Geography & Origins

In seeking our ancestral Stone roots, it helps to start four centuries ago, when our first documented ancestors were being baptized, married, and buried. The two 1611–1612 maps of Great Britain shown in the archive are appropriate for our family: 1612 was the year the last of the six children of Richard Stone (1575–1653) and Emma Sedgeborrow was christened. The maps cover the border country between Devon and Somerset and include nearly all the parishes of importance to our family from the 16th through the 19th century.

Although some kin continue to live in this area to this day, the number of Stone descendants is small compared with the 17th–19th centuries. My study has focused on Captain Stone (1784–1821), descended from Richard's first marriage, whose family moved from Somerset to Hertfordshire and then to Albion, Illinois in 1818; and on Robert Stone (1789), descended from the second marriage, who emigrated to Tasmania, Melbourne, and then New Zealand in 1833. The unusual baptismal name "Captain" recurs through the family.

Devonshire

The parish of Clayhanger sits on the border with Somerset — a small parish of barely 200 residents, worth a leisurely visit along its narrow lanes. All of Richard's eight children were baptized in St. Peter's Church. To the west is the larger town of Bampton; there were Stones in the neighboring parishes of Huntsham, Holcombe Rogus, and Hockworthy. Nutcombe House, northwest of the village, recalls the family who were once lords of the manor.

Somersetshire

Even more parishes of interest appear on the Somerset map. Foremost is Chipstable, which I consider our family seat — many ancestors were baptized and married at All Saints or buried in its churchyard. My second cousin John Stone (1789) became Lord of the Manor of Chipstable in 1827, establishing his seat at Bulland Lodge. The Chipstable "home base" of our line dates from the beginning of the 17th century, centered on the Venn Farm on the parish boundary with Clayhanger, which the Stones leased from about 1600 and later purchased. Withycombe Farm and Withycombe House were the birthplace of many members of the family.

Ashbrittle, just east of Clayhanger, was an important parish for the New Zealand line — Richard Stone 1640 and Thomazine Waldron and their children. Wiveliscombe, the local market town, is where Captain Stone 1784 and his six brothers were baptized at St. Andrew's. West of Chipstable, Dulverton and Brushford are where my sixth great grandfather Robert Stone settled after his working life. Clatworthy, Huish Champflower, Bishops Lydeard, Brompton Ralph, and Raddington all appear in the family record.