This website has focused on the descendants of Richard Stone 1579 of Clayhanger, Devon, who can be found in Chipstable, Asbrittle, Wiveliscombe and other nearby parishes in Somerset and Devon.
When working with Robert Hayward, then of Wellington, and Nan (Mrs. George) Mead in 1995 and later, we discovered that we needed to separate our many Stones into at least two big lines after Richard Stone 1579 of my line was discovered to be the father of Emanuel Stone from his first marriage. Emanuel’s descendants include Captain Stone 1784 who emigrated to Illinois in 1818. This is the line from which I descend.
Richard 1579 (my 9th GGF) married a second time, almost forty years after his first marriage. The descendants of his marriage with Elinor/Eleanor Slocombe also remained in the parishes named above and were close companions of their cousins from Richard’s first marriage, primarily around Chipstable, Ashbrittle and Wiveliscombe. This second marriage also produced a Captain Stone 1756, a cousin of my ancestor Captain 1784. This older Captain’s son Robert emigrated to Tasmania and is responsible for thousands of descendants there and in Australia and New Zealand. (Captain Stone 1784 of the first descent line was most likely named after his older cousin Captain Stone 1756 of the second descent line). I know of no other Captain Stones in Great Britain, and I have been told by an eminent historian and university vice chancellor that he has never seen a given (baptismal) name Captain in any English family of whatever surname!
There are many more Stones in the parishes named and in other neighboring parishes that I have been unable to attach accurately and confidently to my existing tree. Since the parish records in Ashbrittle and Chipstable are absent in the 16c and sparse in the 17c, many of these unattached Stones may indeed belong in the same large family that includes Richard Stone 1579. There were many Stones in Clayhanger, Devon from the late 15c or earlier. I recall that 13 of the 30 or so Clayhanger wills that are housed at the UK Archives were Stones, by far the largest one-name contingent from that parish.
When Richard 1579 of Clayhanger was discovered to be the father of Emanuel Stone 1608, and later as the father of a second family who then lived in Ashbrittle and Chipstable, the discovery separated this entire family from one that had been developed by Bob Hayward and that can be found online in various sites that contain uploaded family trees. Some of the data in those trees is now known to be in error, as the family of Richard Stone 1579 has been developed and documented. The direct lines from Richard 1579 to the Stones of Illinois and the Stones of Australia and New Zealand I am confident are correct. I cannot be certain, however, of the descendants of all the brothers and sisters down through the generations. There are hundreds of Stones in my PAF file that I cannot firmly tie to the Richard Stone 1579 line, but many of them may belong there.
Bob Hayward traced another Stone line back to William Stone of Yarcombe, Devon in 1566, and I am including in this post a chart of the descendants of William 1566, including an index. This data is Bob’s work and I have not done any research to corroborate or change it. Stone researchers who do not belong to the Richard Stone 1579 family may belong to the William Stone 1566 family. Perhaps the two families are connected, but at this time I do not know. Bob Hayward has many of the descendants of William 1566 living in Langford Budville, Wiveliscombe, Chipstable and other parishes around Wiveliscombe, i.e. almost the same parishes in which the Richard Stone descendants lived.
I would be most pleased if someone could find a connection between these two lines, or prove that there is not one. I will be happy to answer questions – if I know the answer!
Twelve generations of the descendants of William Stone of Yarcombe are shown here. Click below.
Hello from New Zealand. I am descended from Grace Stone 1706 and Hugh Talbot II both from Holcombe.
I have been struggling for a while over the Somerset Stone families and have read your site here with interest. However can you shed any light on Ambrose born 1679 in Langford Budville, son of Nicholas born 1650 and Mary Blundell? They don’t appear to be the same Ambrose and Nicholas in your tree. Some Ancestry trees seem to have the Yarcombe Stones originating from William Stone b. 1520 or 1505 in Twiston, Lancashire but the dates are not believable.
Regards, David.
