WILLIAM R. STANER, Jasper, son of Jacob and Rachel (Foster) Staner, was born in Williams County, Ohio, February 16, 1848, and removed with his parents to Steuben County, Ind., when three years old; then to Marshall County in the same State, where he remained until he came to Wayne County, Ill., in 1877.  Jacob was born in Switzerland about 1798 and came to the United States in 1800 with his parents, and settled in York County, Penn., where he grew to manhood, when he entered the army as a soldier during the war of 1812, and died in 1870. Rachel Foster, the daughter of a sea captain, was born in New Jersey. To Jacob and her were born John, Mary, Sarah (Wolfgang), Harvey, Jackson, William (deceased), Susan (Boggs), Crawford, Thomas, William R. and Joshua. Subject attended the common schools in Indiana, where he obtained a good business education, and is a constant reader of books and the newspapers of the day.  In his avocation as a farmer he is very successful, and is the owner of 120 acres of very fertile land, of which seventy-five acres are rendered highly productive, demonstrating beyond question that pluck,  perseverance and industry will work wonders, when judiciously applied to the soil of his adopted county and State. Subject, in his political affiliations, has ever been identified with the Democratic party, and in his religious belief inclines toward the Methodists.