STONE HISTORY

Written by Norma Stone Briner

Updated as of November 1, 2005 This is the story of our Stone Family as it developed along with the Development of our country from 1743 to 1859.

It covers the lives of:

Benjamin Stone, 1743-1833 Elijah Craig Stone, 1775-1859 Stone History

BENJAMIN STONE (1743-June 4, 1833)

Benjamin Stone was born in 1743 to Thomas Stone and Mary (Butler) Stone, possibly in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The father or our country, George Washington, was also born in Westmoreland County some eleven years earlier (1732). Later on, at the time of the Revolutionary War, when militias were being formed to defend the colonies, our Benjamin was a part of the Culpeper Minute Men. We do not know what battles he may have been in, but do know he was among the soldiers who spent the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge with General Washington, serving in the First, Sixth, and Ninth Companies as a Private. He reenlisted in 1779-81 in Col. Roebuck's Virginia Regiment as a Sergeant and served in the Second South Carolina Regiment under General Francis Marion, the famous "Swamp Fox." Our Stone family had been in America for over a hundred years by the time Benjamin was born in 1743. They were landowners and very active in politics and religion. At the time of the Revolutionary War, Benjamin's cousin, Thomas, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, from the state of Maryland. Thomas (the signer) was living at Haberdeventure located on the Potomac River at Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland. Directly across the river lay Stafford County, Virginia, where Quantico (Marines, F.B.I., CIA) now is. In addition to Stafford County, the Virginia counties of Westmoreland, Culpeper, Orange, Fauquier, Madison, Frederick, and Hampshire were in close proximity and are places that we know Benjamin's family was at one time or another. County boundaries back in Benjamin's time differed from today's boundaries somewhat with some counties being carved out from larger ones along the way. All of the Maryland and Virginia locations of our early Stone ancestors in America were in the environs of what is now Washington, D.C.

Benjamin married Anna Asbury (born in 1748; daughter of George and Hannah (Hardage) Asbury; granddaughter of Henry Asbury) by 1772, near Culpeper, Virginia, where the Asburys lived, and became an ordained Baptist minister. Benjamin and Anna had three children before Benjamin left to join the militia. The Asbury grandparents were apparently able to take in and care for Anna and the three young children while Benjamin was away. (An interesting aside regarding the formation of the Culpeper Minute Men reports that men were placed with "their own kind" as much as possible. An indication of the importance of religion to the early colonials defines "their own kind" as "Baptists with Baptists; Methodists with Methodists, etc." So, I think it is safe to assume that Benjamin was closely associated with other Baptist ministers and laymen during at least his first enlistment.)

We know that Benjamin was closely involved with other Baptists before his military service because he named his first-born son for a fiery itinerant preacher, who was active in Virginia at the time of the child's birth. Elijah Craig Stone, born July 30, 1775, was named for Elijah Craig, whose unorthodox preaching eventually caused him to be run out of the area by the conventional Baptists, who claimed that he had not been properly ordained. (Apparently Patrick Henry, first Commonwealth Governor of Virginia and speaker of the famous "Give me liberty or give me death" quotation, defended Elijah Craig's right to speak his mind and for "daring to worship God in his own way.") Nevertheless, Elijah Craig was forced out of Virginia, migrated to Kentucky, where he founded Georgetown, and, along with some other settlers invented bourbon whiskey,---and continued to preach! Resourceful fellow!

A word about Anna Asbury before we move on with Benjamin's story. Apparently, Anna had more than one brother in the same Culpeper unit (perhaps under a Colonel Marshall) as her husband, Benjamin, was in. (John, George, Jeremiah, and William are names I have run across as possible brothers of Anna.) There is an intriguing story handed down orally from generation to generation of Stones and eventually written by the historian of the Anna Asbury Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) in Cambridge, Ohio. The story was that Anna, hearing of the dreadful hardships at Valley Forge, determined to take what supplies she could manage (blankets, clothes, food) to the troops. The journey by horseback required three weeks coming and going through hostile (British-controlled) territory, also populated by Indians. Some accounts of the adventure include Anna's carrying a secret message to George Washington as well and having to outrun (on horseback) a British spy who discovered her mission. At any rate, Anna is now considered to be an American patriot in her own right. (Her name is appar- ently among those engraved in stone on the interior walls of the Bell Tower of the Washington Memorial Chapel located within the Valley Forge National Historical Park off State Rte.#23, east of the village of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.)

