Col. Stacey was a native of Massachusetts, and a proprietor in the Ohio Company. He came early to the Northwest Territory, and settled in Washington county.

In the forepart of his life he lived on the sea-coast, probably Salem, and was engaged in sea-faring business. Finding himself surrounded by a rapidly increasing family, he removed to New Salem, in the county of Hampshire, Massachusetts, and entered on the life of a farmer. He was much respected by his fellow townsmen, and was promoted in the military service. In Barber's Historical Sketches of Massachusetts, is the following notice of Col. Stacy, copied from the Barre Gazette.

"The news of the battle of Lexington flew through New England like wild-fire. The swift horseman with his red flag proclaimed it in every village, and made the stirring call upon the patriots to move forward in defense of the rights upon the patriots to move forward in defense of the rights so ruthlessly invaded, and now sealed with the martyrs' blood. Putnam, it will be recollected, left his plow in the furrow, and led his gallant band to Cambridge. Such instances of promptness and devotion were not rare. We love the following instance of the display of fervid patriotism, from an eyewitness, one of those valued relics of the band of '76, whom now a grateful nation delights to honor.

When the intelligence reached New Salem, in this state, the people were hastily assembled on the village green by the notes of the alarm. Every man came with his gun and other preparations for a short march. The militia of the town was then divided into two companies, one of which as commanded by a Capt. G____. This company was paraded before much consultation had been held on the proper steps to be taken in the emergency, and while determination was expressed on almost every countenance, the men stood silently leaning on their muskets, awaiting the movement of the spirit in the officers. The captain was supposed to be tinctured with Toryism, and his present indecision and backwardness were ample proofs, if not of his attachment to royalty, at least of his unfitness to lead a patriot band. Some murmurs began to be heard, when the first lieutenant, William Stacey, stepped out of the line, took off his had, and addressed them. He was of stout heart, but of few words. Pulling his commission from his pocket, he said, ‘Fellow soldiers, I don't know exactly how it is with the rest of you, but for one, I will no longer serve a king that murders my own countrymen;' and tearing the paper in a hundred pieces, he trod them under his feet. Sober as were the people by habit and natural disposition, they could not refrain from a loud huzza, as he stepped back into the ranks. Capt. G____ still faltered, and made a feeble endeavor to restore order, but they heeded him as little as the wind. The company was summarily disbanded, and a re-organization took place on the spot. The gallant Stacey was unanimously chosen captain, and with a prouder commission than was ever borne on parchment, he led a small but resolute band to Cambridge. He continued in service during the war, reaching, before its close, the rank of lieutenant-colonel, under the command of Putman."

In 1778, Capt. Stacey had risen by his merits to the rank of a lieutenant-colonel, not in Col. Putnam's regiment, but in Col. Ichabod Alden's, of the Massachusetts line.

The first of July, that year, the Indians and Tories sacked and destroyed the settlement of Wyoming, on the Susquehanna River. They now threatened, and had partly depopulated, the settlement of Cherry valley, which lies on the head waters of the eastern branch of that stream, fifty-two miles northwest of Albany, in the present county of Otsego, but then Tryon county, N.Y. It was a beautiful valley, noted for its fertility and picturesque scenery, being first settled as early as 1739, but greatly harassed by the Tories, who formed nearly half of the inhabitants of that county, and were friends to the crown, to which they were partly induced from the popularity and high standing of Sir Guy Johnson, who lived in the northern part of the county, and probably from respect to the governor of the state while under the king, for whom it was named. Late in the summer of 1778, Col. Alden's regiment was ordered up to Cherry valley, for the protection of the inhabitants. A stockaded garrison had been previously built around their little church, and the regiment of about two hundred men took possession of it. Being rather straitened for quarters, several of the officers lodged at the houses of the adjacent inhabitants. Alden and Stacey, with a small guard of soldiers, quartered in the house of a Mr. Wells, not more than a quarter of a mile from the garrison. On the 6th of November, Col. Alden received a letter from Fort Schuyler, now in Oneida county, distant about forty miles northwest, near the head of the Mohawk, saying that an Oneida Indian, whose tribe was friendly to the United States, had told them that the Indians and Tories, under a son of Col. Butler, were assembling on the Tioga river, a northerly branch of the Susquehanna, which passes through the country of the Seneca Indians, for the purpose of attacking the fort and settlement of Cherry valley. Butler had been a prisoner with the Americans, and confined in Albany jail, a short time before, but had escaped, and was now seeking revenge. Being notified of this intended attack, he sent out scouting parties to watch their approach, although he did not actually apprehend any danger, even after this timely warning. The inhabitants, better aware of their peril, made application to the commander to be admitted within the fort, but as it was only large enough for his own men, he declined, saying it would be time enough when they were certain of the approach of the enemy. Being unacquainted with Indian warfare, he did not take shelter within the fort himself. The scout, which was sent down that branch of the river which waters the valley, having kindled a fire, were surprised in their camp and taken prisoners, so that they could not give the alarm of the advance of the Indians as he had expected. From these prisoners, Butler and Brant learned the condition of the settlement and the houses where the officers slept, being themselves familiar and acquainted in the valley before the war.

