Stacey was the son of Stacey & Mary Jane (maiden name unknown) Cooness. His father was born in New Jersey in 1814.

Stacey was born in Victoria, British Columbia on October 22, 1860. The following year his parents were having trouble in their marriage, which is shown by an article published in Victoria by his dad.
The Daily Colonist
Thursday, October 3, 1861.
"CAUTION,
I HEREBY CAUTION ALL PERSONS against trusting my wife, Mary Cooness, on my account, as I will not be responsible for any debts contracted by her from this date.
Stacey Cooness
Victoria, Sept. 16, 1861"
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Stacey moved to Centralia, WA on April 3, 1872, to live with his mother & step-father, George Washington, who had met in Olympia & were married in 1869.

Article in part published in The Daily Chronicle on Friday, March 5, 1976.
"The summer of 1868 Washington, at the age of 51 constructed a new home, and he brought Mary Jane Coonness, the woman he had met in Olympia, to live in it as his bride early in 1869. ... "
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Stacey's father married Ella B. Bragg in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on April 15, 1877.

His father lived to be 95 years old. News about his death was published in The Daily Colonist on May 17, 1909.
"OBITUARY NOTICES
Cooness
The funeral of the late Stacey Cooness took place yesterday afternoon from the family residence, John street, at 3 o’clock, where an impressive service was conducted by the Rev. A.J. Bruce. Appropriate hymns were sung. There was a large attendance of sympathizing friends, many beautiful floral emblems being presented. Thje following were pallbearers: Geo. Keittsley, P. Montaro, E. Harrison, W. Binkell, N. Rowden, J. Alexander."

More was published in The Daily Colonist on May 25, 1909.
"AGED RESIDENT DIES
Stacey Cooness, Ninety-Five Years Old, Lived Here for Fifty years
At the ripe age of 95 years, Stacey Cooness, for over fifty years a respected resident of Victoria, which he had seen grow from a little trading post to the capital city of the Pacitic province of the Dominion, died last evening at his home, 99 Johnson street.

The late Mr. Cooness was a native of New Jersey. He came to this city in 1858 and worked in various capacities until a few years ago, when he retired. His widow, residing in this city, and a son living in the United States survive him. The funeral will take place from the family residence Saturday at 3 o’clock."
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Stacey arrived in Centralia on April 3, 1872. News about his life as a young boy was published in The Daily Chronicle in Centralia, WA on Thursday, October 5, 1967. It follows in part.
HOMESTEAD JOURNAL
Pioneer Farming Hard for Young Lad
Continued here is the republication of the book, "Centralia - The First 50 Years," ...

"Washington's stepson, Stacey Coonness, worked hard as a boy and a new experience for him, as well as other youngster his age, was to start spring school.

Even so, life was hard with no time to rest and endless tasks to be done from early morning till the last fading streaks of daylight. And young Stacey, like the other boys of the early settlers, had many tasks. He had to hlep plow, baring the earth to the sun and rain in rows up and down on either side of the little creek. Wheat and oats he helped plant, care for, and harvest.

From the present Gravel Pit near the Chehalis River to the Allred and Hubbard places and from thence east toward the hill, stretched the pasture where Stacey went with his dog, Rockwood, to bring back the cows to the barn each evening.

But all of young Stacey's time was not to be spent doing chores. The spring term of school started April 17, just two weeks after his arrival. New experiences were ahead of him, for the children had never before associated with a colored child. one of these scholars was young Bob Ready, a lad just Stacey's age. And when an old man he still remember his reaction that April morning, nearly 70 years before.

'That morning I put on my hickory shirt and blue jeans and started off barefooted to school. I was walking along looking at the ground when all of a sudden I saw the oddest foot-print in the dust. A human one it surely was, but it looked as if the arch of the foot had pressed down and made a hole in the ground. The tracks went the way I was going and I followed them clear to school.

When I looked up, I saw a little nigger boy sitting on a bench leaning against the school building, his bare feet dangling. But he sat so still he hardly seemed alive. I went up and looked him over. Then, to see if he's move, I gave him a poke in the stomach with my finger. He rose right up, opened that big mouth of his a foot wide, and bit me right in the stomach. I could feel the teeth prints through my hickory shirt all the rest of the morning. That was the way I kind of initiated him. After that we were good friends.

The girls and boys who arrived in whooping; laughing, or whispering groups Stacey's first morning soon saw the results of his five years' previous schooling in Victoria, B.C., where there were only two weeks of vacation a year.

When Friday afternoon came, the time for recitation by the students, they found that Stacey knew three pieces from memory. One was Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech and the recital of any of them took almost the whole program period. They also discovered that when Stacey recited, they didn't have to. So each week on Friday, they all cried, "Let Stacey give a piece."

Nevertheless, the scholars weren't accustomed to a colored child and neither were their parents. Some of the latter even encourage their young off-spring to throw the young lad's books over the fence into the field. He told his stepfather that he could hold his own and take care of himself. But he made Stacey a desk just like the teacher's - one with a top that would open up and that had a lock. The locked desk helped out those who are persecuted have a tendency to retaliate.'"
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Stacey married Mary Victorine Hickling in July 1890. They had one child, Audrey, in August 1896, who died from Pneumonia and Tuberculosis at the age of 21.
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Centralia Daily Chronicle (WA)
January 11, 1919
"WAGON HIT BY TRAIN - A coal wagon driven by Stacey Cooness was hit by a passenger train yesterday afternoon at the Main street crossing, just south of the local depot. The wagon was badly damaged and coal was scattered around, but the driver and horses miraculously escaped injury."
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Centralia Daily Chronicle (WA)
December 5, 1918
"Horse is Killed - A valuable horse owned by Stacey Cooness was killed this morning when it stepped into a cesspool while Mr. Cooness was plowing up the vacant space opposite the union depot. It required four horses to pull the deed animal's carcass out of the hole."
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Stacey's obituary follows:
"PIONEER FIGURE TAKEN BY DEATH
Death came in a hospital Monday to Stacey Coonness, 83, who was one of the outstanding figures in Centralia's early history. Born October 22, 1860, in Victoria, B.C., he came here 72 years ago last April 3. He was the stepson of George Washington, Centralia's Negro founder, and "Centralia; the First Fifty Years," compiled in 1941 by Miss Herndon Smith, high school instructor, from material gathered by her English students, contains many interesting details of his early life in the community.

Coonness left no known relatives, his wife, Victorina, whom he married in July, 1890, and daughter Audrey, having preceded him in death. The original home the couple occupied still stands at the corner of Main street and Harrison Avenue. Later, they constructed a larger residence on South Silver Street. Cooness' home at the time of his death was at 715 Gold Street.

Funeral services for the historical figure will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at the Newell-Hoerling Chapel, Capt. Lester Craddock of the Salvation Army, will officiate, and burial will be at Washington Lawn."