Children of Benjamin and Anna (Asbury) Stone: Rhoda (married Cornelius Williamson) Elijah Craig (married (1) Miriam Gassaway (2) Mary Sudduth) William (married Margaret Gustin) Hanna (married John Williamson) Mary (Polly) (married George Richardson) Anna (married John Galinton) Jeremiah Asbury (married Hannah Reed) Benjamin L. G. (married Sarah LaRue) Thomas (died unmarried) Nellie (married Thomas Reed) Rebecca (married Joseph Hughes)

Benjamin, who had grown up in Fauquier County, Virginia, returned there in 1781, at the completion of his military service. Records indicate that Benjamin had acquired some land in Fauquier County in 1772, before his military service. He had leased 264 acres from Jeffery and Johnson for the lifetimes of himself, his wife, Anna, and his daughter, Rhoda. In 1783, after his military service, deed books show that he acquired more land, from a John Moffett, but this time in Frederick County, Virginia. In 1785, Benjamin moved his family to Hampshire County, Virginia, where he acquired some 1,500 acres of land along the North River. While living in Hampshire County, Benjamin founded at least two Baptist churches (maybe more). The two that we have records of were the North River Baptist Church in Hampshire County in 1787, and the Crooked Run Baptist Church in Frederick County, in 1790. Benjamin's Crooked Run Church was built on a mountain site along the Great Wagon road somewhere between Winchester in Frederick County and Romney in Hampshire County. (This appears to be present Route 50.) In 1790, "Malinda Monroe, James MONROE [sic], John Monroe of James Monroe [sic], and William Monroe" were listed as members of Crooked Run. (No word on possible presidential connections.) The church was renamed Union Primitive Baptist Church about 1814; and in 1861, the original building burned to the ground. Apparently, ruins of a metal churchyard fence were still visible well into the 20th century (may still be there.) Growing up in Fauquier County, Benjamin apparently had three brothers named Thomas, John, and William (or Spencer). (I believe that William and Spencer were the same person. There are male descendants in the family bearing the double name of William Spencer.) As adults, the brothers were reported to have held differing views regarding slavery. Benjamin was strongly anti-slavery. Family records suggested that this difference led to their separation with Thomas, John, and William/Spencer migrating south to North Carolina or west to Kentucky and Benjamin moving north as far as Hampshire County, Virginia. (Hamp- shire County, Virginia became Hampshire County, West Virginia when West Virginia became a state--and that is where you will find it on the map now.)

Fauquier County, Virginia, is located in the Shenandoah Range of the Allegheny Mountains. A look at the map will reveal the present-day Appalachian Trail running through a small corner and along the western border of Fauquier County.

In September of 1792, Benjamin received a call from Mount Moriah/Great Bethel Baptist Church, located west of Uniontown in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, which he accepted. He sold his Hampshire County, Virginia land and, in 1794, moved his family to Pennsylvania. Land sales between 1792-1794 were the following: 152 • acres to Cornelius Williamson 18 acres to William Martin (described as being 4 miles above the North River) 172 acres to Samuel Williamson 721 3 acres to Henry Asbury 270 acres to Azariah Smalley 180 acres to William Martin

One's first impression might be that Benjamin made a major change in moving from one state to another when he went from Virginia to Pennsylvania. However, another look at the map shows that the distance would have been less than 100 miles "as the crow flies." Travel by horseback with carts or wagons down out of the mountains and across some more level land was no doubt something more than "as the crow flies." Still, Benjamin's North River property in Hampshire County, Virginia, was only 30-40 miles south of an east-west trail that eventu- ally became the Cumberland National Road, also known as the Old National Road (now Route 40) between Cumberland, Maryland and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

(The Old National Road was built between 1811-37, the first federally-financed roadway. It crossed Ohio, Indi- ana, and Illinois, ending in Vandalia, Illinois. It played a major role in the extension of the young country's western frontier from the Appalachian Moun- tains to the Mississippi River. It figured in the migration patterns of many or our ancestors, not just the Stones.)

When Benjamin moved his family to Unionport, Pennsylvania in 1794, he was pretty much on the fron- tier at that time. Ohio was still unsettled and unsafe. General Anthony Wayne was out on the western edge of Ohio fighting the final Indian battles between 1792-94. Marietta, the first Ohio settlement, begun in 1788, on the Ohio River, was still subject to killings from periodic Indian raids, in spite of the fort it had for protection. So, the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, where our Benjamin landed, was becoming quite crowded with folks waiting for an opportunity to go west. 5

