A well-known and prosperous business man of Fairfield, George A Staley is not only an insurance agent and real estate dealer, but negotiates loans, his operations in each line being quite extensive. A native of Illinois, he was born April 10, 1849, on a farm in White county, near Epworth, being a son of Samuel M. and Harriet (Melrose) Staley, and a brother of U. S. Staley.

After leaving the public schools of his native county, George A. Staley spent a year at the State Normal School in Normal, Illinois, and three years at McKendree College, being a member of that institution from 1870 until 1873. The ensuing two years Mr. Staley taught in Grayville, under Professor J. H. Bromley. Settling in Fairfield, Wayiie county, in 1875, he engaged in the hardware business with his father, and under the administration of President Arthur served as deputy postmaster under General T. W. Scott. Going to the far west in 1888, Mr. Staley located in Oregon, and for six years was bookkeeper in a wholesale hardware concern. Returning to Fairfield in 1894, he has since been actively engaged in the loan, insurance and real estate business, in his undertakings being fairly successful. He has acquired title to large tracts of land, being owner of eight hundred acres in Missouri; eighty acres near Fair Grounds, at Fairfield, Missouri; one hundred and sixty acres near Sims, Illinois; and has an interest in twelve hundred acres of the finest land in Arkansas, it being located in Marion county. He has established a profitable loan business, and as an insurance agent represents the Boston Insurance Company and the Citizens' Insurance Company of Chicago.

Mr. Staley married, December 30, 1874, S. Amelia Merritt, of Bloomington, lllinois, a daughter of John and Caroline (Bishop) Merritt, natives of Tarrytown, New York, and they have one child, John M. Staley, of Los Angeles, California, who is associated with the Bell Telephone Company as a railway contractor. Fraternally Mr. Staley is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and religiously he is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. Politically he is a firm supporter of the principles of the Republican party.