Joseph Staats Honored

BUTLER TOWNSHIP (June 2, 2007) - Joseph Staats was sixty-five when he settled in Knox County, Ohio in 1805.  He had provided beef to the Continental Army during the American Revolution and had voted in the first national Presidential Election in 1789.  He died in 1826 leaving farmland that would be passed down through the generations to the present day.  He was buried in the family cemetery up the hill across from the brick farmhouse he had built a decade earlier.

On Saturday, June 2, 2007 a group of seventy-five family members from across the country and the combined Chapters of the General Henry and Lucy Knox SAR / DAR climbed that hill once again to the wooded glen above the Kokosing River flood plain to honor Joseph Staats. His deeds were read, descendants introduced, a bronze marker was placed, a flintlock salute, and bagpipes played. Before the final notes of Amazing Grace had drifted across the glen a giant crash of thunder was heard scattering the family to their cars.  Later at a reception at the Red Fox Country Inn thoughts on patriotism from Paul Wilke of the Ohio Society Sons of the American Revolution and family reminisces were shared.

The planning for the event had started nine months earlier when Regent Gwen Wallot requested a marker from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. With that approval, planning began for the family and the local SAR and DAR chapters.  The original grave marker was repaired and reset by Compatriot Ernie Moreland. The road and cemetery was cleared by Bill Staats who farms the land just below the hill.  Family members in the military were granted leave to attend the ceremony.  The convergence of efforts all came together in that wooded glen to remember and honor a man who had lived two centuries ago.   In the quiet remote forest, all those in attendance were humbled to remember and proud of the efforts made by this ancestor.

Contact: Steve Kelley, 614-899-7866,  Westerville, Ohio