Do you like genealogy?
I have always enjoyed it. As a
child I used to call my grandparents and great grandparents and draw out the
family trees. I always thought it was
interesting. As an adult, I thought it
was very interesting to find out that one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence was a relative. My mother
was a Stone. She had two Stone first
cousins marry in her family tree. One of
their other first cousins was Thomas Stone, the signer of the Declaration of
Independence.
We went on a family road trip this summer to
Gettysburg, Washington DC, and Virginia.
Our main focus was Washington DC and the area. We went to Thomas Stone’s home, Habre de
Venture in Maryland. It’s a beautiful
National Park. It was a very peaceful place,
and we got a wonderful personalized tour from the park ranger who gave us not
only Thomas Stone’s history, but the history of the Stone family.
Thomas Stone is a direct descendant of William Stone,
the first protestant governor of Maryland.
He was the oldest son of a second wife, so his eldest brother inherited
the Stone estate of Poynton Manor. Thomas
Stone used his wits to study for law and build up his own successful
practice. He also married a wealthy
woman, Margaret Brown. With her dowry,
he was able to purchase land build Habre de Venture. They had three children, but Margaret was sickly
and bedridden for the last ten years of her life. While Thomas tried to care for his family, he
also worked to get Maryland on board with signing the Declaration of Independence. He also was a secret supply depot for the
Maryland Militia during the Revolutionary War.
After his beloved wife died young, Thomas Stone died of heartbreak less
than a year later at the age of 44. His son
died in a yellow fever epidemic and his daughters married and moved to Virginia. Dying so young and working under the radar to
get things done has made Stone an elusive patriot that not much is known about
today. I thought these quotes did a great
job of describing him.
“Laboring often under very real threats of total self-destruction
(family, estates, business, health) the sometimes foundering fathers prevailed
in a great pioneering, audacious effort to create a new social order in which
each individual stood a fair chance to enjoy security, agreeable livelihood, freedom
from oppression - - ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,’ words we hope
are familiar to all Americans.”
“And among his peers few have been less known and more
neglected.”
“Among his peers in the Continental Congresses Stone
stood tall and remained substantial, politically astute and highly respected
figure right up to the eve of his very tragic death.”
“Stone’s life reflects a nature, background, ability
and spirit for freedom not matched by most Colonials during the decade before
the Declaration. He worked to help
remove the wrinkles from government under the Articles of Confederation. He played a major part in marking out the spectacular
trail from the Mount Vernon Convention of 1785 to the deliberations of the Constitutional
Convention of 1787.”
“Thomas Stone is one of the least conspicuous of
Maryland’s great Revolutionary heroes not because he was not entitled to the
plaudits of the enthusiasts of the Republic then in the marking, but because he
shunned notoriety, and was only given to a few intimate associates to know the
true worth of the man.”
This biography was of great interest for me for the
family history. I also liked the
pictures included. My only complaint was
that the layout of the book was a bit strange.
I would love to read this story as a historical fiction novel.
Book Source:
Purchased at the Thomas Stone National Historic Site.
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