Rev. Samuel Stone

Samuel Stone Sr. migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See Great Migration Begins, by R. C. Anderson, Vol. 3, p. 1768)

Biographical Summary:

Reverend Samuel Stone, son of John Stone, a freeholder of that place, was born in Hertford, County, Herts (usually at that time sounded Hartford); baptized July 30,1602, in the church of All Saints; entered at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1620; A.B., 1623; A.M., 1627.

Recent discoveries show that a Samuel Stone, probably this one, was curate at Stisted, Co. Essex, near Chelmsford, from June 13, 1627 to September 13, 1630.

He came to New England with Cotton, Hooker, and other men of note, in the "Griffin," arriving at Boston, September 4, 1633; chosen Teacher of the church at Cambridge, Oct 11, 1633; freeman, Massachusetts, May 14, 1634; removed to Hartford in 1636, where he was an original proprietor, and in 1639 his home-lot was on the north bank of the Little River, between those of Rev. Thomas Hooker and Elder William Goodwin. He served as chaplain to the troops under Capt. Mason in the Pequot War, 1637.

His wife died 1640, before November 2 or 3, when Mr. Hooker mentions her death in a letter to Rev. T. Shepard, saying that she "smoked out her days in the darkness of melancholy." He married (2) before July, 1641, Elizabeth Allen, of Boston.

After Mr. Hooker's decease he was the sole pastor of the First Church until his death, July 20,1663. Inventory £563. 1. His widow married (2) George Gardner, of Salem, afterward of Hartford, and died in 1681.

He was twice married.

Samuel Stone married, first, Rebecca Wright, the daughter of Samuel and Rebecca (Rogers) Wright in Cranham, Essex on 5 June 1629,[4][5] Some genealogies call her Hope ____, but with no evidence.

Rebecca came with him to Hartford and died there in 1640. The last thing known respecting her is gathered from a letter written by Mr. Hooker in Nov. 1640, announcing her death to his son-in-law, Rev. Thomas Shepherd, in which he says: "Brother Stone's Wife smoaked out her days in the darknesse of melanchollie."

Mr. Stone m. (2) Elizabeth -.

Children by 1st wife, Rebecca Wright [1]

1. Samuell Stone, baptized 13 Sep 1632 in Towcester, Northamptonshire[6], possibly died young
2. John Stone b. say 1634 attended Harvard and Cambridge, not named in his father's will, so probably died before 1663 and without issue.
3. Rebekah Stone, born about 1636, m. Timothy Nash
4. Mary Stone, born about 1638, m. Joseph Fitch, settled in East Windsor
5. Sarah Stone, born about 1640, m. Thomas Butler of Hartford

Children by 2nd wife, married by about 25 July 1641, Mrs. Elizabeth Allen:[1][7]

1. Elizabeth Stone, born about 1645; m. (1) William Sedgwick and (2) John Roberts
2. Joseph Stone bp Hartford 18 Oct 1646. n.f.r.
3. Lydia Stone b. Hartford 22 Jan 1647/8. n.f.r.
4. Samuel or Unknown son Stone, baptized Hartford in 29 April 1649
5. Abigail Stone b. Hartford 9 Sep 1650. n.f.r.
6. - Samuel or Unknown b. summer of 1652 (23 weeks old 28 Feb 1652/3

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Children:

i. John (son of the 1st wife) graduated, Harvard College, 1653; "he had no Commencement part when his class took their second degree, having perhaps previously gone to England, where he received the degree of M.A. from the University of Cambridge." After the Restoration a "Mr. John Stone" was silenced at Hellingley, in Sussex. "Was this the graduate?" His name was starred on the College catalogue before 1700.

ii. Joseph, baptized October 18, 1646; not mentioned in his father's will.

iii. Lydia, born Jan. 22, 1647-8; died young,

iv. Son, baptized April 29, 1649; probably died young,

v. Abigail, born September 9, 1650; died young.

vi. Samuel, was at Harvard for a time about 1659, but left before graduation. He was colleague with Reverend Gershom Bulkeley, at Wethersfield, 1666-1669, and again in 1676; he also preached at Simsbury and Middletown, and perhaps other places, but "fell into intemperate habits, was excommunicated from the church, and wasted his whole estate." He never married; died October 8, 1683; "he was among his companions first at one, and then at another Taverne, and thence went in the evening to a friend's house (that of Henry Howard, who married Sarah Stone), when his discourse was very bitter and offensive to some present; but going thence, the night being very dark, was found the next morning dead in the little River that runs through the town; having missed the bridge. He fell down upon the Rocks, and thence “rowled or some way gott into the water at a little distance and there lay dead at break of day."

vii. Elizabeth, married (1) William Sedgwick, of Hartford; (2) John Roberts, of Hartford, who removed to New Jersey (q. v.).

viii. Rebecca, married about 1657, Timothy Nash, of New Haven, who removed to Hartford (q. v.).

ix. Mary, married Joseph Fitch, of Hartford, before 1663 (q. v.).

x. Sarah, married Thomas Butler, of Hartford.

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1 Rev. Ezekiel Rogers in his will, April 17, 1880, mentions his “loving nephew, Mr. Sam'l Stone of Conn., and his son John.”

2 John Whitings letter to Increase Mather, Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., vol. viii. p. 489-472.

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SOURCE: James Hammond Trumbull, editor, The memorial history of Hartford County, Connecticut, 1633-1884, Volume 1 (Boston, Massachusetts: Edward L. Osgood, 1886), pages 262-263. Retrieved: 3 May 2011 from Google Books

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Sam Stone's biography on Discover Hertford:

http://www.hertford.net/history/samstone.asp

Samuel Stone was a 17th century Puritan Minister who, together with Thomas Hooker, established the American town of Hartford, Connecticut.

