David Stiles, sometimes recorded as David Styles, was born on 26 August 1799 in Milford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, the son of David Stiles and Mary Towne.¹ He spent his early life in New Hampshire but relocated to Vermont as a young adult, where he remained for the rest of his life and where most surviving records documenting his life were created.
Establishment in Vermont
By 1830, David Stiles was living in Brookfield, Orange County, Vermont. In that census, he was enumerated immediately before Abraham Smith, his father-in-law.² Because early census schedules were recorded in geographic order, this proximity strongly supports the identification of David Stiles as the husband of Eliza Smith during this period and places him squarely within the Smith family’s local network.
David continued to reside in central Vermont over the following decades. Although his surname appears with variant spellings in the records, his residence, occupation, and family associations remain consistent.
Marriage to Eliza Smith
David Stiles married Eliza Smith on 12 April 1826 in Brookfield, Vermont.³ Eliza was the daughter of Abraham Smith. The couple had exactly two children:
- Wilbur F. Stiles, born 16 March 1827
- Sarah M. Stiles, born about 1831⁴
No evidence has been found of additional children.
No divorce record has been located for David Stiles and Eliza Smith. However, Eliza clearly left David before 1840. She married Edmund Glidden on 23 March 1840, establishing that her marriage to David had ended by that date.⁵
Edmund Glidden later appears as a surety in probate material associated with David Stiles’s estate. This connection reinforces the conclusion that David Stiles and Eliza Smith were formerly married and shared children, despite the absence of a surviving divorce record.
Marriage to Elizabeth Harris and Divorce
On 1 May 1842, David Stiles married Elizabeth Harris in Northfield, Washington County, Vermont.⁶ The marriage record identifies her as “Mrs. Elizabeth Harris,” indicating that Harris was a married surname and that she had been previously married. Her maiden name has not yet been identified.
This designation helps explain an 1840 census entry in which Elizabeth Harris appears as the named head of household in Northfield, Vermont.⁷ While census schedules of this period typically list male householders, women were sometimes recorded when they controlled or managed the household, were widowed, or were living independently. Her appearance as head of household is therefore consistent with her marital history.
David Stiles and Elizabeth Harris were divorced by decree of the Vermont Supreme Court in April 1853.⁸ Contemporary newspaper notices confirm the divorce and place it firmly within the known timeline of David’s life.
Later Marriages
Following his divorce from Elizabeth Harris, David married Angeline Poole on 29 November 1853 in Northfield.⁹ Angeline died in 1868.
David married for the final time on 7 November 1870 in Williamstown, Vermont, to Melissa E. Davenport.¹⁰ This marriage record identifies the groom as 70 years old, born in New Hampshire, a farmer by occupation, and the son of David Stiles. These details align precisely with David Stiles Jr. (1799–1872) and distinguish him from another, younger Vermont-born man of the same name living in Northfield at the same time.
Census Records and Men of the Same Name
The 1870 census for Northfield, Vermont, contains entries for two men named David Stiles (or Styles).¹¹ One is younger and Vermont-born; the other is older and consistent with a New Hampshire birth in 1799. When age, birthplace, occupation, marital history, and probate evidence are considered together, the older individual can be confidently identified as David Stiles Jr.
The presence of more than one man of the same name in the same town highlights the importance of evaluating census records alongside other documents rather than relying on any single source in isolation.
Death and Probate
David Stiles died on 8 September 1872 in Randolph, Orange County, Vermont, at the age of 73.¹² His death record lists his occupation as farmer and gives the cause of death as consumption. Probate records name Luther Wakefield, husband of David’s daughter Sarah Stiles, as administrator of the estate.¹³ This appointment confirms the established family relationships and links David’s early and later life through consistent documentary evidence.
Conclusion
Although the life of David Stiles presents challenges common to nineteenth-century research—including surname variations, multiple marriages, and contemporaries of the same name—the surviving records form a coherent and well-supported narrative. Census proximity to Abraham Smith, the documented marriage to Eliza Smith and their two children, Eliza’s remarriage by 1840, a court-ordered divorce from Elizabeth Harris, clearly identified later marriages, and probate administration by known relatives together establish the life course of David Stiles Jr. (1799–1872).
Sources
- New Hampshire birth records, Milford, Hillsborough County, 1799.
- 1830 U.S. census, Brookfield, Orange County, Vermont.
- Vermont marriage records, Brookfield, Orange County, 12 April 1826.
- Vermont vital and census records for Wilbur F. Stiles and Sarah M. Stiles.
- Vermont marriage, Eliza Smith to Edmund Glidden, 23 March 1840 (date preserved through derivative sources).
- Vermont marriage records, Northfield, Washington County, 1 May 1842.
- 1840 U.S. census, Northfield, Washington County, Vermont.
- Vermont Supreme Court divorce notices, April 1853.
- Vermont marriage records, Northfield, Washington County, 29 November 1853.
- Vermont marriage records, Williamstown, Orange County, 7 November 1870.
- 1870 U.S. census, Northfield, Washington County, Vermont.
- Vermont death records, Randolph, Orange County, 8 September 1872.
- Vermont probate records, Orange County, estate of David Stiles.
The Tumbleweed 