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Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer


				ERASTUS H. STANTON

	Erastus H. Stanton was born at Durham, Greene Co., N. Y., Nov. 13, 1816.  His father, 
James R. Stanton, was a son of Reuben Stanton, a Baptist minister, whose parents removed from 
Stonington, Conn., to Westerloo, Albany Co., N. Y., in 1790.  The family is of Welsh descent. 
His mother, Martha (Niles) Stanton, was a daughter of Henry Niles, a descendant from a Scotch 
family belonging to the sect of Quakers or Friends.
	They were persecuted for their opinions under the reign of Charles II., and fled to a 
new continent that they might enjoy that freedom of opinion denied at home.  They suffered this 
indignity because, like all Friends, they professed to be conscientiously opposed to the payment 
of tithes, to doing military duty, to taking oaths in courts of justice, and to taking off the 
hat as an act of homage to man.
	The Niles family settled in Rhode Island in 1672. Mr. Stanton's grandfather and 
grandmother were married in 1780, and removed first to Dutchess County, and soon after the close 
of the Revolutionary war to Albany Co., N. Y.  His parents were married in 1813, and removed to 
Durham, Green Co., N. Y., where his father followed the business of tanner, shoemaker, and 
farmer.
	Mr. Erastus Stanton was educated in the common schools and academy of his native town.  
An early taste for reading was gratified by access to a circulating library, in which his father
owned an interest for forty years.  At the age of sixteen he was placed, at his own request, with
a mercantile firm in Rensselaerville, Albany Co., where he was initiated into the details of 
business life; his first lessons were in sawing wood, sweeping store, measuring ashes, and 
weighing sugar.  He remained with this firm until the year 1837, acquainting himself with all 
details, and then commenced business for himself at Greenville, Greene Co., N. Y., where he 
remained twelve years.  At the end of that time he removed to Angelica, Allegany Co.  It was 
generally supposed that the Erie Railroad was to pass through the place, thus promising to make 
it an important town.  But these anticipations were not realized.  His wife's health failing, 
Mr. Stanton removed to the town of Rockton, Winnebago Co., Ill., about one mile from Beloit, 
Wis., where he bought a small farm and built himself a home, expecting to end his days there.
	The financial storm of 1857 changed his plans, and, his wife's health having improved, 
he looked forward to leaving a climate which he had never liked.
	He remained in Rockton and Beloit, occupied in farming, banking, and general mercantile 
business until the year 1867, when with his family he removed to Ionia, where he still resides. 
Since coming to Ionia he has been engaged in manufacturing and selling lumber.  After an active 
business life of forty years, his reputation for business integrity stands unquestioned.  He has 
always been able to pay one hundred cents on a dollar, has never had a judgment rendered against 
him, except once in his early life, and has never had a note of his making protested for 
non-payment.   In October, 1838, he received a commission from William L. Marcy, then Governor 
of the State of New York, as quartermaster of the Thirty-seventh Brigade of Infantry, on the 
staff of Brig.-Gen. William Salisbury.  This position he held for four years, when he resigned.
	Dec. 24, 1861, being then in Springfield, Ill., he received a commission from Governor 
Richard Yates as his temporary military aide, and was detailed to visit the several regiments 
and detached companies of the volunteers of Illinois, under instruction from Allen C. Fuller, 
adjutant-general of the State.  In this capacity he visited the Illinois regiments in the 
Department of North Missouri.  His principal duties were to see the troops provided with some 
necessary arms, clothing, medicine, camp and garrison equipments, etc., and to supply all 
deficiencies.  While at Greenville, Greene Co., N. Y., he held the office of trustee and 
secretary of the board of trustees of Greenville Academy.  He also represented that town on the
board of supervisors of Greene Co., holding that office for two years, and the last year acting 
as chairman of that body.  After his removal to Rockton, Ill., the people soon called him to 
serve in official position, electing him without opposition to represent them on the board of 
supervisors of Winnebago County for the years 1862, '63, '64.  Always a public-spirited and 
enterprising citizen, the people of Ionia were not slow to recognize his character, and called 
on him accordingly.
	In July, 1872, a company was organized to build a railroad from Ionia to Stanton, in 
Montcalm County, and Mr. Stanton was elected a director and its first secretary and treasurer.  
His connection with the road in those positions lasted until its consolidation with the Detroit,
Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad Company, Nov. 30, 1872.  He took a lively interest in the 
completion of the railroad, taking upon himself many arduous duties and weighty responsibilities.
As an officer of the company he proved himself a capable, efficient, and faithful servant, as 
well as a straight-forward, energetic, and enthusiastic business man.
	Mr. Stanton was connected with the Democratic party until 1856, when he became a 
Republican.
	He married at Greenville, Greene Co., N. Y., Sept. 2, 1840, a daughter of Truman Sanford,
of that place.  Her elder brother, Mitchell, was a prominent lawyer of that State, and was for 
four years State senator from the district comprising Schoharie, Greene, and Delaware Counties.  
Her eldest sister, Abatha, was the wife of the late Erastus Barnes, a prominent lawyer of New 
York and a partner of Lucius Robinson, ex-Governor of New York State.  Another sister, Sally, is
widow of the late Cyril Blair, at the time of his death pastor of the Presbyterian Church at 
Angelica, N. Y.  Two other brothers of Mrs. Stanton are Judge Sanford, of Middleburgh, N. Y., 
and Truman Sanford (deceased), of Springport, Jackson Co., Mich.
	Mr. Stanton, though not professedly a Christian, attends the services of the Episcopal 
Church.  His wife has been a member of that denomination for twenty-five years.
	His mother, who makes her home with him, has reached an advanced age.  Her family are 
remarkable for their longevity, as she has living three sisters aged respectively ninety-two, 
seventy-five, and seventy-three years, and two brothers that have reached the ages of 
eighty-eight and eighty-five.
	In 1879, Mr. Stanton was elected mayor of the city of Ionia, and re-elected in 1880.  On 
Nov. 2, 1880, he was elected by the Republican party to the State Senate for the Twenty-fourth 
Senatorial District.



This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" 
by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia:  D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881. Pages 165-167.