This branch of the Staley family in Montgomery county was founded by Henry Staley, who, with his brothers, Jacob, Oliver and Ricker, came to America prior to the revolutionary war. They entered the Mohawk Valley and secured large tracts of new and well timbered land in the southeast of the present town of Florida. They were of the usual well-known log cabin, hardy, industrious, pioneer class, and literally fought for an existence in the first years of their occupancy of the land. The wild creatures of the forest lurked to do them harm, while the heavily wooded land must first be subdued before it would yield the family subsistence. Through such experience Henry Staley lived, married, and reared a family. His wife was Bridget Van Huesen, daughter of one of the Dutch pioneers, and trained for life's battle in the same school as her husband. They became possessed of a very large farm, part of which is yet in possession of the family. On it were born their children:
- Susannah, born January 22, 1776.
- Jacob, died unmarried, April 3, 1862.
- Ricker, married and reared a family.
- Ann, born March 29, 1781, died September 28, 1854; married Rev. Thomas Romeyn, an early Dutch Reformed minister of the valley, where he was in service a great many years.
- John, of whom further. 6. Mary, born May 16, 1788, married and left issue.
- Hermanus, born March 15, 1793.
(II) John, son of Henry and Bridget (Van Huesen) Staley, was born on the homestead farm in Florida, New York, October 10, 1786, died there March 21, 1863. He married, March 3, 1810, in Florida, Rebecca Devenpeck, born January 29, 1795, died June 12, 1875. She was of pioneer Dutch stock, and with her husband pillars of the old Dutch church in the Mohawk Valley. Children:
- Rachel A., born March 31, 1811; married William De Graff, who survives her, a resident of Florida, now aged eighty-seven years.
- John Henry, born February 20, 1820, died January 18, 1904; married Mary Devenpeck, who died in 1907, leaving a family of six sons.
- Garrett V., born September 22, 1822; married Maria Van Huesen.
- Theodore, born April 29, 1825, died at an advanced age in Michigan, where he settled after his marriage to Mary McMillan; issue, one son and six daughters.
- Abraham, born January 10, 1829; married Susan McMillan; both deceased.
- Winslow Page, born September 11, 1831; married Mary Dorn, now a resident of Minaville.
- Jacob, see forward.
(III) Jacob, youngest child of John and Rebecca (Devenpeck) Staley, was born on the homestead farm in Florida, July 3, 1833, died suddenly February 1, 1908, of heart failure. He was a farmer all his life. He accumulated a substantial property, including the farm on which his widow resides with her only son. He was a public-spirited, genial, hospitable man, whose door always opened to the knock of the stranger, with a heart that responded in sympathy to those in need, and with a host of friends who mourned his sudden demise. He took a lively interest in town affairs, acting in political sympathy with the Republican party. He married, at McKinney Hill, January 6, 1856, Susan McKinney, born at the family homestead at that place, April 18, 1838. They had an unbroken married life of fifty years and twenty-four days, ere the husband was taken. She continues to reside on the farm, which is under the competent management of their only child, Allard, born February 27, 1863, who gives all his attention to the property. He is unmarried.
Mrs. Staley is a daughter of Patrick and Maria (Smith) McKinney, both born in the locality of McKinney Hill, where both lived and died, he at the age of eighty, she at eighty-five. Her grandfather, Patrick McKinney, settled on McKinney Hill about 1780, and from him that place takes its name. He died aged eighty-four years. He married Susan Staley, born January 22, 1776, daughter of Jacob Staley, one of the Staley pioneers. Patrick and Maria (Smith) McKinney had children:
- William, married Mary Bennett; resides at Duanesburg; two sons and three daughters.
- Susan, married Jacob Staley.
- James, died unmarried.
- Mary E., widow of Peter Empie, late of Sharon, New York; she resides in Florida, and has a son William.
- Henry, owns and cultivates the McKinney Hill homestead farm; married Louisa M. Howard Holton; no issue.