r9741 COONS:GENERAL ROY STONE 99 General Roy Stone: Portrait of a Gentleman Cr,,s.rnrC. Cootts 298 Ftorabunila Circle, Alilersgate, Orange City, Fbrtda 32763

Almost two years ago, while trYing fect its future history." (Bulletin ol the to improve my scant knowledge of that Torrey Botani.cal Club 28:552, f90I). great family of plants, the Palms, I My question about General Stone, came across the interesting {act that the however, remained unanswered. I there- very beautiful royal palm was named fore started a quest that took me most of "the Roystonea, and that generic name a year and revealed some very interest' honorsGeneral Roy Stone(1836-1905), ing facets in the life of that gentleman. United StatesArmy Engineer, who ren- Not knowing exactly where to begin, dered outstanding service to Puerto Rico I wrote to Senator Lawton Chiles, ask- at the time of the Spanish-American ing his help in obtaining the army re' 'War." Later, I found that the name cords of General Stone. In about a Roystonea was given the royal palm in month a large envelope was received f900 by O. F. Cook. This led to specu- containing the entire record of his army lation: was there no generic name for life and also some records of his service the royal palm before 1900? What sort in the DepartmentoI Agriculture, where of a man was General Roy Stone who he served in later years. From these rec' deserved to have this beautiful palm ords I was able to contact his grand- named in his honor? daughter in Surrey, England, who fur- In order to find out more about these nished me with many pertinent facts as questions,I wrote to Mr. Stanley Kiem, well as a photo of the General when he Superintendent of the Fairchild Tropical was in his sixties (Fig. I). Correspon- Garden asking for his help. He replied dence with historians in Cuba, N. Y., promptly, quoting from vafious author- and a three-part article that ran in the ities to the effect that the generic name lournal ol tfu Historical Society ol Oreoiloxa had been mistakenly used for Western Pennsylaania brought out more royal palms in the nineteenth century interesting facts. Information that fol' and that it was not until 1900 that O. F. lows was drawn from these sources. Cook rectified the error by proposing Roy Stone was born October Ll, the generic name Roystonea for the royal 1836, in Prattsburg, , a small palms o'as a respectful compliment to village of about 50 houses. His father General Roy Stone, the American engi- was Ithiel V. Stone, a wealthy land neer officer who secured the admiration owner, who kept moving west and fi- of the peopleof Puerto Rico by his fear- nally becamemayor of Cuba,New York, lessnessand conspicuous energy in the where he had large lumbering interests. Adjuntas road-building campaign which His mother was a Gurnee,whose brother flanked the line of Spanish defenses,and had made a fortune in railroading and whose subseqentinterest in the improve- was later mayor of Chicago (f85f-53). ment of the Island will undoubtedly ai- Roy had three sisters, Ella, Cornelia PRINCIPES tVol. 18

1. General Roy Stone, about 1900. Photo courtesy of Mrs. T. R. Bevan' r9741 COONS:GENERAL ROY STONE 101 and Ida. The 1855 censusin Cuba lists ably about I p.m. and was carried into Ithiel as being 52, his wife Sarah as 52, the McPherson barn, where he lay, to- Ella22, Cornelia 21, Roy lB and Ida 14. tally disabled, from which injury we The house in Cuba was listed as valued believe he has never fully recovered, al- at $2,000.00,pretty high lor those days. though, some months later on, he re- (The house is still standing in Cuba, sumed the command o{ his Brigade.- minus the hitching post.) Roy's sister we believe a minnie ball went through Cornelia later married Albert Gallitin his pelvis bone. ,.dangerously causing Porter, Governor o{ Indiana. trouble r,vithhis hip, and a general dis- After high school, Roy was sent to order o{ his system." Union College in Schenectady, New In Septemberof 1863, he was suffi- York, which had been chartered in 1795 ciently recovered {rom the Gettysburg and was noted for its pioneer work in wound to serveas President,Court Mar- the teaching of engineering. He gradu- tial Board in Washington, D.C. and he ated at the age oI 22 and worked {or his served in this capacity until March father from 1B5Bto 186l in the sawmill, 1864, when he resumedcommand of his and then the War Between the States beloved Bucktail Brigade, and was on began. And so, we find that on April active duty with the Army of the Poto- 28, 186I, he enrolled in the army at mac, under Grant, in the sweep through -Warren, Pa. as a volunteerand was made Virginia. Many of the l49th Pennsyl- a Captain at the age oI 25. In June, vania Volunteerswere counting the days 1861" he was promoted to . His until their enlistment period was at an army recordsshow him woundedslightly end, and they could return home, little "7 in the days battle" on June 30, 1862, knowing that they would be involved in and while recuperatingfrom this wound one of the most crucial and bloody bat- he was sent to Pittsburgh to recruit men tles of the $,a1-1hs Battle o{ the Wilder- {or the Bucktail Brigade. August 15, ness. For a powerful and moving ac- 1862, he married Mary Elizabeth count of this battle, read A Stillness at Marker, and upon his return to duty Appom.attox by Bruce Catton. During was made a , l49th Penn. Infan- all the confusion and killing of this try (volunteerd). Early in 1863 his battle, with the forest on {ire and many father died and he obtained a 7-day leave wounded men being roasted alive, Gen- to go home to Cuba for