View source for Thomas Stone

{{Short description|American Founding Father and politician (1743–1787)}}
{{other people}}

{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Thomas Stone
|image= File:Thomas Stone by Robert Edge Pine, c. 1785, oil on canvas, from the National Portrait Gallery - NPG-7100084A 1.jpg
|caption=Thomas Stone by [[Robert Edge Pine]], c. 1785
|office = Member of the [[Maryland Senate]]
|term_start = 1781
|term_end = 1787
|term_start1 = 1777
|term_end1 = 1780
|birth_date=1743
|birth_place=[[Charles County, Maryland|Charles County]], [[Province of Maryland]], [[British America]]
|death_date={{Death date and age|1787|10|5|1743}}
|death_place=[[Alexandria, Virginia]], U.S.
|resting_place = [[Thomas Stone National Historic Site]]
|known_for= Signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence]]
|occupation=
|relations = [[Michael Jenifer Stone|Michael Stone]] (brother)<br>[[John Hoskins Stone]] (brother)<br>[[Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer]] (uncle)
|signature=Thomas Stone signature.png
}}[[File:Robert Edge Pine - Margaret Brown Stone - S-NPG.71.8 - National Portrait Gallery.jpg|thumb|Margaret Brown Stone]]
'''Thomas Stone''' (1743 – October 5, 1787) was an American [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]], [[Planter class|planter]], politician, and lawyer who signed the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] as a delegate for [[Maryland]]. He later worked on the committee that formed the [[Articles of Confederation]] in 1777. He acted as president of Congress for a short time in 1784.<ref>{{cite web
   |url=http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/declaration/bio47.htm
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829125135/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/declaration/bio47.htm
   |url-status=dead
   |archive-date=August 29, 2007
   |title=Signers of the Declaration (Thomas Stone)
   |publisher=National Park Service
   |date=2004-07-04
   |access-date=2008-04-24
}}</ref> Stone was a member of the [[Maryland Senate]] from 1777 to 1780 and again from 1781 to 1787.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Thomas Stone, MSA SC 3520-1202|url=https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001200/001202/html/1202bio.html|access-date=2021-03-07|website=msa.maryland.gov}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Thomas Stone.svg|175px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Thomas Stone]]
Stone was born into a prominent family at Poynton Manor in [[Charles County, Maryland]]. He was the second son in the large family of David (1709–1773) and Elizabeth Jenifer Stone. His brothers, [[Michael Jenifer Stone]] and [[John Hoskins Stone]], were also prominent in politics.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Newman |first1=Harry Wright |title=The Stones of Poynton Manor: a Genealogical History of Captain William Stone, gent. and Merchant, Third Proprietary Governor of Maryland, with Sketches of His English Background and a Record of Some of His Descendants in the United States |date=1937 |pages=20–30}}</ref> His uncle was [[Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer]]. Thomas [[Reading law|read law]] at the office of Thomas Johnson in [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], was admitted to the bar in 1764, and opened a practice in [[Frederick, Maryland]].<ref name=stonehistory>{{cite web|title=Signers of the Declaration of Independence|url=http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/stone.htm|publisher=US History.org}}</ref><ref name=stonecolonial>{{cite web|title=Thomas Stone|url=http://colonialhall.com/stone/stone.php|publisher=Colonial Hall}}</ref> The Jenifer family was of [[Swedish Americans|Swedish]] origin.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Knorr |first1=Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZ6KDwAAQBAJ&dq=Daniel+of+St.+Thomas+Jenifer+Swedish&pg=PA124 |title=Graves of Our Founders: Their Lives, Contributions, and Burial Sites |last2=Farley |first2=Joe |last3=Farrell |first3=Joe |date=2018-12-05 |publisher=Sunbury Press, Inc. |isbn=978-1-62006-176-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Congress |first=United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vbFRnsSZLXwC&dq=Daniel+of+St.+Thomas+Jenifer+Swedish&pg=PA19151 |title=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the ... Congress |date=1959 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Shellhorn |first=Richard Carl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NH4uEAAAQBAJ&dq=Daniel+of+St.+Thomas+Jenifer+Swedish&pg=PT66 |title=A Guide to the Formation of the Constitution |date=2018-06-12 |publisher=Christian Faith Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64191-703-2 |language=en}}</ref>