With such a concentration of people available, Ben- jamin saw an opportunity to spread the gospel and began a revival, apparently in addition to his regular pastoral duties at Great Bethel Baptist Church. In the words of his son, Jeremiah, "----a great revival took place in the church over which my Father was Pastor which lasted 2 or 3 years and spread to other churches. The commun- ity was generally awakened and during this revival my two older Brothers Elijah and William and my youngest Brother Thomas were converted." In general, Jeremiah stated concerning his father's lifetime calling, "--- very many were added to the Church through his Instru- mentality. "

Memoranda from the Great Bethel Baptist Church of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, are the following: "May 26, 1794--'The church agreed to call brother Stone as a supply.' March 15, 1795--Resolved that brother Stone should be Moderator. April 4, 1795--Received brother Stone into fellow- ship. Appointed delegate to Association (1795- 1804). September 7, 1805--Agreed brother Stone have a letter of dismissal. 1806--Last record about a collection given him." The 1810 Census for Greene County, Pennsylvania, records Benjamin (who would have been 67 at the time) living there. Although 67 was an advanced age for that era, Benjamin was to live another 23 years. The census records Benjamin's family as "1 male over 45; 1 female over 45; and one male between 10 and 16." The boy be- tween 10 and 16 may have been a grandson. Elijah's son, Jesse, would have been just under 16 at the time, and may have been living with his grandparents.

My conjecture regarding Jesse is based upon three pieces of circumstantial evidence. First, Elijah was back in Virginia at the time of the 1810 census and may have left his son to look after the aging Benjamin and Anna. Second, we know that during the War of 1812, Ben- jamin paid a substitute to go in his place; we also know that Jesse served in that war (perhaps he was Benjamin's substitute?). And, thirdly, we know, from family records, that sometime after 1810, Benjamin and Anna moved across the Ohio River into Ohio with Jesse, Benjamin's daughter, Rebecca, and her husband, Joseph Hughes. (During July, 1800, the first federal land office opened in Steubenville, th Ohio; and Ohio became the 1 7 state to enter the Union on March 1, 1803. The population of Ohio had begun.) By 1813, Elijah was back in Ohio; and Benjamin and Anna lived with his family for some period of time before living out their final years with their third-born son, Jeremiah.

Benjamin and his sons, Elijah and Jeremiah, all lived in Harrison County, Ohio, during the 1820's and 30's. Although I was unable to find documentation in land records, censuses, or death records of Benjamin's presence around Cadiz, Harrison County, we do have other evidence. The Harrison County Engineer at one time made maps of cemeteries located in Green Township of Harrison County. One of those was a 40-gravesite plot called Stone Cemetery, established around 1817. The map also showed the site of Benjamin and Anna's home along Rose Valley Road where they lived between 1812-1833. (Rose Valley Road now runs along beside a railroad track. The railroad had not yet been built when Benjamin lived there. The space between the railroad track and the road is all overgrown and inaccessible. No sign of a home nor a cemetery is now present; by 1964, the gravestones were reported as eroded and disintegrated. The land is now owned by a coal company and shows every sign of being depleted.) Descendants of Benjamin and Anna subse- quently had a memorial monument erected for them in Cadiz Union Cemetery (on Charleston Street, off of Mar- ket Street/Rte. 250 in Cadiz) to commemorate their Revo- lutionary War history

Most Revolutionary War veterans from Virginia seem to have been buried closer to home or somewhere south of Virginia; Cadiz, Ohio, seems like a most unusual final resting place--until one considers Benjamin's longstanding opposition to slavery. In 1787, by means of the North- west Ordinance, the code of laws governing the newly- formed Northwest Territory, slavery was forever for- bidden in all lands north and west of the Ohio River. Also, Cadiz was located along one of the "underground railroad" trails (where slaves from the South were smuggled to freedom in Canada). Other Stones were known to have been involved with that enterprise. Perhaps Benjamin made a final statement even in death.

One last story about our Benjamin. On June 4, 1833, late in the afternoon, Benjamin sat on the porch of his son's home, awaiting Jeremiah's return from Virginia. Jeremiah had traveled to Virginia to receive an inherit- ance due Benjamin and Anna from a wealthy Asbury relative. The inheritance included some slaves. When Jeremiah appeared, Benjamin immediately signed papers granting the slaves their freedom. Later that night, at the age of 90, he died. Two days later, on June 6, 1833, at the age of 85, Anna died also. 7

ELIJAH CRAIG STONE (July 30, 1775--October 13, 1859) Elijah Craig Stone was the eldest son of Benjamin and Anna (Asbury) Stone, born in Fauquier County, Vir- ginia on July 30, 1775, and named for a prominent preacher who was going about Virginia preaching against "the Established Church" at that time. As we have noted previously, Elijah's father, Benjamin, was a Baptist pastor. His mother's family, the Asburys, also included some preachers. (As of this writing, I do not know who the Asbury preachers were, but it might be noted that Asbury is a well-known name in the history of Methodism, and that the Methodist Church was just getting started in America at that time.)

