Daniel S. Styner was born in Pennsylvania in 1815. He married Margaret Rheene in 1843. In 1856 he came to what is now Independence township and preempted 160 acres of land on Section 26. He was one of the pioneers of this town and was a member of the first town board, and later held many offices of trust. The house he built here in 1856 was the first to have a shingle roof. The Indians who passed near his home gave him the title of the "Dutch Squire". Three children came to Minnesota with their parents. They were Mary L., Julia E. and Charles. Cora was born while Minnesota was still a territory and Frank after it became a state. Lizzie, who was born in 1856, was the first girl to be born in Independence. The family settled on what is now land owned by the Herums, west of Maple Plain.
