domestic support. The presence of her brother McCreary Ayres in the same household confirms that two of Richard and Elizabeth’s children were residing with their uncle at the time, rather than with their parents.

      Relation of Eliza Ann Ayers to Steven Barry Staggs: 2nd great-grandmother

      Page last updated June 19, 2025

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