== Career ==
As the [[American Revolution]] neared, Stone joined the [[Committees of correspondence|committee of correspondence]] for Charles County. From 1774 to 1776, he was a member of Maryland's [[Annapolis Convention (1774–1776)|Annapolis Convention]]. In 1775, the convention sent Stone as a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]]. He was re-elected and attended regularly for several years. On May 15, 1776, he voted in favor of drafting a declaration of independence, in spite of restrictions from the Maryland convention that prevented their delegates from supporting it. In June the restriction was lifted, so Maryland's delegates were free to vote for Independence. Previously, Stone had been in favor of opening diplomatic relations with Great Britain and not going to war, as he was not only a pacifist but a conservative reluctant to start a gruesome war.<ref name="stonehistory" /><ref name="stonecolonial" />

That same year Stone was assigned to the committee that drafted the Articles of Confederation, and he was struck with a personal tragedy. His wife Margaret visited him in Philadelphia, which was in the midst of a [[smallpox]] epidemic. She was [[inoculation|inoculated]] for the disease, but an adverse reaction to the treatment made her ill. Her health continued to decline for the rest of her life.<ref name=stonehistory/><ref name=stonecolonial/> After Stone signed the Declaration of Independence, he took his wife home and declined future appointment to the Congress, except for part of 1784, when the meetings were at Annapolis.<ref name="stonehistory" /><ref name="stonecolonial" />

Stone accepted election to the Maryland Senate from 1779 until 1785, at first in order to promote the Articles of Confederation, which Maryland was the last state to approve. But he gave up the practice of law to care for his wife and children. As her health continued to decline, he gradually withdrew from public life. When Margaret died in 1787, he became depressed and died less than four months later in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], reportedly of a "broken heart".<ref name="stonehistory" /><ref name="stonecolonial" />

[[Image:Thomas Stone Grave Sept 09.JPG|thumb|200px|Grave of Thomas Stone, September 2009]]
Stone was buried at his plantation home, which still stands. After his death, the plantation remained in the family for five generations until 1936 when it sold privately. In 1977 the main structure was severely damaged by fire. The [[National Park Service]] purchased the property and restored it to its original plans. ''Habredeventure'' today is the centerpiece of the [[Thomas Stone National Historic Site]] and is operated as a museum by the [[National Park Service]].

== Personal life ==
In 1768, Stone married Margaret Brown (1751–1787), the younger sister of [[Gustavus R. Brown]] (see [[Rose Hill (Port Tobacco, Maryland)|Rose Hill]]), thought to be the richest man in the county. Soon after, Stone purchased his first 400 acres (1.6&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) and began the construction of his estate named Habre de Venture. The family made their home there, and they had three children: Margaret (1771–1809), Mildred (1773–1837) and Fredrik (1774–1793). Stone's law practice kept him away from home, so he brought in his younger brother Michael to manage development of the plantation,<ref name="stonehistory" /><ref name="stonecolonial" /> which utilized slaves for generations.<ref>[http://www.thebaynet.com/articles/0616/the-quiet-patriot-thomas-stone-of-haberdeventure.html The quiet patriot: Thomas Stone of Haberdeventure] Retrieved 15 October 2018</ref>

==Legacy and honors==
* The [[World War II]] [[Liberty Ship]] {{SS|Thomas Stone}} was named in his honor.
* [[Thomas Stone High School]] – [[Charles County, Maryland]] public high school
* [[Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence]]

==See also==
* [[William Stone (Maryland governor)|William Stone]] – relative and governor of the [[Province of Maryland|Maryland colony]]
* [[John Hoskins Stone]] – brother and governor of Maryland
* [[Peggy Stewart House]] – [[National Historic Landmark]] in Annapolis, Maryland, at one time owned by Thomas Stone
* [[Barton W. Stone]] – cousin and prominent early leader of the [[Restoration Movement]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons|Founding Fathers of the United States}}
* {{CongBio|S000963}}
* [https://www.nps.gov/thst/index.htm Thomas Stone National Historic Site website]
* [http://www.colonialhall.com/stone/stone.php Biography by Rev. Charles A. Goodrich, 1856]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stone, Thomas}}
[[Category:1743 births]]
[[Category:1787 deaths]]
[[Category:Continental Congressmen from Maryland]]
[[Category:Signatories of the United States Declaration of Independence]]
[[Category:Politicians from Frederick, Maryland]]
[[Category:18th-century American planters]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]
[[Category:Maryland state senators]]
[[Category:People from Charles County, Maryland]]
[[Category:People from Port Tobacco Village, Maryland]]
[[Category:Stone family|Thomas]]
[[Category:American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law]]
[[Category:Jenifer family]]
[[Category:Founding Fathers of the United States]]
[[Category:18th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly]]
[[Category:Planters from colonial Maryland]]