John Reid (or Reed) Stiles and his elder brother, Marcus Lionel Stiles, both recorded as volunteers of the 7th Illinois Calvary Company D, were descendants of Robert Stiles of West Boxford, Massachusetts. Robert arrived in America by the early 1640's from England as a small boy. John and Marcus Lionel’s great-great grandfather Asahel Stiles, by then a fourth generation American, served with the New Hampshire militia while many cousins were indeed minuteman at the birth of our nation in 1776.

John and Marcus Lionel’s grandfather, Daniel Stiles, was born in Cortland, New York, and pushed onward to Logan County, Ohio with his family that included their father, Marcus Stiles. Marcus Stiles married Phebe Glaspy Reid at Lakeview, Ohio. Marcus had one child by a previous marriage and Phebe Glaspy or Gillespe Reid had three children. The couple soon had sons Calvin, Amos, Daniel, Marcus Lionel (1840), and John Reid Stiles (1842) as well as daughters Artemeisa, Lois, Phebe, and Harriet. Marcus and Phebe would move their family onward to Hermon in Knox County, Illinois where they continued to earn their way as farmers.

John and Marcus both served with honor and returned safely to their home farm now farmed by their elder brother, Daniel, after their father, Marcus, died in 1861. Sometime thereafter, both John and Marcus Lionel moved one county west to Warren County, Illinois, Point Pleasant Township. They successfully courted the daughters of Burwell Booth and his pretty wife Cornelia Van Vleete.  Burwell Booth himself was solider of the Illinois 138th Infantry, Company C. Marcus Lionel Stiles married Sarah Ann Booth and John Reid Stiles married Mary Jane Booth.

Five families (Burwell Booth, Marcus Lionel Stiles, John Reed Stiles as well as Burwell Booth’s sons, William Franklin Booth, and John Wesley Booth) boarded a train with all their possessions and went to Greene and Guthrie County, Iowa in the spring of 1891. Burwell Booth’s eldest son remained at the Point Pleasant Township, Swan Creek, Illinois farm.

All families were successful farmers and purchased land in Iowa before leaving Illinois. John and Mary Booth Stiles had Cornelia, Carrie, Evalyn, Amos, John Jr., Walter, Mary, Marcus, and Lloyd. John and Mary remained at their farm in Willow Township, Greene County, Iowa until their deaths. John died in 1909 and Mary in 1926. Both are buried at Greenbriar Township Cemetery, Greene County, Iowa.

In 1907, Marcus Lionel Stiles and Sarah Ann Booth Stiles would board still another train to farm new lands in Castro County, Texas and establish a new town, Big Square, Texas. Big Square was noted by ranchers because four large square two-story (28 feet by 28 feet) houses were erected by the Marcus Lionel Stiles family on the nearly flat prairie. Their family consisted of sons Frank, James, Burrell, Glenn and Ferguson Booth Stiles and daughters Phebe, Nell, Emma, Mary Mae, and Lu. Ferguson Booth Stiles had the proud honor of bearing the close knit family heritage of Samuel Ferguson, Charles Booth, and Robert Stiles, all his forefathers and each patriots of their beloved country. Marcus Lionel Stiles and Sarah Ann Booth Stiles are buried at the Dimmitt, Texas Cemetery in Castro County, Texas.

This information was provided by John R. Stiles' great-grandson, Donald Stiles. Mr. Stiles lives in Iowa and can be reached at matthewanddonna@hotmail.com.