Rachel Ann Staley De Graff (1817-1896)

Rachel Ann Staley - see documentation   was the wife of William Henry DeGraff.  She was the only daughter of John Staley and Rebecca Devenpeck Staley, of Florida, Montgomery County, New York.

Rachel was christened at the  Reformed Protestant Dutch Church Of Florida, Minaville, Montgomery, New York on the 17th of May, 1817.

John and Rebecca and their growing family, which grew to include six boys and Rachel, lived in the village of Minaville.   Brother Theodore moved to Michigan, served in the American Civil War and settled in Michigan. The remainder of the brothers stayed in Montgomery County and they are found scattered in Census records, church documents, and the like.

Rachel stayed in Minaville and on January 30, 1851 married William Henry De Graff in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church Of Florida, Minaville, Montgomery,New York.  William was the oldest son of Isaac De Graff, Jr and his wife Esther, also of Florida.  William and his father, and eventually William's brother John, managed and owned grist and saw mills in various spots throughout Montgomery County.

Rachel and William had two sons  - Garrett Staley De Graff and Charles B De Graff.

Rachel Ann Staley DeGraff died in January of 1896 and is buried in Chuctanunda Cemetery.

"The Tale of Two Rachel Staleys"

Researching Rachel may seem straightforward, but she created quite a stir - and a few questions I've yet to answer - most notably, she is part of my great mystery, "The Tale of Two Rachel Staleys".

There is another entry in a database managed and provided by Ancestry.com (- documenting a marriage of Rachel A Staley to William DeGraff in 1850.  This entry is interesting because of two points that differ from my research:

Rachel A Staley's date of year of birth is given as 1811;

William DeGraff is listed as William Duryea DeGraff, born 1810 (found to be son of Gerrit DeGraff and Elizabeth Duryea of Amsterdam, Montgomery County, New York)

A few other DeGroff family trees have fused William Henry and William Duryea .   I do not think they are one in the same man.   I did some research on Elizabeth Duryea and found her family on Long Island - I think she married Gerrit and had William after parts of her family moved to Schenectady (Gerrit and Elizabeth were married in 1794 in the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Schenectady.  They moved to Amsterdam and were members of the Caughnawaga Church in Fonda.

I find no other record for a William Duryea DeGraff than this marriage entry.  I cannot find a burial or any entry in a Census.   I do find some of his siblings and his father, Gerrit's will (probated 1825) mentions William Duryea as one of his surviving heirs. Perhaps William Duryea died young.

The possibility that this is the same Rachel is worth considering.   In the 1830 US Federal Census for John M Staley's household, Rachel is listed as being 19 (born in 1811) not as 13 as she would have been with her 1817 birth date.    Did Rachel have a thing for DeGraff men (I am sympathetic to this plight) ? If the answer is yes, the timeline would have been:

1. Rachel marries William Duryea DeGraff in 1850
2. his death or the dissolution of their marriage
3. Rachel returns home - and is found in the 1850 US Federal Census in the home of her father, John Staley
4. Rachel marries William Henry DeGraff in 1851 - and later nudges up her birth year a few years.

Or is this Rachel one of the vast Staley family?   A sister as to yet undocumented or a widow who married William Duryea and they are also yet to be found in documents and research?    I've spent some time reviewing Staley documents - three men were soldiers in the American Revolution (George, Hendrick, and Matthias) and one Staley familiy was closely tied to the DeGraff through the years. So far, I've not found a second Rachel A Staley.

I do find a William DeGraff buried in the Van Vechten Cemetery in Montgomery County, New York. However, given who is also buried there I think this is the son of Isaac J and Catherine DeGraff (grandson of Jacob DeGraff).




Description of the U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900;[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles, querie.