Stone Family

 

 

On right: All Saints Parish Church in Chipstable, Somerset seen from the south. Many Stone family members are buried in the Churchyard.

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE STONE FAMILY

An asterisk (*) next to a name indicates that a will or other significant document(s) can be found among the Stone Documents.

When this Stone-Rhodes website was created in 2013 I felt certain that I had reached the end of the line in tracing my early Stone ancestors. There was and remains no doubt that Richard Stone* of Clayhanger, born in the 1570s, was my ninth great grandfather. Furthermore, the line of Stones from him to many of the Stone families of the present day is well documented. In 2013, however, I did not know the identity of Richard’s two wives. I had no knowledge whatsoever of his first wife – my 9X great grandmother, and I knew only that his second wife’s given name was Eleanor*. We now have identified those two wives, and the identity of Richard’s father is now considered certain. Prior to Richard’s father John Stone of Hele (a Clayhanger property), however, there are several lines of Stones in Clayhanger, some going back to the 1490s, which could be John of Hele’s forbears

In Clayhanger, County Devon, there were abundant Stones in the 16^th century – identified not only in parish records starting before 1540, but also named in the 1543 – 1546 “Devon Lay Subsidy” rolls and the 1569 Devon muster roll. A John Stone “Senior” was named with a John “Junior” and other early 16c Stones. John Stone “Senior” was buried in 1551 and was born perhaps about 1489. His children appeared to be Thomas, John junior, Joan and Andrewe, their being born about 1515 to 1522. Possibly Thomas was a brother of John Stone senior rather than a son. Andrewe married Thomazine Nutcombe from the Manor of Clayhanger. Without complete certainty, one can trace the various 16c Stones, e.g. the sons of John Stone Senior circa 1479, down through that century. There were several Stone families in Clayhanger in the 16c. Of the thirty wills from Clayhanger in the Archives in London, nine of them are Stones!

As to who might have been Richard Stone’s parents, the documentation was weaker. A John Stone alias Venne of Chipstable wrote a will in 1617, but the will itself was lost. We have long known that our Stone family farmed the Venn farm in Chipstable (on the border with Clayhanger) as early as 1602 and probably earlier. There were Stones at Venn in the mid to late 16c. It had been tempting, therefore, to assign John Stone Senior alias Venne as Richard’s father. There was also a John Stone alias Hele of Clayhanger, however, who indeed did have a son named Richard. (Hele remains a farm in Clayhanger – and is relatively close to Venn in Chipstable.) In his 1588 will, John Stone alias Hele assigned the administration of his estate to his natural son Richard. Even though a baptism in Clayhanger for Richard son of a John Stone or a John Stone alias Hele has not been found, I now lean toward John Stone alias Hele as Richard’s father, rather than John Stone Senior alias Venne. John Stone alias Hele appears in the Clayhanger parish records as the father of twin daughters Alice and Johan Stone who were baptized in 1573. There are many christenings of children of a father named John Stone in Clayhanger, but only those two specifically state “of (or alias) Hele”. I believe, however, that other children baptized for a father listed only as “John Stone” could be of the same father who sometimes was specified as “alias” or “of” Hele”.

A Thomas Stone was baptized the son of John Stone in Clayhanger in 1581. A Thomas Stone who later married Ann Charles I have long believed to have been a brother of Richard, based on family connections seen in other documents. For example, Richard’s son Emanuel Stone was a witness to the will of Ann Charles Stone*, the widow of a Thomas Stone. A Robert Charles was also a witness for Ann Stone’s will. He was a nephew of Thomas and Ann and presumably a cousin of the Stones. His parents were Thomas Charles and a Maria Stone. Furthermore, Ann Charles Stone after the death of Thomas, was named along with Richard Stone and his son Emanuel as lessors of Chipstable properties from the Bluet family. When Richard’s eldest son John Stone* died in 1637, he gave his weaving looms to Robert Charles (his cousin I have presumed). Sounds like a family connection. I believe that Thomas Stone 1581 was a younger brother of Richard.

With all of this circumstantial evidence, John Stone alias Hele is now my current but less well documented choice for the father of Richard Stone. He would be my 10^th great grandfather. Richard probably was a younger brother of Alice and Johan Stone who were 1573 daughters of John Stone alias Hele, and an older brother of James 1576 and Thomas 1581. In 1589 yet another daughter was baptized, with a John of Hele named as her father. She was bapstized AFTER John died and was buried (1588). (There were three Thomas Stones born in the 1570s – 1581 whose father was named John.) I suggest that Richard was born about 1575, not 1579 as I have suggested in all of my previous records for Richard. His first marriage was celebrated in October, 1599, which fits well with a 1575 estimated birth year for Richard Stone.

