Charles  Anderson  Stanley

          As a descendant of a sturdy line of pioneers and a soldier of the Revolutionary war, Charles Anderson STANLEY, of section 14, Moral township, Shelby county, Indiana, has lived up to the tenets of his family and is considered an honored citizen of his county. He was born in Moral township on June 23, 1857, and is a son of  Ensley Henderson and Elizabeth (SMITH) STANLEY, pioneers. Elizabeth STANLEY was a daughter of James and Nancy (VERNON) SMITH, a sketch of Henry C. SMITH, her brother, appearing in this volume. She was a native of North Carolina, and was born in Patrick county. She emigrated to Shelby county, Indiana, with her parents when four years of age. Ensley STANLEY was the only son of John Gardner and Lucinda (AMOS) STANLEY, and he a son of Christopher and Elizabeth (SMITH) STANLEY.  After the Revolutionary war, in which he served with honor, Christopher married Elizabeth SMITH and settled in Botetourt county, Virginia, where he lived until John STANLEY was fifteen years of age, when he removed to Stokes county, North Carolina, where he died at the advanced age of eighty-four.
          Shortly after the marriage of John STANLEY, in 1822, he and his wife and son removed to Jefferson county, Indiana, stopping at Madison in the fall of 1829. The following spring he went to Moral township, Shelby county, Indiana, and located on section 13 of the west bank of Sugar creek. Here he entered eighty acres of land and erected a log cabin, where he lived for several years. By dint of hard work he finally developed a fine farm. The latter years of his life were spent in Brookfield, Indiana, where he and his wife died, he on February 23, 1963, and she two days later. They were interred in the old DAKE cemetery.
          The children born to John G. STANLEY and wife were: Ensley H., father of the subject of this sketch; Ann married Allen GOSSETT, both dead. The original STANLEY family came from England.
          Ensley Henderson STANLEY lived with his father and mother and received a limited education in the old log school-house of the early days. In 1861 he left the farm and went to Brookfield, Indiana, where he engaged in the mercantile and grain business. After ten years of active business life he went back to the old farm, where he spent the balance of his days. He was known far and wide as a man of conviction, and in his youth was a Democrat. In 1854 he cast his lot with the ten new Republican party and took an active part in its work. During the Civil War he was postmaster at Brookfield. He and his wife were devoted members of the Brookfield Baptist church, of which he was a deacon. The children born to them were: Mary J. married Caleb MEANS, deceased; she lives in Ohio. Julia Ann married Charles W. HUMMELL and lives in Montgomery county, Indiana; Amanda F. married Michael E. HIGGINS, deceased; she lives in Indianapolis, Indiana; John J. lives in Indianapolis; Charles A., subject of this sketch; Nancy L. married John Y. KENNEDY, deceased. She is engaged as an instructor in a college in Missouri; Andrew J., dead; Ensley STANLEY died in January, 1892, and his wife on March 2, 1904, and both are buried in the Pleasant View cemetery.
          Charles A. STANLEY lived at home with his parents until he was of age, when he drifted away. He was married in 1885 to Clara B. PFENDLER, a daughter of David PFENDLER, deceased, whose sketch appears on these pages. After his marriage Charles was engaged in the mercantile business in Brookfield, and later for two years conducted a shoe store at Columbus, Indiana.
          Then he returned to Moral township and has since engaged in farming and other agricultural pursuits. He now owns a fine farm of one hundred and five acres just north of Pleasant View on the old Michigan road. His farm is in a fine state of cultivation and he is loved and respected by his neighbors and friends. He and his wife have one child, Paul Russell. They are members of the Brookfield Baptist church and are held in high esteem by all who know them.
Chadwick's History of Shelby County, Indiana, by Edward H. Chadwick, B.A., assisted by well known local talent, B.F. Bowen & Co, Publishers: Indianapolis, IN, 1909, Page 841.
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