Izard County Families®
Izard County, Arkansas




Staggs Lineage


Submitted by
Jayme Anderson

Thanks Jayme!

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Thomas S. Staggs m. Mary 'Polly' S. Curtis

James H. Staggs m. (1st Martha F. Jackson) (2nd Elizabeth 'Lilly' Smith)

Lawrence Bertrun Benbrooks m. Lois Evalina Mapes

Dorothy Evelyn Benbrooks m. Harley 'Joe' Adrian Williams

Mary Jane Williams m. Roger Lewis Anderson

James J. Anderson m. Farasat Mohammadi

Now, by looking at the lineage above, you should be asking some questions regarding the following:

Why is the last name of the child of James H. Staggs and Elizabeth Smith named 'Benbrooks' and not 'Staggs'? Answer: Imagine you have this in the history books, but will explain.

James H. Staggs when married to Martha and living in Izard County, shot a man, probably over land, and went to court and jail as a result. I have all the Batesville Jail letters and many more from relatives during this time posted on his page on our website. Anyhow, back to the story, Martha sold her father's land to gather money to pay the watchman at Little Rock Prison for James' illegal release. After the release, James was, of course, a wanted man, but he traveled west eventually to parts of Wyoming and Montana. During this time, he wrote Martha to follow him, but for some reason she did not.

Therefore, James met Elizabeth Smith which he married. Again, this is also documented in the letters we have. James did keep in touch with one of his children William Thomas Staggs who did eventually meet up with his father and also changed his surname to Benbrooks just like his father did earlier to avoid being tracked or captured. It's funny that he decided to use the Benbrooks surname, probably because his father was good friends with the well known Henry and Elizabeth Benbrook family in Izard. Overall, it was a pretty amazing story which my grandfather passed down to me because his father James Staggs (aka. Robert Henry Benbrooks) admitted to all of this before his deathbed.

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