Elijah would have been 18- or 19-years-old when his father accepted the call from Great Bethel Church near Unionport in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and moved his family there in 1794. We do not know for sure whether Elijah moved with his father, or not. We do know that he married Miriam Gassaway (born 4-20-1775, possibly near Baltimore, Maryland) while he was still in Virginia. We also know that he was with his father sometime during Benjamin's revival efforts at Great Bethel (between 1794-1806) because he was "converted" during the revival. We just do not know whether he moved with his father's family group or some time later.

We are able to confirm Elijah's presence in Fayette County in 1800 by means of the U.S. census for that year. The Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, 1800 census recorded Elijah's family as follows: one male of 16 but under 26, one male under 10; one female of 16 but under 26, 2 females under 10, and one female 26 but under 45. The male and female between 16-26 would be Elijah and Miriam. The three children under 10 would be their first three children. But we do not know who the older woman is (perhaps Miriam's mother?)

Elijah and Miriam were parents of the following six children: Jesse G.--b.11-26-1794; d.3-19-1878 in Athens County, Ohio; m. Rachel Jordan 3-21-1816 in Marietta, Ohio; soldier in War of 1812. Sally--b.2-9-1797 Lydia--b.3-8-1799 Anna--b.12-3-1801 Benjamin--b.8-6-1804; d.12-4-1886 in Morgan Township, Gallia County, Ohio; m. Mary Wilson in Jefferson County, Ohio on 4-16-1839. Hannah--b.1-27-1807 Elijah's family was back in Madison County, Vir- ginia (originally part of Culpeper County) at the time of the 1810 census. His family was recorded at that time as follows: 1 male 26 but under 45, 1 male 10 but under 16, 1 male under 10; 1 female 26 but under 45, 1 female 10 but under 16, 1 female under 10. The male and female 26-45 would have been Elijah and Miriam; the male between 10-16 would have been Jesse, and the male under 10 would have been Benjamin; the female 10-16 would have been either Sally or Lydia, and the female under 10 was probably Hannah. Either Sally or Lydia is now out of the family, probably due either to marriage or death, and apparently Anna has died. In the 1820 census, we can still account for Hannah but not for Anna, so Hannah must have been the 1 under-ten female in 1810. In addition, the older female who was with the family in 1800 is no longer present. (Jesse could have been recorded both with his father in Virginia and with his grandfather in Pennsyl- vania depending upon when the various census-takers got to their areas. And we know that there was family travel back and forth between Virginia and Pennsylvania.)

By 1813, Elijah's family was in Ohio. On October 12, 1813, Elijah voted in Green Township, Harrison County, Ohio; and on October 11, 1814, both Elijah and his brother, Jeremiah, voted at that location. In fact, Elijah was one of the clerks of that election. We also found evidence of a lawsuit filed in 1818 by a man named Carruthers against Elijah for building a fence across a public right-of-way. No further informa- tion about who was the eventual winner.

Public records also verify that Minister of the Gos- pel Rev. Elijah Stone officiated at weddings in Harrison County over a twenty-three-year period (1813-1836.) In 1816, Elder Elijah Stone preached at Stillwater Baptist Church near Morristown, about twenty miles south of Cadiz. Apparently Elijah's father, Benjamin, continued to preach and possibly to organize small Baptist congregations after he moved to Harrison County. I found vague references to churches in Cadiz, Hopedale, Beech Spring,and Unionport; but nothing was actually documented. Family records mentioned his preaching in any church that was available; Beech Spring Presbyterian Church was mentioned, as well as Benjamin and a Presbyter- ian minister named "Ray" preaching there together. I did find numerous references to a Rev. John Rea in the area at the time. Another family recollection is that Rev. Benjamin started a congregation around 1818, and installed his son, Rev. Elijah Craig Stone, as its first pastor. Rev. Elijah Stone is well-documented in local history books as the first pastor of Pine Run Baptist Church. Pine Run Baptist Church was located in Wayne Town- ship, Jefferson County, Ohio, just across the county line from Green Township, Harrison County, where Elijah lived. The site was just north of the major east-west road which ran from Steubenville in Jefferson County, through Cadiz in Harrison County to Cambridge in Guernsey County (now Route 22.) Our early Stone ancestors were well- distributed all along this route.