Another visitor and contributor to this website (see Comments – thanks!) provided documentation of the burial in 1633 in Clayhanger of the first wife of Richard Stone, her name interpreted as “Emmin”. Subsequently another contributor discovered the marriage of Richard Stone and “Emma Sedgeborrow” in Burlescombe, Devon in October 1599. Although the spelling of Emma’s surname in the marriage record is difficult to read, “Sedgeborrow” is said to be the correct pronunciation of her name. A year or more prior to that discovery, another contributor to this website identified Richard’s second wife as Eleanor Slocombe*. She married Richard in Crowcombe, Somerset, in 1639. Since her baptismal record has not been found, we don’t know her age at marriage. She died in 1674. Thanks to these research contributions, both of Richard’s wives at last are known after many years of fruitless research. Images of these baptisms, marriages and burials, from the parish records, are in my files.

Richard’s and Emma’s six children, born 1602 – 1612, were John*, Joane, William, Richard, Emanuel and Agnes. Clayhanger christening records are available for all. John* married Richord Parkhouse* in 1623, but he died in 1637. Both John and Richord left wills, but they had no children. William was buried in 1636 and Richard in 1610. Only Joane, Emanuel and Agnes had children. Richord Stone’s will is particularly valuable because she names all of the children of her brother in law Emanuel Stone. Of his nine or ten children, only the record of the christening of Richard in 1640 in Chipstable survived among Chipstable’s 17c parish records. Lucky for us! Her will and many others are among the Stone documents on this website.

Only a few of the lines of descent from Emanuel Stone’s many children have been traced to the present day. Chipstable’s parish records for most of the 17c have been lost. One of those lines of descent in England included his eldest son Richard 1640 of Chipstable and this Richard’s descendants Robert about 1683, Thomas 1716, John 1739 (all in Chipstable), Captain 1784 (in Wiveliscombe), and Joseph 1816 (in Bramfield, Herts). This is the line that included the emigration of Captain Stone’s family to Illinois. In Edwards County, Illinois, Joseph Stone’s descendants include James Scott Stone 1839, and John Charles Stone 1867. Joseph’s older brother Horatio also has USA descendants, as do their sisters Jane (married James Thread) and Sarah (married Isaac Smith). Documentation of this line of descent from John Stone alias Hele, of Clayhanger, Devon, to John Charles Stone of Bone Gap, Illinois is excellent.

Prior to 1814, Captain Stone and his family had moved from Wiveliscombe, Somerset to the Marden Hill estate in Hertfordshire, where Captain served as Steward of the Farm for the Flower family. Richard Flower was a successful English brewer of Hertford, which is three miles east of the Marden Hill estate. Marden Hill is a beautiful property, and the Flower Brewery is still in existence today, but headquartered in Stratford-on-Avon, where it is the largest employer and major patron in the community.

In 1818 two ships from England took settlers to the “English Settlement” on the southern Illinois prairies. On the second ship – The Anne Marie emigrants included the Flower family (including Richard Flower and his son George –(George being one of the two “founders” of the English Settlement of Albion), the Captain Stone family, and others. These two boat loads immigrated to Edwards County, Illinois and founded the town of Albion.  Captain Stone died about 1821 in Albion, but his son Joseph married twice, first to Eliza Jane Boner/Bonner and, after her death, to Jane Cortrecht. Joseph and Eliza Jane’s first son was James Scott Stone. “Scott” Stone in turn married Elizabeth Sarah Hocking (daughter of John) of a large family that immigrated to Edwards County from Ruan Lanihorne, Cornwall. The Stones and Hockings and many of their relatives lived for several generations in Bone Gap, a community north of Albion. Scott and Elizabeth Stone’s eldest son was John Charles Stone, born in Bone Gap in 1867. He married Gertrude Walser, who was born in the adjacent town of West Salem, Illinois, just north of Bone Gap. Both were teachers in Edwards County, and eventually John became an eminent author of mathematics text books. The two children of John and Gertrude Stone were Lucile Stone (married Walter Barry Mallon) and John Sydney Stone (married Mary Quarters Rhodes).

The children from Richard Stone’s second family were born almost forty years after their half siblings described above. Richard married Eleanor Slocombe*  in 1639 in Crowcombe, Somerset. Eleanor died in 1674. They had a son Richard in 1640, a son William in 1643, and a daughter Hanna in 1647. Richard and Hanna were baptized in Clayhanger. Richard married Thomazine Waldron, and many of their descendants are in Australia and New Zealand. Thousands of them! Hanna married John Burge and they had three surviving children. Their descendants probably can be traced further. A third child of Richard and Eleanor, William, was baptized in Ashbrittle but has not been traced beyond his christening.