the funeral. eral Stone was thrown from his horse, His army records show him to have aggravating the hip wound received at beennear Belle Plain, Va. early in 1863; Gettysburgless than a year before. also near Pollock's Mills, Va. On July So his army records show his absent, 1st, 1863, his brigade had retreated to wounded, for May, June, Jlly and Au- Gettysburg, and about noon on that gust, 1864. From September,1864 until fate{ul day at the , January 1865, he was at , he was seriously wounded. When in and in January, 1865, he was at Alton, later years he applied for a pension,his Illinois, where on tbe 27th o{ that month t'Col- sworn statementreads as follows: he tendered his resignation. This was onel Roy Stone o{ the l49th Penn. Vol. acceptedand he was given an honorable while in command of the Bucktail Bri- discharge. A{ter the battle of Gettys- gade, Third Division, First Corps, at burg he was made a General. Gettysburg, on July 1st, was severely After receiving his discharge from wounded,while in the line of duty, prob- the army, Stone returned to Cattaraugus t02 PRINCIPES IVol. tB

County, New York, to begin his civilian wards to the successful designer would "Dearest his wife, MarY." be liberal. At any rate his patent appli- life with "To Since his father's death he was the cation read as follows: whom it owner of extensive holdings along the may concern, be it known that I, RoY Allegany River near Vandalia, and Stone, o{ Vandalia, Cattaraugus County, operated the sawmill that furnished a New York, have invented an imProve- living for severalfamilies. In later years, ment in locomotives for one-rail rail- when he applied for a pension, he lists r6sds"-hls patent numbers are 162,323 "manufacturer" his occupation as a in and 162,501. Vandalia and Cuba, New York, so it maY Sometime in 1875 Stone had con- have been that he turned out in his saw- tacted the management of the Phoenix mill wooden articles such as barrels, Iron Works of Phoenixville, Pennsyl- wooden buckets, clothespins and many vania, to get help in the construction of a working model of his Elevated Rail- more. "A"-shaped The house that the General built re- road, including his patented flected the woodland that they were part truss. The management must have seen of. The siding and roof were wooden some possibilitiesin his idea and helped slabs with the bark left on. The large him make up his working model because promi- veranda had a railing o{ roots and tree in early October,1875, a group of limbs. The woodland theme was carried nent New Yorkers made the triP to into the interior of the house; the wal- Phoenixville to witness a demonstration dining table top being supported by of the new system. Here is what theY nut "A a tree trunk with the limbs extended; saw: single-rail track, raised on the furniture was made from various columns an average of twenty feet off woods that grew in the forest. In every the ground, with steep inclines and a respect, General and Mrs. Stone were sharp curve, rambling across the de- a{{luent people in their county' serted factory ground for a fi{th of a Now begins one o{ the most interest- mile. Properly speaking, it was not a in the life o{ Roy Stone: single rail at all. It was three rails ing episodes "A" he was, for.all practical purposes, ,he mounted on an shapedtruss. At the bearing rail on inaentor and,lirst builder ol the mono- apex was the heavy, course, the name monorail had which the equipment rolls; at the cross- rail. OI "L," not yet been coined at that time. He bar o{ rhe spaced about 372 {eet ooGeneral called his invention Stone's apart, were two parallel guide rails. Elevated Railroad." When he first con- Jauntily perched on center bearing ceived the idea is unknown; in fact, wheels a weird little locomotive and very little in the way o{ diaries or let- coach straddled the top rail-horizontal ters or other written records is available guard wheels with rubber rims were to the seekerof details of the life of Rov pressedagainst the guide rails." Stone; it is necessaryto assumemany The engine had been manufactured facets o{ his life. The idea may have by the La France Co. of Elmira, New been triggered by the fact that New York, and was really two engines, one York City was in the process of deter' to propel the coach in one direction and mining the best possible rapid-transit the other to reverse. The single coach systemfor its growing population and a was two-tiered, about twenty feet long. Commissionwas examining every possi- In the upper tier, the riders faced each ble elevated systeml the financial re- other while in the lower tier the passen- r9741 COONS:GENERAL ROY STONE 103 gers faced outward with their backs to Stone was voted some stock for the. use the bearing wheels. The demonstration of his patent but he had no part in its given by Stone seems to have been a operation; it soon went broke after an success. engine blew up killing several passen- However. the Commission from New gers; the details of this operation has York failed to recommend any particu- no part in our narrative. lar type of elevatedsystem and when con- The next place we find Roy Stone is struction was begun the standard rail in New York Giuy"where he had taken system with two tracks was used, much a job :with the Army Engineers under to the consternation of Stone and the General , who had charge Phoenix Iron Co. of clearing navigational hazards from Undaunted, however, by this setback, New York Harbor. This work had been Roy Stone was determined to sell his going on for twelve years. In a short "Elevated Railroad" to the nation. A