Pine Run Baptist Church was organized in the spring of 1823, but its roots go back to March 5, 1814, when the first meeting of Baptists in Wayne Township was held in the home of one Mordecai Cole, near Unionport. Early meetings of the small congregation, which called them- selves the Cross Creek Church (located on Cross Creek) were held in the homes of its members until they united with the Hopedale Baptist Church in Green Township, Har- rison County, which was seven miles from the homes of most of them.

By the spring of 1823, the small group petitioned to be set off by themselves near Unionport again. Land was donated by Thomas Rowland for a church building and, in 1824, the log cabin church was completed. Pine Run Baptist Church was independently established with Rev. Elijah C. Stone as its first pastor. Eight members composed the first congregation, namely, Thomas and Deborah Rowland, James and Rebecca Shockney, Luke and Theresa Tipton, and Andrew and Hannah Roloson. Local history books described the church as "strong and influential with a flourishing Sabbath school connected to it" during its brief existence. By 1861, the popula- tion center had shifted and most of the members wanted to build a new church closer to their residences. Some also complained that they were now separated from the church by the new railroad and traveling to church sometimes spooked their horses if a train came by. So the majority of the congregation formed a new church and Pine Run eventually ceased to exist.

The Pine Run Cemetery is still in existence just to the north of Unionport. A long, winding country road with three gates leads back to the cemetery. It looked like a formidable undertaking to us, so we opted not to drive back there. Later on, a local historian, who had driven it to read the tombstones told us we had definitely made the right decision. She said the cemetery is now in the corner of a cow pasture and she felt a little uneasy while she was recording. In her words, "The cows kept a careful eye on me and I kept a careful eye on them." Elijah is buried there; his descendants placed a memorial headstone on his 10 gravesite honoring his service as first pastor of Pine Run Baptist Church.

Elijah was a mainstream, regular, traditional Baptist preacher (as had been his father before him.) During the time of his ministry in Ohio, the Baptist Church came under challenge from the Campbellite or Reformation movement which caused splits or "secessions" from many regular congregations.

Alexander Campbell was originally a Presbyterian minister, son of a Presbyterian minister, born in Ireland, emigrating to America in August, 1809. He came to differ with his Presbyterian creeds over the "mode of baptism" and converted to the Baptist religion in 1812. By 1823, he was out of step with some Baptist tenets as well, so he set about to reform the Baptist Church. Baptist church members who decided to follow Camp- bell were called "Campbellites." This movement came to Jefferson and Harrison counties during Elijah's time there, and Elijah played a role in resisting it and helping to preserve the traditional form of the Baptist religion.

Elijah had been recognized, as early as 1816, as an Elder in a small association of Baptist congregations known as the Stillwater Association. In 1827, only one year after the formation of the Ohio Baptist Convention, Alexander Campbell began actively attempting to take over existing congregations. A new association named the Zoar Baptist Association, with 93 members, headed by Elijah and two other Elders, was formed to resist that move. Pine Run Church was one of the four churches in the original Association. Elijah and one of the other Elders wrote the Constitution which was considered to be "of sound doctrine, wise regulations, in perspicacious English." For example, Article 2 of the Constitution read as follows: "The object of this Association shall be . .. to edify and instruct each other in things pertaining to our own present and future happiness; provoking one another to love and good works, that christian union may be strengthened, and we be instrumental in the conversion of sinners. . ."

In 1837, both Elijah and his brother, William, were listed as Elders of the Association, along with Hugh Brown, J. W. Long, T. M. Erwin, B. Wood, R. H. Sedgwick, and W. R. McGowan. Member churches at that time were the following: Pine Run, Clear Fork, Harmony, Cross Creek, Stillwater, Perry, Wheeling, Ebenezer, Hanover, Rush Creek, Sandy, Martinsville (now Martin's Ferry), and Moorfield. For the years 1837-1843, both Elijah and William were listed as Association pastors. An interesting note about the Zoar Association-- they strongly favored and supported 1) missions (the 11

establishment of new churches) and 2) education of the young, reporting that the representatives from the schools at Granville (which became Denison University in 1854) always received a hearty welcome to the annual meetings of the Zoar Association.

