Stone
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Stone Surname Genealogy
The surname Stone comes from the Old English stan meaning "stone." It could describe someone who lived on stony ground or by a stone marker; or it could derive from a place-name of Stone (of which there were many in England). An eminent Stone befitting the name was Nicholas Stone, the 17th century master mason to James I and Charles I.
England. Early spellings were Stanes, Stane and Ston. The Stone name had no geographic focus and sprung up in various parts of the country. Stone families from the 16th century included:
The 1881 distribution of the Stone name showed it spread around the country, with clusters around London and the southeast, in the west country, and in Lancashire.
Ireland. Stone in Ireland was usually an English or Scottish implant, introduced by settlers into Ulster in the 17th century.
America. William Stone, born into a Lancashire merchant family, had come to Virginia as a young man in 1628 and succeeded as a merchant and a planter there. He then left Virginia for the new colony of Maryland and was appointed its governor in 1648 after having drawn Protestant settlers there. As a reward he was granted "as much land as he could ride around in a day."
More than a hundred years later his great grandson Thomas was a signer of the Declaration of Independence as the representative for Maryland; while brother John was Governor of Maryland from 1794 to 1797 and other Stones played prominent roles in the civic life of Maryland at that time. Charles Stone's 1951 book The Stones of Surry traced the line from Enoch Stone.
Early Stone arrivals in New England were:
Canada. There were early records of a probable Loyalist, David Stone, in New Brunswick in the 1780's. John Stone of English ancestry arrived from Ireland in 1820, married and settled to farm first in Elizabethtown and then in Orford, Ontario. One son Frederick became a lawyer, another Thomas ran a dry goods store. A grandson Thomas became one of Canada's foremost diplomats.
Australia and New Zealand. The Stone name is very much attached to the early history of Western Australia. Alfred and George Stone had come out to the Swan river settlement in the early 1830's as lawyers. George's son Edward Stone was a long-serving judge of the colony. He wrote his memoirs Some Old-Time Memories in 1918.
Benjamin Stone, born in Essex, enlisted in the British army with the 70th Regiment and served in India. On his discharge in 1861 he set sail on the Daniel Rankin for Auckland, New Zealand. He died there in 1889. John and Harriet Stone arrived in Queensland from Devon in 1866. A descendant is Shane Stone, chief minister of the Northern Territories.
Select Stone Miscellany
Select Stone Names
Benjamin Stone established the earliest known English sword factory, at Hounslow Heath just outside London, in the early 1600's.
The Rev. Edward Stone was an 18th century clergyman who discovered the active ingredient in aspirin.
Thomas Stone was a signer of the US Declaration of Independence as the representative for Maryland.
Izzy Stone, born Isador Feinstein in Philadelphia, was an iconoclastic American investigative journalist, best-known for his self-published newsletter I.F. Stone's Weekly.
Oliver Stone is a prominent American film director.
Sharon Stone is an American actress, best known for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct.
Sly Stone is the lead singer of Sly and the Family Stone.
Select Stones Today
The surname Stone comes from the Old English stan meaning "stone." It could describe someone who lived on stony ground or by a stone marker; or it could derive from a place-name of Stone (of which there were many in England). An eminent Stone befitting the name was Nicholas Stone, the 17th century master mason to James I and Charles I.
Select
Stone Resources on
The
Internet
- Stone Family Association. US-based Stone association.
- Stone Family History. British and American Stones.
- Wedmore Genealogy Pages. Stones of Wedmore in Somerset.
- Stone DNA Project. Stone DNA.
England. Early spellings were Stanes, Stane and Ston. The Stone name had no geographic focus and sprung up in various parts of the country. Stone families from the 16th century included:
- the Stones of Trevigo in Cornwall
- the Stones
of Wedmore in Somerset
- the Stones
of Princes Risborough in
Buckinghamshire
- the Stones of Bedingham Hall in Norfolk
- and the Stones of Croston in
Lancashire
(from whom came William Stone, early emigrant to America).
The 1881 distribution of the Stone name showed it spread around the country, with clusters around London and the southeast, in the west country, and in Lancashire.
Ireland. Stone in Ireland was usually an English or Scottish implant, introduced by settlers into Ulster in the 17th century.
America. William Stone, born into a Lancashire merchant family, had come to Virginia as a young man in 1628 and succeeded as a merchant and a planter there. He then left Virginia for the new colony of Maryland and was appointed its governor in 1648 after having drawn Protestant settlers there. As a reward he was granted "as much land as he could ride around in a day."
More than a hundred years later his great grandson Thomas was a signer of the Declaration of Independence as the representative for Maryland; while brother John was Governor of Maryland from 1794 to 1797 and other Stones played prominent roles in the civic life of Maryland at that time. Charles Stone's 1951 book The Stones of Surry traced the line from Enoch Stone.
Early Stone arrivals in New England were:
- Simon Stone and his brother Gregory who arrived on the Increase in 1635. Simon
settled in Watertown and Gregory in Cambridge. A descendant of
Gregory's, David Stone, grew up in North Carolina and was Senator and
Governor of that state in the early 1800's.
- Hugh Stone who came to Rhode Island on the Deborah as a young lad in 1657. He lived on in Rhode Island until 1723, dying in Providence at the age of ninety. The family history was covered in Richard Stone's 1866 book Genealogy of the Stone Family.
- and another Hugh Stone who married Hannah Foster in Andover, Massachusetts in 1666. In 1689 Hugh Stone murdered his wife by cutting her throat in a drunken rage and was hanged on Gibbet Plain.
Canada. There were early records of a probable Loyalist, David Stone, in New Brunswick in the 1780's. John Stone of English ancestry arrived from Ireland in 1820, married and settled to farm first in Elizabethtown and then in Orford, Ontario. One son Frederick became a lawyer, another Thomas ran a dry goods store. A grandson Thomas became one of Canada's foremost diplomats.
Australia and New Zealand. The Stone name is very much attached to the early history of Western Australia. Alfred and George Stone had come out to the Swan river settlement in the early 1830's as lawyers. George's son Edward Stone was a long-serving judge of the colony. He wrote his memoirs Some Old-Time Memories in 1918.
Benjamin Stone, born in Essex, enlisted in the British army with the 70th Regiment and served in India. On his discharge in 1861 he set sail on the Daniel Rankin for Auckland, New Zealand. He died there in 1889. John and Harriet Stone arrived in Queensland from Devon in 1866. A descendant is Shane Stone, chief minister of the Northern Territories.
Select Stone Miscellany
If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
Select Stone Names
Benjamin Stone established the earliest known English sword factory, at Hounslow Heath just outside London, in the early 1600's.
The Rev. Edward Stone was an 18th century clergyman who discovered the active ingredient in aspirin.
Thomas Stone was a signer of the US Declaration of Independence as the representative for Maryland.
Izzy Stone, born Isador Feinstein in Philadelphia, was an iconoclastic American investigative journalist, best-known for his self-published newsletter I.F. Stone's Weekly.
Oliver Stone is a prominent American film director.
Sharon Stone is an American actress, best known for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct.
Sly Stone is the lead singer of Sly and the Family Stone.
Select Stones Today
Select Surname List
For other surnames check the select surname page where there are to be found the history and genealogy of more than 500 common and notable surnames in the English-speaking world.