When Achilles "Killis" Stapp was born in 1790 in Wilkes County, North Carolina, his father, Thomas Stapp/Stepp, was 30 and his mother, Sarah Brown, was 27.

In 1814, when Killis was 23 years of age, he volunteered for 6 months in the 7th Regiment (Pearson's) North Carolina Militia in the War of 1812. He served as a private in Captain James Martin's Company of Infantry. With his company, Killis made a 15-day march from Salisbury, North Carolina to Fort Hawkins in Georgia.

He married Elizabeth "Betsy" Hagler on March 24, 1817, in his hometown of Wilkes County, North Carolina. Elizabeth was born in 1792 in Wilkes County. She was the daughter of Susannah McGee and Isaac Wilson Hagler.

In about 1820, Killis, with his wife, Betsy, and their two babies children, Nancy & Jane, who may have been twins, journeyed across the Smokey Mountains to their new home in Monroe County, Tennessee, where they raised a large family. Seven more children were added to their quiver: Matilda, Martha, Thomas Hamilton, Larkin, Achilles Granville, Elizabeth, Cynthia, Isaac Burton, and Sarah "Sallie" Stapp.

Betsy passed away in 1845 when her youngest child, Sarah "Sallie" was only 3 years of age. Killis never remarried. Seven years later on about May 1, 1852, Killis said his last goodbye to Betsy at her graveside.

Achilles, after having lived in Monroe County, Tennessee for 33 years, set out on a journey that would forever change his life. He, along with 36 members of his extended family, made a six-week journey by wagon train across the eastern half of Tennessee up through the southwestern corner of Kentucky, across the Mississippi River into Missouri, with their final destination in Springfield in Southwestern Missouri.

According to family stories, Achilles was known as a Baptist minister. Among his military pension papers, is a statement prepared and signed jointly by his son, Larkin Stapp, and his son-in-law, John Taylor. This is a quotation from that statement: "... the said Killis Stapp has for many years been a member of the Baptist Church and a preacher of that denomination, that he has always been a man of temperate habits and when he has been able to labour has been engaged in farming but has never been able to work constantly nor to attend to his preaching appointments with regularity." February 18, 1857 ~ From the book "Achilles Stapp His Ancestors and Descendants" by Mary Ellen Stapp Gifford, Page 20.

Achilles died in 1865 in Dade, Missouri, having lived a long life of 75 years, and was buried there. He was laid to rest at Mt. Zion Cemetery which was next to the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in King's Point, Dade County, Missouri. It is told that the foundation to the old church is still there.

The Mt. Zion Cemetery is now on private property and the property owner allowed us to go onto his property and cut down some weeds so we could find the tombstone and the grave of my Great Great Great Grandfather, Achilles "Killis" Stapp. The gravestone we found is photographed here on this memorial page. Many other family members are buried in this cemetery.
(By Mary Fallwell Henderson - May 2009)

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Notes on Thomas Stapp - From THE STEPP/STAPP FAMILIES OF AMERICA - A SOURCE BOOK - By Henry P. Scalf in Collaboration with Rudolph B. Stepp - Copyright 1973 and Privately Printed

Achilles Stapp, son of Thomas Stepp, of Wilkes County, North Carolina, and who married Elizabeth Hagler, daughter of Issac and Susannah Hagler was one of the first, if not the first Stapp, or Stepp, to breach the barrier of the Great Smokies and settle in East Tennessee. He lived on Four Mile Branch, a tributary of the Little Tennessee River near the present Vonore, Monroe County. An old account book of Cunningham & Rankin trading Post located on Four Mile shows that Achilles was a customer between 1837 and 1839.

In 1830, according to the decennial census that year, Achilles and his wife were between 30 and 40 years of age. There was a female, age 70/80, believed to be his mother Sarah, residing in the household. There were two sons under five years, one between five and 10, one daughter less than five years, two daughters between five and ten, two between ten and fifteen. Robert Step, brother of Achilles, was living in Monroe County in 1830. He was between forty and fifty, his wife between thirty and forty. There were two sons and two daughters in the home. In the 1830 census of Monroe there was a family headed by Thomas Stepp, also a brother of Achilles, whose age was between thirty and forty with his wife listed as same age. One son was under five, a daughter also under five and another daughter between five and ten years. This Thomas Stepp shows also in the 1840 Monroe Census as does a much younger Thomas, age between twenty and thirty, Both Achilles and his brother Thomas appear in the 1840 Census. Achilles shows in the 1850 Census of Monroe but his wife is deceased. In the household were Granville, age 20, Elizabeth and Miriam, both 18, Cynthia 15, Berton 12, Nancy 9, and Sarah 7.

Sometime between the 1850 Monroe County Tennessee Census and the 1860 Census Achilles left Tennessee and moved to Dade County, Missouri. In the Dade census he is shown living with two of his daughters, Cynthia, age 24 and Sarah, age 21. Both of the daughters were listed as born in Tennessee as they were in the 1850 Monroe County Tennessee Census. In Tennessee Achilles was shown as 58 years old, but in the 1860 census of Missouri he is listed as age 70. There are discrepancies in the ages of the daughters, too. These differences are often found in census record and can be attributed to the time of year of the enumeration, and to other factors. Dama S. Smith, Jackson, Mississippi, in writing to A. Max Coppage, a Stapp descendant and researcher, said in a letter, dated 1970: This Achilles is the one listed in Acklen's book on Tennessee at Four Mile Branch Post Office (near Vonore) in Monroe County, Tennessee, in 1835."

(1) Achillis (Achilles) Stapp was born in North Carolina (Wilkes County) according to 1850 census of Monroe County, Tennessee and 1860 census of Dade County, Missouri. He died before 1870 census. His wife Elizabeth Hagler died after 1840 and before 1850 census of Monroe County, Tennessee. Will of Isaac Hagler (Monroe County, Tennessee) made 27 July 1840: To wife Susanna, to son Benjamin Burton Hagler, "Whereas Elizabeth Stepp, Nancy Curtis, David Hagler, Matilda Howard, Wm. L. Hagler, and Edah Snider have each received a bed and furniture, I desire that my remaining children receive the same amount, namely, John (Wilson having received a bed), Benjamin B., Cynthia, Elvira and Ralph. Execs: Sons Wilson and Benjamin Burton. (Foregoing submitted by Mrs. Dama Stapp Smith, 348 E. Mayes Street, Jackson, Mississippi.

(2) From "History of Dade County, Missouri and her People" Pioneer Historical Co., 1917 - Vol. 2, pages 325-327. Carthage Bookbinery, Carthage, Missouri: "Achilles Granville Stapp (son of Achilles Stapp of Monroe County, Tennessee) married Margaret Weir, Apr. 24, 1851 and came to Missouri overland in an ox wagon and settled first in Green County in fall of 1852."

(3) Larkin, the brother of Granville, probably came to Missouri at the same time as his father as he is listed in the household next to Achillis (his father) in the 1850 census of Monroe County, Tennessee, and also in the adjacent household in the 1860 Dade County Missouri census, Larkin Household #127, Achillis Household #128.

(4) All the children of Wm Burton Stapp and Amanda Everline Doran Stapp, were born in and around Springfield, Missouri. Joseph, Marion and Fletcher remained in Missouri; John settled in Louisiana; Marshall Ney settled in Mississippi; Ellis Otto lived at Jackson, Tennessee; Alfred Julian settled in Arkansas; Chester Burton in Alabama.

All above from the Henry Scalf Book - THE STEPP/STAPP FAMILIES OF AMERICA