Elijah was, of course, not earning a living by preaching. Although he was well-known as a clergyman, he still had a family to feed; and so, like most of the pioneers of that time, he and his 16-year-old son, Benjamin, were reported in the 1820 federal census as "engaged in agriculture"--in other words, they were farmers. In the 1820 census for Archer Township, Harrison County, in a town called Hanover, Elijah's family was reported as follows: one male over 45, one male 16-18, and one male 16-25; one female over 45, one female 16-25, and one female 10-15. Elijah and Miriam were the adults over 45; Benjamin was the male in both the 16-18 and 16-25 categories (the census of that time required a breakout from the 16-25 category for the identification of males in that category between 16-18--probably because they had road-building obligations); the female 16-25 was either Sally or Lydia; and the 10-15 female was Hannah. By 1820, Elijah's older son, Jesse, had married; he also lived in Harrison County, but in Freeport Township. He had two little boys by this time.

Miriam, Elijah's wife, apparently died sometime between the 1820 census and December 12, 1822, when Elijah remarried to Mary Sudduth in Harrison County. I could not find any record of Miriam's death or burial. One wonders whether Benjamin's 40-plot cemetery would have yielded any information had it been preserved.

During 1821, Elijah's brother, Jeremiah, also lost his wife. The local newspaper, The Harrison Telegraph, reported in September, 1821, that a disorder known as the "bloody flux" (dysentery) had "prevailed" for "a few weeks past" and had resulted in several deaths. The paper re- ported the other main cause of death in that period to be "consumption" (tuberculosis). Typhoid fever, cholera, diphtheria, and smallpox were also common illnesses in 1821. There were no water purification nor sewage systems then, so diseases spread easily. Of course, there were no antibiotics nor other modern medicines either. So, becoming sick often meant dying. (An interesting aside--doctors of that time were debating among themselves whether a process they referred to as "Culicular Absorption" (vaccination) was possible. It would be another three years before some tentatively offered to "inoculate with the cow pox all who think [it] proper to [do so].") 12

Also, with regard to the probable deaths of both Eli- jah's and Jeremiah's wives, The Harrison Telegraph for April, 1821, reported the coldest weather anyone could remember for that time of year, "12 degrees below freezing." Perhaps survival in 1821 was difficult.

As already mentioned, Elijah remarried on December 12, 1822, to Mary Sudduth. Mary was 24 years his junior (she was 31; he was 55.) Elijah and Mary had a family of seven children. There were sixteen years between the youngest child of Elijah's first marriage and the oldest child of his second marriage.

Children born to Elijah and Mary were the following: Miriam--b.9-28-1823; m.Thomas Waugh (Gallia Co.OH) Elijah Asbury--b.11-17-1824; d.12-23-1905; m.Margaret Liddy Rhoda--b.6-30-1826 William Spencer--b.2-27-1828; d.11-4-1912 (Canton, OH); m.Kate Bell Frances Anna--b.10-12-1829; m.William B. Dickey Isaac Sudduth--b.5-2-1833 Simeon Judson--b.12-24-1836

The 1830 U.S. census for Green Township, Harrison County recorded Elijah's family as follows: 1 male 50-60, 1 male 5-10, 1 male under 5; 1 female 30-40, 2 females 5-10, 1 female under 5. This accounts for the first five children listed above, but where are the children from Elijah's first marriage? Well, to begin with, they are now grown and Elijah's youngest daughter from that family is only a few years younger than Elijah's new wife. So, what we find is that they are living together as a family next door to Elijah's new family with Elijah's son, Ben- jamin, considered the head of the family.

Benjamin's (Elijah's son's) family was recorded as the following: 1 male 20-30, 2 males 10-15; 1 female 30-40, 1 female 5-10, 1 female under 5. The male 20-30 would be Benjamin; the female 30-40 probably either Lydia or Sally (depending upon which one was the survivor noted in earlier censuses); but we cannot account for the five children. As far as I can tell, Benjamin did not marry until 1839; in any case, I don't see how he could have sons in the 10-15 year range since he himself would have been only 26 in 1830. My best guess is that they were children of one of Benjamin's older sisters, Sally or Lydia, who may have lost her husband. As noted earlier, not every- one survived the pioneer hardships to old age. (If the older sister was Sally, she would have been 33 in 1830; if Lydia--31--the same age as Elijah's new wife, Mary Sudduth). 13

Elijah's older son, Jesse, lived in Wayne Township, Jefferson County with his wife and growing family (six children at this point in time).

Elijah's brother, Jeremiah, was in Green Township, Harrison County in 1830; probably, his brother, William, was in Cross Creek Township, Jefferson County during that time.

