Table of Contents
Stone Family Papers, 1747-1889
A Guide to the collection at the Connecticut Historical Society
Collection Overview |
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| Repository: | Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut |
| Creator : | Stone family |
| Title : | Stone Family Papers |
| Dates : | 1747-1889 |
| Extent : | 1 linear foot (2 boxes) |
| Location: | Ms 100736 |
| Language: | English |
Biographical Sketch
The earliest of papers in the collection were penned by Stephen Stone who was a descendant from William Stone (b. ca. 1608), a signer of the Guilford Covenant and member of Rev. Henry Whitfield’s first company to sail to New Haven in 1639. Stephen wed Rebekah (Rebecca) Bishop and the couple bore Leman Stone (29 Dec. 1750-May 1847) and Joel Stone. The family originated in Guilford but later moved to South Farms in Litchfield (now Morris). This line of the Stone family was merged with another Stone line when Leman married Lois Stone. This family bore several children, including Ellen Stone, who married Frederick William Stone (1842-1913). Ellen and Frederick had two sons: Frederick Leman Stone and William Oliver Stone (26 Sept. 1830-15 Sept. 1875).
Lois (or Louisa) Stone (24 April 1753-3 Feb. 1832) married Leman Stone on 5 July 1795. She was the daughter of Nathaniel Stone (1731- 4 Nov. 1815) and Lois Collins (9 March 1736-8 May 1795) who were married 2 Dec. 1761. Current research shows that Nathaniel and Lois also had a son named Timothy (1773-1826) (who would later become a deacon) and a daughter Rachel (b. 1765). Timothy married Eunice Parmalee [Parmele] (1778-1859) and had at least seven children. The most prominent child was the Reverend Collins Stone (12 Sept. 1812-24 Dec.1870). Collins was an 1832 Yale graduate and was room-mates with his brother-in-law Rollin Sydney Stone (b. 1809, d. 1895 in Chatham Borough, New Jersey) who would marry Collins’s sister Urania Stone. Collins married Ellen Jane Gill on 30 April 1839 and they had five children. (There are two connections to the Watkinson family of Hartford/Middletown here: Louisa Stone (1842-1913) (daughter of Collins and Ellen) married Edward Blair Watkinson (1813-1884) who was the son of Edward Watkinson (1783-1859). Also, Jane Watkinson Gill (1785-1859), whose papers are housed in the collection, was the mother of Collins' wife Ellen Jane Gill.)
Collins was an instrumental teacher in deaf education, becoming an early instructor in 1833, and later, the fourth president of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb in Hartford (later the American School for the Deaf) (ASD) in West Hartford. In between the two careers in Hartford, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio when Collins took the principalship of the Ohio Institution in 1852. However, the family met with despair there when two of Stone's daughters died. The family moved back to Hartford in 1863 when Collins took the principalship at the American Asylum. Shortly thereafter, Collins Stone's life ended when he was fatally injured on Sigourney Street in Hartford when the carriage he was driving was struck by a train on Christmas Eve, 1870.
Of the five children of Collins and Ellen, Edward Collins “Ned” Stone (29 Jan. 1840-1878) carried on his father's position at the American Asylum and held it until his death. Edward married Mary Catherine Welles (b. 13 Dec. 1843) on 26 July 1869 and the couple had at least two children including Jane “Jeannie” Welles Stone and Henrietta Ellen Stone. The Strong/Welles family lines converge in the collection here. Going back, we know that William Strong (28 July 1785-10 Nov. 1841) married Naomi Terry (b. 25 Sept. 1787) on 13 Nov. 1838. The couple bore Jane Naomi Strong (1814-1885) and William Sumner Strong (b. 20 Feb. 1820). Jane Naomi married Charles Pitkin Welles (1811-1876) and they raised Charles Thomas Welles (b. 23 April 1846) and Mary Catherine whom we have already discussed.
The remainder of those people represented in the collection are seemingly genealogically unrelated to the above group.
Maria Lewis is represented in the collection through several letters sent to her, care of William Turner, Esq. It can be assumed that this is William W. Turner (3rd principal of the American Asylum) however that link could not be proven at this time. A woman by the name of Margaret Maria Lewis is known, however, as being the first wife of Harvey Prindle Peet, who was an instructor and steward at the American Asylum as well as principal of the New York Institution.
Capt. John Bennett and daughter Eliza C. Bennett of Hartford are represented in the collection through personal correspondence, including a letter written to Mrs. Bennett and daughters by Laurent “Louis” Clerc (26 December 1785 – 18 July 1869), co-founder of the American Asylum. Further research may discover a connection between the Lewis, Bennett, and Stone families.
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Scope and Content
Wherever possible, folders in this collection have been arranged in chronological order by birth year of the person whose papers they contain. Furthermore, folders have been arranged by family names and familial relation (with family lines grouped together and parents coming before their children). Items within folders have been arranged chronologically.
The provenance of this collection is unknown but it is possible that this collection is part of the Stone-Welles-Todd family papers (Ms. 77458) donated by a descendant, Mary W. Todd of West Hartford, in May 1977.