David. I only discovered your comment on stone-rhodes website today. Was not alerted to its arrival and visit my site so seldom. Will read and get back to you. John Stone
Just found your comment on stone-rhodes and will read and get bqck to you. I’m not firm in my knowledge of the so-called Yarcombe Stone line, once my own Stones were proven to be of Clayhanger and Chipstable. Bob Hayward, bhe creator of the Yarcombe line research has disappeared from the genealogy scene (was a good friend), so I may not be of much help. More later…. John Stone
Help!
Hi, if you can expand upon your query “Help”, will try.
Hello I am starting research on my mother’s family who are called stone and my grandfather is noted on your register. Do you have notes of any stones still alive in Langford Budville. My grandfather was Albert Henry Stone. Many thanks Scott Spencer
Where do the langford budville blacksmiths that had the forge in the village family fit into this? I can’t see them. Albert Henry Stone junior and senior and I believe there was a William stone before them.
re; your following question on the Stone-Rhodes website “comments”:
Author: Shaun Spencer (IP address: 109.249.185.80, 109.249.185.80)
Email: [email protected]
URL: (from Stone-Rhodes.org website)
Your Comment:
Where do the langford budville blacksmiths that had the forge in the village family fit into this? I can’t see them. Albert Henry Stone junior and senior and I believe there was a William stone before them.
My response:Alas, now you’ve got me. Although I have a huge file of what I call the Yarcombe Stones, aka the Langford Budville Stones, I know virtually nothing about them. More than twenty years ago they became separated from my Stones (of Clayhanger, Ashbrittle, Chipstable and nearby) by my then research colleague Bob Hayward, then in Wellington. (There were half a dozen of us sharing information around the world via email in the late 90s – early 2000s. I have lost contact with Bob, and since the splitting of the Stones into two groups, I’ve never studied the “Langford Budville – aka Yarcombe – Stones. So I know nothing that would answer your question.
However, I have always wondered if the Langford Budville Stones actually did come from Yarcombe, Devon. Hayward determined that they did, and I never challenged his conclusions prior to losing contact with him. Could the Nicholas Stone who is shown to be born in Yarcombe and died in LB actually have been born much closer to LB?
One possible help would be to have the DNA of the Langford Budville Stones to compare with the DNA of me and in part the Clayhanger & Chipstable area Stones.
It seemed to me that the key person who brought Yarcombe into the game was a Nicholas Stone born about 1584 in Yarcombe, DEV (according to Hayward). Since there were several Nicholas Stones in the Clayhanger – Wiveliscombe – Ashbrittle etc. area, in the 16c – 17c, I wondered if Hayward’s conclusion that he had to go to Yarcombe to start the Langford Budville family was accurate, which meant that they then had to trek all the way north from Yarcombe to Langford Budville. However, I have not been able to identify a specific Nicholas Stone born and living closer to Wiveliscombe to have replaced the Yarcombe Nicholas, but there were several in the area.
So – to make a long story shorter – I have done quite well in securing my Stones from Clayhanger from perhaps 1500 – 1550 to the present, but I have never devoted any time to the so-callled Yarcombe line. Any thoughts or suggestions you have on the matter would be most welcome. I’m about to touch 90 years of age, so it has seemed doubtful that I would succeed in solving this mystery.
I add that it became even more confusing when Hayward had many of his Yarcombe Stones playing around the Wiveliscombe area as well as LB, where there are tons of my Clayhanger/Ashbrittle/Chipstable Stones. So as a result, when I see a Stone near Wiveliscombe, at this point I cannot automatically assume that he is my kin. He could be from the “Yarcombe line” – unless they are all the same people!
I will welcome your feedback.–
John C. Stone II
New Hampshire & Vermont, USA
[email protected]://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/collections/manuscripts/stone/index.html
Researching: STONE, Walser, Hocking, Hauser, Bonner, Jaggers, Hudson, Chity, Scott, Johns, Ballard, Tudbole & variations, Sellick, Perrett/Perrott etc,, Ernst, Strub, Krause; RHODES, Riley, Basing, Peebles, Dickenson, Fieldhouse, Hutchison, Quarters, Herron, Badger, McGuire.