In 1840, Elijah's son, Benjamin, still lived in Green Township, Harrison County; but Elijah (now age 65) lived closer to his older son, Jesse; both families in Wayne Township, Jefferson County. Elijah's family con- sisted of the following: 1 male 60-70, 1 male 15-20, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 5-10, 1 male under 5; 1 female 60-70, 1 female 15-20, 1 female 10-15, 1 female 5-10, 1 female under 5. This census makes sense for the males but not the females. Elijah and his four sons (Elijah Asbury, William S., Isaac S., and Simeon Judson) fit their cate- gories; daughters Rhoda and Frances Anna are also appro- priately accounted for. But that still leaves us with two young girls not in Elijah's family and an inaccurate listing for his wife Mary, who should have been in the 40-50 category (not 60-70.) Mary outlived Elijah, so we know she was still there in 1840. Also, we know that errors were not unusual in the early censuses, so her listing was most likely in the wrong column. It was not unusual in that era for one family to help out another family who might have fallen upon hard times by taking the young children to live with them for a period of time. That is the only thing I can think of to explain the presence of the two young girls who were not of Elijah and Mary. (Perhaps even grandchildren of Elijah's--from one of the daughters of his first marriage?)

By 1850, the U.S. census began to record the names of all of the people in a household, replacing the old category-of-ages system and making it a lot easier for researchers like me. The 1850 census for Wayne Town- ship, Jefferson County recorded Elijah's family as follows: Elijah C.-age 75, Mary-age 51, Rhoda-age 22 (should have been 24); William-age 23 (should have been 22); Isaac-age 17; and Simeon-age 14. Also, living in the household was a 7-year-old girl by the name of Margaret E. Gray. (In 1843, one of Elijah and Mary's granddaughters wrote in a letter to her brother that their "half-aunt Mariam Gray" had died following the birth of a little daughter and that "the old grandmother" was caring for the child.) In this census, Elijah's occupation was listed as "cooper." I found this interesting for two reasons, 1) he was no longer farm- ing and 2) a few years earlier, farmers had complained that they had products to sell but no barrels to ship them 14 in, so Elijah was now making barrels. Apparently, the law of supply and demand was alive and operating effectively as far back as the 1800's.

Elijah's youngest daughter, Frances Anna, had, by 1850, married William B. Dickey, whose occupation was recorded as "blacksmith" in the census of that year. They also lived in Wayne Township, Jefferson County, not far from Elijah. (William B. Dickey's father was also named William; his grandfather was John Dickey, a member of the Eighth Battalion, Cumberland, Mary- land Militia during the Revolutionary War, one of the units at Valley Forge in 1777-78.) By 1900, William and Frances Anna had moved to Iowa.

By the 1850's, moving about the expanding country, especially westward, had become much easier due to the construction of railroads. In 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) became the first steam-operated railway to be chartered as a common carrier of freight and passengers. By 1852, the railroad had reached Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia) and on to Chi- cago and St. Louis in the 1860's and "70's. Before the railroads, transportation was by means of boats on rivers and canals or over dirt roads by horseback or horse-drawn vehicles. Thus, we began to see families dispersed over ever-widening areas as travel became easier with the advent of the railroads.

Elijah did not make it to the 1860 census; he died on October 13, 1859, at the age of 83, in Bloomfield, Wayne Township, Jefferson County, Ohio, and is buried nearby in Pine Run Cemetery. Mary, his wife, moved to Canton, Ohio with son William and his family. She died there in 1889 and is buried in Westlawn Cemetery, Canton, Ohio.

Before we leave Elijah's generation in our own personal generational line, I would like to include a word about Elijah's two brothers, Jeremiah and William.

We already know that Jeremiah was present in Harrison County at the same time Elijah was living there. Other details re: Jeremiah include his birth in Fauquier County, Virginia, on June 23, 1781, the same night that his father, Benjamin, returned from his military service during the Revolutionary War; his marriage to Hannah Reed on May 2, 1805; and his death on August 28, 1853, in Coshocton County, Ohio. The 1850 census recorded Jeremiah living with his daughter, Sarah, her husband, Isaac Shannon, and their nine children (Jeremiah, Jane, Isaac, William, Hannah Henry, Mary E., Cythia, and Maria) in Coshocton County, 15