time Roy Stone had patented a hy- 'World's Fair was to be opened in Phila- draulic excavator (patent # 224,309), delphia in May oI 1876; the theme which was used extensively in the clear- "Progress would be in the Arts and ing work. W'e must assume that he Sciences." Stone was successful in sell- worked for the Army Engineers for ing his railroad system to the Fair man- many years; there is a space that is agement to operate across a ravine blank in his life. called Belmont Dell. The line extended 1B9B he again volunteered for ser- in a straight line for about 500 feet, vice in the Spanish-American War- with an elevated passenger platform at June 7, IB9B. At that time he had served each end. The engineer was Adelbert for at least five years in t}e Department Underwood, of Cuba, N.Y. The {are of Agriculture, connected with the Good was three cents each way. Roads Board and on February l, 1899 For six months the Roy Stone Ele- was made Director of the Roads In- vated Railroad operated at the fair quiry Board. So we may say quite without any accidents but failed to meet truthfully that General Roy Stone is also andr.what expenses was even worse, no the "Father" of the good roads move- other city or company had shown any ment in the . Sometime in interest in this transportation system. 1900 he again retired with a pension, Now, in late 1876,Roy Stonewas forced to acknowledge the fact that he was amount unknown. practically bankrupt. He was heavily The final record reads as follows: in debt, and in addition, was having a Telegram sent to the Secretary of War ooGeneral health problem, due to the serious reading: Roy Stone died here wounds received in the War Between the last night, burial at Arlington Wednes- States. So, in March, 1877, he applied day or Thursday"-signed John Gilmer for an army pension, since he was almost Speed, dated August 6, 1905. penniless. He was awarded the princely His widow, Mary Elizabeth Stone, sum of fi2250 monthly. then applied for a pension, amount un- Later in 1877, a company was formed known" which she received until her to make use of the General's patent in death on October 5, 1925. She died building an elevated railroad between while visiting her daughter and son-in- some of the oil towns then being opened law, Lady and Lord Monson, Burton by the oil boom in Pennsylvania. Roy Hall, Lincoln, England. The body was 104 PRINCIPES tVol. lB "Majes- transported home on the S. S. ily and wish to thank Mr. Reinsberg for tic," and she was buried beside her all the information he uncovered that husband in Arlington Cemetery. I had been unable to find. I owe a The elevated railroad episode in Gen- great debt to Mrs. T. R. Bevan, Bar- eral Stone's life is written about in much moor Cottage, Bletchingley, Surrey, Eng- detail by Mark Reinsberg in a series of land, who is the granddaughter of Gen- three articles which appeared in the eral Stone; also the historians in Iournal ol the Hi,storical Society ol Cattaraugus and"Allegany Counties, who Western Pennsyloanin (January 1967, were Of great help. It is unfortunate that Julv 1966 and October 1966) under the more information concerning General ooGeneral heading Stone's Elevated Rail- Stone's activities in Puerto Rico which road. Portrait of an Inventor." I have led Cook to honor him has not turned borrowed from these articles quite heav- up.

REPRINTEDFROM HERE treesr" said Karl Schnizler, assistant parks superintendent. AND THERE The official of the city once called "a The following articles by Peter H. paradise of palm trees" says the plant Brown and Theresa Yianilos are re- that gave a distinctive touch has been printed firom Calilornia Garden, Jana- abandoned for olives, pines and full- ary-February, 1974, with permission. leafed trees that grow fast. Mr. Brown's article first appeared in Richard Nadeau, immediate past presi- Ihe San Diego Union on October 14, dent of the local California Landscape *lI 1973, and is reprinted with permission Contractor's Association agrees. of the Son Diego Union Mrs. Yianilos you are talking in terms of symbols, is a member of The Palm Society as the olive is replacing the palm in new is Bill Gunther, Associate Editor oI Cali- developments-both commercial and tornia Gard,en. residential,"Nadeau said.'oDevelopers and homeowners are planting 100 olive Polm Populority Wqvers in City trees to one palm," Nadeau estimates. When it comes to the complete tree- Builders and landscapers have raised planting picture, architects and city their growth hemlines, and the tropical planters estimate there may be less than palm tree is passing out of fashion. trvo palms in every 500 trees sunk into The swaying'symbol of a balmy city local soil. for six decadesis an oddity in the fast- What's causing this sad ending for growing suburbs and the distinctive trees the tree that Spanish cargo ships brought hugging the coast may be dinosaurs of by the hundreds from the Canary Is- fading tastes. lands? The experts say there are two The trend away from the southern basic reasons: California favorite is happening so fast, -The according to city planners and land- palm tree has gotten a bad scape experts, that San Diegans them- press because of disease that has raged "tree selves may have to become tour- through trees at Mission Bay, on Shel- ists" to regularly see palm trees. ter Island and in beach areas. "The parks, the coast and around the -'oBoth landscape architects and thou- historic sections of town; that's where sands of new residents come from north- suburbanites will have to go to find palm ern California, the Midwest or the East