I note that two members of our family named Richard Stone were christened in 1640, which can be a source of confusion. The christening of Richard and Eleanor’s son Richard Stone in Clayhanger in October 1640 followed by six or seven months the christening of Emanuel’s son Richard Stone in Chipstable in March 1640. This March christening was for the eldest grandson of Emma and Richard Stone 1575, whereas the October christening was a second marriage son of Richard 1575 and Eleanor. The eldest son traditionally fared the best in those times! In his 1653 will, Richard 1575 left £10 to his grandson Richard, but only ten shillings each to the other seven grandchildren in Emnuel’s family! This older Richard Stone 1640 of Chipstable was buried in Chipstable in 1734 at an unusual age of ninety-four, whereas the younger Richard Stone 1640 died in Ashbrittle in 1678. For many years the elder Richard Stone of Chipstable looked after the children of his deceased “uncle” in Ashbrittle. Many indentures from the Cheffins auction (see Stone Documents) confirm this senior relative role played by the elder Richard Stone 1640. Thus, the family had two Richard Stones born the same year, the younger one being the uncle of the older one! It is confusing! I am often challenged when I state that Richard Stone 1640 of Chipstable lived to be 94 and was buried in 1734. But the documentation with parish records, Bishops’ transcripts, and legal documents is good: baptized 1640, married 1668, several legal indentures in the late 17c and early 18c at the Somerset Heritage Society, and his burial in 1734.

The younger Richard 1640 and his wife Thomazine Waldron* of Ashbrittle moved to her parish (immediately adjacent to Clayhanger and Chipstable), where they had five children: Thomazine, William, Robert, Johan (who died shortly after birth) and Grace. The first three were identified by their grandmother Eleanor Stone as her grandchildren in her 1673 will. Grace probably was born after her grandmother Eleanor’s death. Richard their father died in 1678 and Thomazine their mother in 1684, alas very short lives. Robert*, William* and Grace* were named in family documents (see Cheffins) as late as 1685, but William and Grace have been difficult to trace after that date. Several generations mostly of the male ancestors of Thomazine Waldron are available thanks to a contributor to this website. The  Waldrons were a prominent family in Ashbrittle and elsewhere in Somerset and Devon.

Richard’s and Thomazine’s son Robert Stone* – born probably before 1670 – married Elizabeth Hill in neighboring Stawley, Somerset in 1705 and this family eventually acquired 75% or more ownership the Venn Farm in neighboring Chipstable that had been leased by the Stone family from the Bluett family since some time in the 16c. Many of the Cheffins auction documents involve Robert Stone circa 1665-1670. One of them is a difficult to read draft of his will, but Robert died intestate in 1728. Robert and his wife Elizabeth Hill Stone began a line of descent that included descendants who immigrated to Australia and New Zealand from the London area in 1834. Robert’s great, great, great grandson, Charles Burrell Stone, in 1841 was the first white child to be born in Auckland, New Zealand. He was Commodore of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in 1887. The RNZYS held the America’s Cup from 1995 to 2003, regained it in 2017 in Bermuda, and retained it in Auckland in March, 2021! C. B. Stone’s father Captain James (“CJ”) Stone was one of the founders of Auckland. 

This website about the Stone family will be updated and enhanced from time to time. The charts and reports that follow provide many more details. Wherever on this website you find reference to Richard Stone 1579, mentally change that to Richard Stone 1575. The 1575 birth date is my best estimate.

 

 

 

 CHARTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

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THE TWO MARRIAGES OF RICHARD STONE – 5 GENERATIONS

DESCENDANTS OF RICHARD STONE AND EMMA SEDGEBORROW – 11 GENERATIONS

DESCENDANTS OF RICHARD STONE AND ELEANOR SLOCOMBE – 10 GENERATIONS

THE ANCESTORS OF THOMAZINE WALDRON

FAN CHART OF THE DESCENDANTS OF RICHARD STONE AND EMMA SEDGEBORROW

FAN CHART OF THE DESCENDANTS OF RICHARD STONE AND ELEANOR SLOCOMBE

THE FAMILY OF JOHN STONE ALIAS HELE, DIED 1588

THE FAMILY OF RICHARD STONE 1575 AND EMMA SEDGEBORROW

THE FAMILY OF RICHARD STONE 1575 AND ELEANOR SLOCOMBE

THE FAMILY OF EMANUEL STONE 1609 AND JOANE HILL

THE FAMILY OF RICHARD STONE 1640 OF CHIPSTABLE AND GRACE TUTBOLE 1645

THE FAMILY OF ROBERT STONE 1683 AND MARY ?TAYLOR

THE FAMILY OF ROBERT STONE 1683 AND ELIZABETH VENNER

THE FAMILY OF THOMAS STONE 1716 AND BETTY PERRATT 1718

THE FAMILY OF JOHN STONE 1739 AND ELIZABETH SELLICK 1750

THE FAMILY OF CAPTAIN STONE 1784 AND ANN WEBBER 1779

THE FAMILY OF JOSEPH STONE 1816 AND ELIZA JANE BONNER

THE FAMILY OF JOSEPH STONE 1816 AND JANE CORTRECHT

THE FAMILY OF JAMES SCOTT STONE 1839 & ELIZABETH SARAH HOCKING

JOHN CHARLES STONE – 5 GENERATIONS OF ANCESTORS

GERTRUDE LUCILE WALSER – 5 GENERATIONS OF ANCESTORS

JOHN CHARLES STONE

(Stone was in Who’s Who from 1912 through 1942. This entry is from Who Was Who published in 1967.)