Ohio. Jeremiah, at the age of 69, was also a "cooper." (No Social Security for the old folks at that time!) Apparently Sarah's husband, Isaac Shannon, was the pri- mary breadwinner and he was a farmer. His wealth was evaluated at $3,600 on the census report, a respectable amount for that era. One of Jeremiah's sons was named Benjamin Butler (B.B.) Stone (b.3-22-1812); one of B.B.'s sons was named Maro Farwell Stone (b.12-1837); Maro was the father of Mary Augusta Stone (b.6-28-1862), who was the founder of the Anna Asbury chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolu- tion (DAR) in Cambridge, Guernsey County, Ohio. Mary Augusta and her sister, Harriet, were lifelong elemen- tary school teachers. Harriet was the author of the pamphlet called "The Story of Anna Asbury Stone." There was also a brother, Frank, who reportedly gathered quite a quantity of genealogical information, which, so far, I have been unable to locate. Elijah's brother, William, the second-born son of Benjamin was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1777. He married Margaret Gustin in Virginia. We know that William was with his father in southwestern Penn- sylvania sometime between 1794-1806 because his "con- version" to the faith was recorded as occurring during and as a result of his father's revival activities. William's death was recorded as 1846, during his 70th year on a tombstone in Cross Creek Cemetery, Jefferson County, Ohio. (We visited Cross Creek Cemetery in the springtime and found the very old tombstones covered with vines and old rose bushes. The entire cemetery was carpeted with purple violets in bloom; the air smelled like sweet potpouri---giving me a feeling of long ago.) And here is where we have a problem, namely, that the wife buried be- side William, is Jane, who died in 1848, during her 69th year. I don't know whether Margaret Gustin also went by "Jane", or whether Margaret died and William remarried, or whether, worst option of all, this is nor our William. But, since all of the other facts fit our relative, namely, date of birth, period of time in Jefferson County matching all the rest of our family's time in the area, and a Rev. William preaching with Elijah between 1837-45, I'm claiming him until proven wrong. On this basis, here are the facts as I discovered them.

William Stone owned property and was recorded as paying Ohio taxes as early as 1806, '07, '08, '09, and '10. By 1809, the township of residence was listed as Cross Creek, Jefferson County. Two other families with the surnames of Betz and Rowland were also taxpayers during that period in Jefferson County. These two families continued to be linked somehow to our Stones all through the 1800's. They were in Wayne Township 16 with Elijah when Cross Creek Church was founded (in fact, as you may remember, Thomas Rowland donated an acre of land for the church building) and some of them moved on to Gallia County with the next generation when Benjamin's grandson, also named Benjamin, moved there. William's death was noted in the local newspaper, the Steubenville American Union on December 3, 1846, as follows: "Notice is hereby given, that the under- signed has been appointed Administrator of the estate of William Stone, late of Cross Creek township, dec. Persons having claims against the estate are requested to present them duly authenticated for settlement, and those who are indebted to said estate, are requested to make immediate payment. JOHN STONE, Adm'r. Nov. 26, 1846." No will was found for William, only various court dates regarding the administration of his estate.

John was probably William's oldest son. In the 1830 census William, Sr., William, Jr., and John were listed consecutively. Also, John Stone and his wife, Nancy, were buried in Cross Creek Cemetery along with William and Jane. In addition, William and Jane, John and Nancy, and William, Jr. were all members of the Two Ridges Pres- byterian Church during the same period of time. William and Jane and John and Nancy became members on June 24, 1824; William, Jr. joined during October, 1825. William, Sr. was subsequently suspended; his wife, Jane, and his son, William Jr., were dismissed; John and Nancy remained as members through 1840, the period covered by my records.

Two Ridges Presbyterian Church was located near the town of Wintersville in Island Creek Township, Jefferson County; Cross Creek Presbyterian Church, begun a few years later, was just across the township line in Cross Creek Township. Cross Creek Cemetery, where William and Jane and John and Nancy were buried, was originally known as Cross Creek Presbyterian Cemetery and attached to that Presby- terian Church. It might also be noted that just a few miles to the west (along Rte. 22) in Wayne Township was Eli- jah's Pine Run Baptist Church, which you may recall started out as the Cross Creek Church.

Cross Creek Township was settled mostly by people of Scotch-Irish descent who were primarily of the Presbyterian faith. William Stone, Sr. appears to have arrived in Ohio a decade or so before his father, Benjamin, and brothers, Elijah and Jeremiah, arrived with their evangelistic Baptist influence. Add to the mix the presence of Alexander Camp- bell, who was aggressively encouraging people to "secede" from their established religions,and we may have an explan- ation for the apparent religious inconsistencies among the Stones.----One final note on this subject, I found one 17 record that indicated that Elijah abandoned both the Baptist and Presbyterian religions late in his life and became a Methodist.

(If the number of Benjamins in the same area at the same time is starting to be confusing, one can keep them straight by noting their dates of birth. To add to the confusion, there were several other Benjamin Stones in southeastern Ohio at that time who were not of our Virginia line of Stones at all. Must have been a popular name-- probably because of nationally well-known Benjamin Franklin.)