John was born on December 24, 1830 in Washington County, Kentucky, United States, the son of Robert G. and Harriet (Pirtle) Stayton, both descendants of early settlers of the state. When he was two years old the family removed to Paducah in the western part of Kentucky, a region then sparsely settled.
The death of his father two years later placed the burden of his support and education on his mother. Her death in 1844 left him an orphan at the age of fourteen.
Fort four years he attended the Kentucky country schools in the autumn and winter.
He also read all the books he could find.
At the age of seventeen he made up his mind to prepare himself for the bar. Since his guardian was unwilling that he should spend his meager resources on a college education, he left the farm and apprenticed himself to a blacksmith in order to learn the trade and earn the money to pay for his legal training.
Upon attaining his majority he continued to work at his trade and at the same time carried on a systematic course of study. At twenty-four he began reading law under the written direction of his mother's brother, Henry Pirtle of Louisville, Kentucky.
In the fall of 1855 he entered the law school of Louisville University, from which he was graduated the following March with the degree of bachelor of laws.
After studies Stayton removed to Texas, settling at Pleasanton, south of San Antonio, where for a time he operated a blacksmith shop and conducted a law office. His law practice, however, soon absorbed all his time and energies.
In 1858 he was elected to the office of district attorney and was reelected in 1860. At the end of his term of office he enlisted in the Confederate army as a private in Captain Lewis Maverick's company, but later he was commissioned to raise a company of cavalry, which he commanded during the remainder of the war. Immediately after the war, since the courts were all closed, he earned a livelihood by teaching school for a year.
In 1866, in partnership with Samuel C. Lackey, he opened a law office at Clinton, Texas, then the county seat of DeWitt County.
In 1871 Major A. H. Phillips of Victoria was admitted to the partnership, the firm name becoming Phillips, Lackey & Stayton, and Stayton removed with his family to Victoria. Phillips in 1878 retired and two years later Stayton's son, Robert Weldon, and R. J. Kleberg joined the firm, which was thereafter known as Staytons, Lackey & Kleberg.
In 1888, upon the retirement of Asa H. Willie, he became chief justice. In this position he served most acceptably until his death some six years later at the home of his daughter, at Tyler.
In 1856, immediately after his graduation from law school, he married Eliza Jane ("Jennie") Weldon, daughter of Abraham and Mary Jane (Rutter) Weldon, and grand-niece of United States Attorney-General Felix Grundy. They had one son and two daughters, all of whom survived him.
A grandson, Robert Weldon Stayton, served for several years on the commission of appeals of the supreme court, and became professor of law at the University of Texas.