Early on the morning of the 11th of November, an army of five hundred Indians and two hundred Tories entered the settlement undiscovered, and began the attack on the scattered dwellings near the fort. Before they reached Wells', the house where he quartered, a man on horseback gave notice of their approach. He was still persuaded there was only a small body of Indians, but on their coming in sight he directly ran for the fort, closely pursued by an Indian, who after calling on him to surrender, which he refused, snapping his pistol at him, he threw his tomahawk, striking him on the head and felling him to the ground. The Indian then scalped him, "and thus he was the first to suffer from his criminal neglect." [Annuals of Tryon county]. Before Col. Stacey could leave the house, it was surrounded by the Indians, and he was taken prisoner with a few of the guard, while all the women and children were killed. It was a damp, rainy morning, and the powder of the out-door guards was wet, so that their arms were useless, which was one reason of there being so little resistance. After a feeble attack on the fort, they departed with their scalps and prisoners, killing about forty of the inhabitants. Joseph Brant, who commanded the Indians, saved the lives of a number of families, making them prisoners, while Butler and the Tories under his command, spared very few that fell into their hands.

The Indians, in their return to their own country on the Genesee river, passed down the Cherry valley branch of the Susquehanna to its junction with the Tioga fork, and up that stream over to the Seneca lake, and onward to an Indian town that stood near the present beautiful village of Geneva, distant more than two hundred miles, by the route they traveled, from Cherry valley. Here the revengeful savages who had taken Col. Stacey prisoner, after holding a council, decided on burning him at the stake. It has for ages been the practice of the Indians in their attacks, to take some prisoners for this purpose, that the young Indians and squaws may share in their revenge on their enemies. Being devoted to this dreadful death, he was tied to the stake, the fire kindled, and he thought his last hour was come. Seeing the noble-minded Brant in the throng, and having probably heard that he was a Freemason, he made the well-known sign of the fraternity, which was instantly recognized by the quick eye of the Indian. His influence was almost unlimited amongst the northern tribes of New York, and he persuaded them to release their victim, thus adding one more to the number of lives saved by his humanity.

Soon after this he was adopted into an Indian family. At the time of the invasion of the country of the Senecas in 1779, by Gen. Sullivan, when their villages, orchards, and crops of corn, were totally destroyed, many of them retreated to Fort Niagara, then in the hands of the British. Amongst others, Col. Stacey was taken there by the family to which he was attached. While here, Mr. Campbell, the author of the history of Tryon county, from whom some of these events are copied, says, "Lieut. Col. Stacey, who had been taken prisoner at Cherry valley, was also at the fort. Molly Brant, the sister of Joseph, and former mistress of Sir William Johnson, had, from some cause, a deadly hostility to him. She resorted to the Indian method of dreaming. She told Col. Butler that she dreamed she had the Yankee's head, and that she and the Indians were kicking it about the fort. Col. Butler ordered a small keg of rum to be painted and given to her. This, for a shirt time, appeased her, but she dreamed a second time that she had the Yankee's head, with his hat on, and she and the Indians kicked it about the fort for a foot ball. Col. Butler ordered another keg of rum to be given to her, and then told her, decidedly, that Col. Stacey should not be given up to the Indians." Apart from this circumstance, I know nothing disreputable to Molly Brant. On the contrary, she appears to have had just views of her duties. She was careful of the education of her children, and some of them were respectably married.

Col. Stacey remained a prisoner over four years, and was then exchanged. He returned to his home in New Salem, and in 1789 moved with his family, consisting of his wife, five sons, and a son-in-law, with their families, to the Ohio, and settled in Marietta. Two of his sons, John and Philemon, joined the settlement in Big Bottom, formed in the fall of 1790. The 2nd of January, following, the block-house was taken by surprise, and fourteen of the inmates were killed; amongst the slain was his son John, will Philemon, a lad of sixteen years, was taken prisoner, and died in captivity. Col. Stacey feeling anxious for the safety of the new settlement, and the welfare of his sons, visited the post the day before the attack; and although the Indians pretended to be friendly, well knowing their wiles from former experience, gave the young men strict orders to keep a regular guard, and strongly bar the door of the house at sunset, and not open it again until sunrise, even although it was the depth of winter. They neglected his advice, and perished. During the war he lived in a small block-house, at the Point in Marietta, on the bank of the Ohio, and is figured in the drawing of that place, in the preceding volume. He had the charge of overseeing the construction of these works in January 1791. His remaining sons and son-in-law settled in this county, and left a numerous posterity, who still reside here. His youngest son, Gideon, settled in New Orleans, and established a ferry across Lake Pontchartrain, and was there lost.

After the death of his first wife, Col. Stacey married Mrs. Sheffield, a widow lady from Rhode Island, and owned four shares of land in the Ohio Company. She was the mother of the wife of Maj. Zeigler, Mr. Charles Green, and Isaac Pierce, Esq., a woman of highly cultivated mind, lady-like manners, and agreeable person.

He died in Marietta, in the year 1802, and was a man greatly esteemed for his many excellent qualities.

Copied from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers with Narratives of Incidents and Occurrences in 1775, Colonel R. J. Meigs, H. W. Derby and Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1852, Pages 401–407.