Ancestor of the Month

Our family started a tradition last June to try to get to know some of our ancestors.  We call it Ancestor of the Month.  Each month we highlight an ancestor from either my family or Tyler's family (we alternate months).  We get a copy of a photograph (if it's available) and gather as much information about the individual as possible to present to the family on Fast Sunday.  So far we have really enjoyed it - even the kids.  This month our Ancestor is my great-grandfather, Daniel Obern Staples.  It turns out that we don't really know very much about him, but I thought it would be fun to share what I learned with my extended family.  So, without further ado...

I now present DANIEL OBERN STAPLES (JR).



This picture was taken in 1934 when Dan was foreman of the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Minnesota

  Born:  4 October 1890 in Rice Lake, Wisconsin to Daniel Obern Staples (Sr.) and Dealtha Smith.  He was an only child.
Married to:  Elmie Melvina Ghoslin on 1 January 1914 in Dewey, Wisconsin.  They were the parents of 7 children:  3 girls and 4 boys (among them, my grandfather, Vernon)


This is Daniel and his wife, Elmie, shortly after
they were married.



According to their son, Vernon, Dan and Elmie moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota during the great depression, probably because of the logging industry there.  Dan worked for the forest service most of his adult life.  He also ran a small dairy - about 28-30 cows.  He did not have a high-school education, but he read a lot and remembered what he read.  He knew a lot about he outdoors; he understood animals and enjoyed them.  He loved horses and was a very good man with work-horses.

He very seldom raised his voice to his children and never to his wife. He was a private person.  He was musically inclined - he sang well and was a very good harmonica player.  He enjoyed fishing and hunting with his kids and he was a very good shot.  He very seldom had to shoot at a deer, moose or bear more than once. 

He knew how to box and saw to it that his boys knew how as well.  Apparently he was left-handed, so he boxed left-handed which caused no deal of consternation with his opponents.  You'd go in with a right jab and hit them with a left hook - they never saw it coming.



Daniel and Elmie Staples later in life.

Dan was not a religious man.  He went to church once in a while with his family and he didn't care if they went, but he chose not to affiliate with any particular religion.  Elmie, however, was very religious - she was a Baptist.  He believed in God and that you ought to be a decent, honest person.  He didn't work on Sundays and didn't want his family working on Sundays either because that was the Sabbath day.

Dan died at the age of 57 in an autombile accident in August 1947.  He was riding in the car with his son-in-law, Jim, when the car blew a front tire and the car went off the road and down into a 60-70 foot gorge.  (Jim survived the accident.)  He is buried in Grand Marais, Minnesota.