BEN LEE STAPLETON for many years a well known resident of Eagle Lake in Colorado county, has been engaged in the rice business on his own account for a number of years and is well known throughout the rice growing sections of Southeast Texas. Mr. Stapleton first began growing rice in 1926 after some years devoted to other agricultural activities and has been very successful, maintaining an average yield of twenty barrels to the acre with an average annual acreage of two hundred and twenty-five, he has planted as high as three hundred acres in 1931 and 1932, but with the inauguration of the government curtailment program reduced his acreage substantially and is now planting around two hundred and thirty-nine acres.
A native of Texas, Mr. Stapleton was born at Weimar in Colorado county, on the first of August, 1895, his parents being B. G. and Cora (Davis) Stapleton. Mr. Stapleton was educated in the public schools at Weimar and spent his early life on a cotton farm. When the United States entered the World War in 1917 Mr. Stapleton joined the U. S. Army at San Antonio on April 17, 1917, and was assigned to duty with the Second Division of the Regular Army at Syracuse, New York. He was discharged at Columbia, South Carolina, in February, 1919.
After his discharge from the Army Mr. Stapleton returned to Texas and for a short time was located in Wharton county before removing to Eagle Lake. There he spent two years working in the rice fields and then entered the industry as an independent grower.
On the thirty-first of October, 1921, Mr. Stapleton was married at Eagle Lake, Texas, to Miss Eunice Hoover, daughter of Felix and Jessie (Hilderbrandt) Hoover of Colorado County, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Stapleton have one son, William Lee Stapleton.
Always maintaining a deep interest in the problems of the rice growers of Southeast Texas, Mr. Stapleton for some years has been a member of the Eagle Lake Division of the American Rice Growers Association. He is also active in the community life of Eagle Lake and is one of the town's progressive and enterprising citizens.
THE NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS (page 1241)
From the files of James and Mary Elizabeth Hopkins
