Over more than eight generations, the Stanton, Schilling, and Parsons families lived in a variety of places, including Chicago, Ohio, Connecticut, and Germany. The Stanton families are made up of two completely separate branches, with one starting in Ireland (Stauntons) and the other in England (Stanton).

In 1881, Ulick and Mary Staunton emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri from Ireland. After changing their last name to Stanton and becoming naturalized citizens, the family moved to Chicago, where Ulick worked as a trolley motorman and a dairy driver. They had eight children, one of whom was Michael J. Stanton.

Michael J. Stanton was born in Ireland and emigrated with his parents at age 3. He studied and practiced law in Chicago. In 1904, he became general counsel for Rand McNally and Company, eventually becoming director of the company. Michael Stanton married Barbara Uttley in 1908. They had two children (Dorothy Stanton Schilling and Harker Thomas). He died in 1936. Barbara died in 1941.

The English Stantons emigrated from England to Jamaica before moving to New York to live on John Street in 1698. In 1855, George Edgar Stanton I moved his family to Chicago and started a grocery business called Stanton and Company. George Edgar II took over the business after his brother in law’s death, having previously worked as a United States Consul in England, Germany, and Russia. In the early 1900s, George Edgar Stanton III brought in acquaintance Mrs. Snyder to sell candies inside the family grocery store. In 1922, Stanton and Company was sold, and George Edgar III became a co-founder of Mrs. Snyder’s Homemade Candies. George Edgar III married Harriet Rew in 1907. They had two children (Edgar and Francis Rew). Harriet had one daughter from a previous marriage (Harriet Rew Wood).

Edgar Stanton married Rosamund (Rose) Baker in 1933. They had one child (Rosamund Stanton). Edgar served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. After the war, he worked for Belden Manufacturing and served as a trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Rose worked to improve hospital facilities in the Aspen Colorado area. Edgar died in 1991.

Francis Rew Stanton studied architecture at Yale. In 1941, he started his own architecture business in Chicago and sold the family interest in Mrs. Snyder’s Candies in 1944. He served in the U.S. Army Corps during WWII. Francis married artist Louise Parsons in 1936. Both were accomplished tennis players who played at Indian Hill Club. In 1953, Francis and his mother, Harriet, built a new club called Ridge and Valley Tennis Club in Glenview.

Louise Parsons Stanton was born in 1915 in Chicago. She attended the Girls Latin School in Chicago and the Holmquist School. From 1933 to 1935, Louise studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts in New Haven, Connecticut before marrying Francis in 1936. Louise Stanton's paintings and drawings are abstract and derive mainly from images of nature. Louise Stanton has had several one-man exhibitions and has been included in many group shows across the country. Francis and Louise had four children (Suzanne, William (Bim), Campbell, and Francis Jr). Francis died in 1995. Louise died in 2005.

The Schilling family is known for its historical bell foundries in Apolda, Germany and Heidelberg, Germany. The Apolda foundry was taken over by the Franz Friedrich August Schilling in the late 1800s, and passed down to family for approximately a century. After World War II ended and the division of Germany placed Apolda and the foundry in East Germany, Friedrich W. Schilling, grandson to Franz Friedrich August, opened a second foundry in Heidelberg (West Germany). Friedrich never married.

Friedrich’s brother, Otto F. G. Schilling, was a mathematics student of Emmy Noether in Germany. His area of interest was Abstract Algebra. After earning his PhD from Göttengen University in 1934, he did post-doctorate work at Trinity College, Cambridge, at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University and at Johns Hopkins University. In 1939 he began work as a professor at the University of Chicago. He and Dorothy Barbara Stanton married in 1940. They had three children (Michael, Marie and Barbara Schilling Stanton). In the 1960’s until his death in 1973, Otto was a professor at Purdue University. Dorothy was born in Chicago. In 1930 she graduated magna cum laude from Radcliffe College with a degree in Fine Arts. She worked at the Art Institute of Chicago and The Albany Institute of Art. Dorothy enjoyed her membership at the Fortnightly Club where she sometimes wrote and delivered papers. She was an active member of the Junior League and did volunteer work at several different charities. Otto died in 1973. Dorothy died in 1997.

The Parsons family mainly lived in Connecticut and Ohio. Prominent members of this branch include William E. Parsons, the architect known for his work in the Philippines and Chicago and later Yale professor, and Louise Parsons Stanton, a well-known local Chicago artist. Other branches further back include the Day and Seymour families, including Charles Seymour, who was president of Yale from 1937-1951.

William E. Parsons married Myra Matthews in 1911. They had two children (Louise Parsons Stanton and Seymour Parsons). William died in 1939.