This collection is focused around the correspondence and papers of the Bennett, Stone, Strong, Watkinson, Welles, and Turner families of the Hartford area. The earliest papers in the collection are from Stephen Stone and include a travel pass from 1747, his last will and testament, and a notarized note regarding a change in guardianship of Caty and Polly Stone in 1794. Leman Stone's papers include a property deed for land in South Farms (now Morris) Connecticut in 1776 and personal correspondence from his brother Stephen, and do his grand-daughter Louisa. Even though out of chronological order, the papers relating to the death of William Oliver Stone (great grandson of Leman Stone), include tributes to him written by staff at the National Academy of Design. Nathaniel and Lois Stone's personal correspondence (and transcriptions) are part of the collection and include their responses to the death of Lucy, their daughter. Rachel Stone's papers include personal correspondence (hand-written and typed transcriptions) to close family members and a very interesting declaration written at the age of 18 in which Rachel professes her love of Jesus Christ.
Timothy Stone writes to his brother William about his experiences with near-death as well as the death of a daughter Lavinia. Timothy's son, the Rev. Collins Stone, writes of less anguishing matters and we find that much of his correspondence details his leaving of the ministry and the reasons why he wanted to teach the deaf. Also included in his papers are letters of recommendation, and licenses from the North Association of Hartford from 1840-1849 (regarding his ministerial practices). Correspondents include close family members, Chauncey Goodrich (Yale), Rev. H. Woodruff of Orange, and Lewis Weld. Conversely, Ellen Jane Gill's correspondence is from close friends and Collins.
A sizable portion of the collection contains the letters of Edward Collins Stone and his wife Mary Catherine [Welles] Stone. His letters include, among other matters, discussions of his salary at the American Asylum, the solicitation of Edward for the position of principal at the Wisconsin Institute, and the fatal injuries his younger sister Alice received while in Ohio. Mary writes on personal matters, including the weather and travel, and also on the death of her husband. Mary's papers include receipts received while traveling around Stuttgart, Germany in 1889. Jean “Jeannie” Welles receives numerous letters from her children, including one written on what appears to be birch-bark, and writes frequently to her uncle about daily life. The remainder of the collection includes inventories and a bond for real estate owned by William Strong, the frequent correspondence of Jane Naomi Strong (including several interesting certifications she received from her teacher after completing religious education classes), the very fragile letters of Jane Watkinson, and correspondence of the Bennett family of Hartford, including a letter from Laurent Clerc.
Papers relating to the American Asylum seem to have been kept around the time of Edward Collins Stone's principalship at the American Asylum and not his fathers. The folder includes a transcript of a journal entry by Emily Peas (ca. 1849) who was studying to be a teacher and visited the American Asylum and describes lessons there. Also included are two copies of “The Daily News,” a copied, hand-written daily newsletter of the American Asylum dating from Dec. 23-24, 1878 which describe the loss of Edward Collins Stone. The collection ends with a folder of assorted letters and papers whose placement could not be determined at this time. Correspondents include Nancy & Fanny Bliss, Emily Bond, Elliott Stone, Achsa Goodwin, and Calvin Terry.
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Restrictions
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions on access to the collection.
Use Restrictions
Use of the material requires compliance with the Connecticut Historical Society's Research Center regulations.
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Subject Headings
Personal Names
Family Names
Subjects
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Item, Collection Title, Collection number (Box #, Folder #). Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut.
Processing Details
Collection was processed by Zac Mirecki in 2010.
EAD Finding Aid created June 2011.
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Contents:
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Return to the Table of Contents Papers |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Stephen Stone papers, 1747-1794 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Leman Stone (1750-1847) papers, 1776-1843 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Papers regarding the death of Wm. Oliver Stone, 1875 | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Nathaniel Stone papers, 1794-1804 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Lois [Collins] Stone papers, ca. 1794 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Rachel Stone papers, 1783-1828, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Timothy Stone correspondence, 1825 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Rollin Sydney Stone correspondence, 1822 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Rev. Collins Stone papers, 1833-1871 | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Ellen Jane Gill correspondence, 1849-1855, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Edward Collins Stone correspondence, 1852-1859 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Edward Collins Stone correspondence, 1860-1871 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Mary Catherine [Welles] Stone correspondence, 1871-1877 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Mary Catherine [Welles] Stone correspondence 1878-1881 | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Mary Catherine [Welles] Stone correspondence 1882-1886, 1888-1889 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Mary Catherine [Welles] Stone correspondence May-August 1889 | |||||||||
| 2 | 3 | Mary Catherine [Welles] Stone correspondence September-December 1889 | |||||||||
| 2 | 4 | Jane “Jeannie” [Welles] Stone correspondence, 1882-1889 | |||||||||
| 2 | 5 | Edward W. Welles correspondence, 1831-1835 | |||||||||
| 2 | 6 | William Strong papers, 1840, 1843 | |||||||||
| 2 | 7 | Jane Naomi Strong correspondence, 1828-1836 | |||||||||
| 2 | 8 | Jane Naomi Strong correspondence, 1837-1838, 1880 | |||||||||
| 2 | 9 | William Sumner Strong correspondence, 1870 | |||||||||
| 2 | 10 | Charles Thomas Welles correspondence, 1889 | |||||||||
| 2 | 11 | Jane Watkinson correspondence, 1799-1804 | |||||||||
| 2 | 12 | Maria Turner correspondence, 1822-1825 | |||||||||
| 2 | 13 | Bennett family correspondence, 1820, 1825-1828 | |||||||||
| 2 | 14 | Papers relating to the American Asylum, 1878, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 15 | Assorted correspondence and papers, 1825-1889, undated | |||||||||