John Staples (1773–1828), manufacturer, was a native of Albemarle County and the son of a Scottsville merchant. TJ had known him since at least 1795. With Samuel Shelton and William Walker as partners, in 1801 Staples purchased a distillery in the town of Warren, where he was master of the Masonic lodge. He was awarded patents in 1802 and 1811 for an “Improvement in stills” and a “pendulum steam engine.” In 1805 he and his partners David Cobbs and Jeffrey Cobbs bought patent rights to produce metallic hones. Staples resided at times in Buckingham County, but in 1807 he was in Richmond serving as a juror in Aaron Burr’s treason trial. By 1809 Staples was superintendent of the state manufactory of arms and armory at Richmond, a position that carried the rank of major. He held the post until operations were suspended in about 1822. To defray the costs of running the manufactory’s foundry and boring mill, Staples initiated and promoted iron-casting services for the public. By 1814 he was an agent for Oliver Evans’s patented grinding mill screws. Four years later Staples purchased the lease to a cotton mill owned by the James River Company, which he converted to a gristmill soon known as Staples Mill. This venture achieved some success, but it produced little profit due to high rent. Staples died while working for the James River Company in Charleston, now West Virginia (Gretchen Elizabeth Staples Kroll, William Staples (circa 1675–circa 1755) of Hanover County, 2 vols. in 1 [2005], 1:120–30; Woods, Albemarle description begins Edgar Woods, Albemarle County in Virginia, 1901, repr. 1991 description ends , 318–9; PTJ description begins Julian P. Boyd, Charles T. Cullen, John Catanzariti, Barbara B. Oberg, and others, eds., The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1950– , 34 vols. description ends , 28:334n; Proceedings of a Grand Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Virginia [1802?], 45; [1811], 4; List of Patents description begins A List of Patents granted by the United States from April 10, 1790, to December 31, 1836, 1872 description ends , 30, 99; TJ to Staples, 25 Jan. 1814; JSV description begins Journal of the Senate of Virginia description ends , 1808–09 sess., 75; 1821–22 sess., 35–43; 1822–23 sess., 82–3 [17 Feb. 1809, 9 Jan. 1822, 1 Feb. 1823]; Richmond Enquirer, 27 Aug. 1805, 4 Aug. 1807, 1 May, 4 Sept. 1810; CVSP description begins William P. Palmer and others, eds., Calendar of Virginia State Papers … Preserved in the Capitol at Richmond, 1875–93, 11 vols. description ends , esp. 10:71; Society of Virginia for Promoting Agriculture, Memoirs [1818]: xiii [Staples a member]; Richmond Enquirer, 9 Dec. 1819, 17 Jan., 30 Apr. 1822).

Almost two years later TJ requested that Staples’s foundry cast twenty-four iron moldboards for his renowned plough (TJ to Staples, 4 May 1814).