Samuel Stone was born on 18th July 1602, the third son of John and Sarah Stone (nee Rogers), who lived in Fore Street, Hertford. He was baptized on 30th July of that year at All Saints Church and lived on the site now occupied by Baroosh, formerly Barclays Bank.

In 1620 he left the town to study at Emmanuel College in Cambridge, from where he graduated. He was ordained on 8th July 1626 at Peterbough and a year later became curate at Sisted, Essex. Shortly afterwards his wife, Hope (nee Fletcher) gave birth to their first daughter, Sarah.

Stone was a Puritan. The Puritans were Protestants who wanted to purify the Church of England of its' ceremony and other aspects that they thought were Catholic. They wanted the powers of the lordly bishops reduced and condemned priestly vestments, church ornaments and music. They wanted the church restored to its' ancient purity and simplicity. This attitude put them in confrontation with The Crown and they were suppressed.

In 1620, the same year that Samuel Stone left Hertford for Cambridge, a band of Separatists called The Pilgrim Fathers crossed the Atlantic in The Mayflower and founded the settlement of New Plymouth.

Seventeen years later, in 1633, another ship named Griffin made a similar journey, with Samuel Stone on board, together with his friend Thomas Hooker. They arrived in Boston on 4th September 1633 and a few weeks later Stone became Teacher of Church. The following year he became a Freeman.

An area some 100 miles to the South-West had long been inhabited by native Algonquin Indians. At the same time as Stone and Hooker were arriving in Boston, the Dutch were establishing a fort and trading post called House of Hope, located at the end of the navigable portion of the Connecticut River.

In 1636, Thomas Hooker and Samuel Stone led their congregation from New Towne (now Cambridge, MASS) and formed a colony at House of Hope, making peace with the local Indians and renaming the town they called Saukiog as Hartford.

In the following years Stone's wife, Hope, had two more daughters - Rebecca and Mary. Hope died in 1640 and in the following year he married again to Elizabeth Allen.

Samuel Stone died on 20th July 1663, aged 61.www.foundersofhartford.org

Reverend Samuel Stone, Hartford Founder

Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist
SAMUEL2 STONE, REV., HARTFORD FOUNDER (JOHN1) was baptized 30 Jul 1602 in Hertford, Hertfordshire, England, and died 20 Jul 1663 in Hartford, CT. He married (1) ______ ______ bef. 1634. She died bef. 02 Nov 1640 in Hartford, CT. He married (2) ELIZABETH ALLEN bef. 25 Jul 1641 in Boston, MA. She was born in England, and died bef. 04 Jan 1681/82 in Hartford, CT (inventory).
Samuel Stone matriculated at Cambridge, (England) from Emmanuel College, Easter 1620; B. A. 1623-4; M. A. 1627. Beginning in 1628 he was a minister at Sistedt, Essex, England, but by the middle of 1630 he had been replaced. After that he was a lecturer at Towcester, Northamptonshire when he was chosen to accompany Rev. Thomas Hooker to New England.
He emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony aboard the ship "Griffin" with Thomas Hooker in 1633. He settled in Cambridge (then called Newtown) where he served as a teacher, a position that he held in Hartford later as well. He held five parcels of land in Cambridge, but then removed to Hartford in Hooker's party May 1636. He participated in the Pequot War of 1637. In the Hartford land inventory of February 1639/40 he held eight parcels: two acres with a dwelling house, yards, and gardens, along the bank of the Connecticut River west of the property of Thomas Hooker and, ironically, just east of that of William Goodwin ; eight acres in the South Meadow; eleven acres also in the South Meadow; ten acres in the swamp by the Great River; twelve acres at the end of the Old Oxpasture; two acres, three roods and twenty perches in the Little Meadow; one acre, one rood and six perches also in the Little Meadow; and one acre and two roods again in the Little Meadow. After the death of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, a serious controversy arose over who would succeed Hooker as minister in Hartford. Samuel Stone wanted and expected this position, but a sizable faction led by William Goodwin wanted another minister. The matter could not be amicably resolved, and on 18 April 1659 at Founder Nathaniel Ward 's house, Goodwin and about thirty-three men signed an agreement to remove up river to found the town of Hadley, Massachusetts. Twenty-two and their families moved upriver to form Hadley, along with an undetermined amount from Wethersfield. Eleven of the signers either did not go or returned soon either before or after Samuel Stone's death in 1663. Those who remained were under almost constant attack by Indians, but seemed to prefer that situation rather than be in the vicinity of Samuel Stone. Stone, then, in 1647, after the death of Rev. Hooker, became Hartford's second minister of the first Church of Christ in Hartford, a position he held for fourteen years until his death in 1663. However, in 1660, Rev. John Whiting, son of Founder William Whiting , was appointed as a "Colleague" of Stone, and became the next minister of the First Church. But then, in 1664 Rev. Joseph Haynes, son of Founder John Haynes , was appointed as "Colleague" to Whiting. This appointment of co-ministers points to serious dissensions within the church, which ultimately caused Rev. John Whiting and thirty-one parishioners to form the Second Church of Christ in Hartford on 22 February 1670/1. Samuel Stone's undated will was approved 3 March 1663/4. Note: there were two unnamed sons of Samuel Stone, baptized in 1649 and 1652. I am making a tentative assignment of the son baptized in 1649 to Samuel, Jr., as he sold land in Hartford in 1673, and it seems more likely that a 24-year-old would be selling land than a 21-year-old. Genealogy: no published genealogy known to exist, probably due to there being no male child of Samuel Stone who survived to adulthood.

https://www.foundersofhartford.org/the-founders/reverend-samuel-stone/

According to my grandmother's notes, he was educated at Emanuel College, Cambridge University, England. HE married an unknown woman who died in 1646. His second wife Elizabeth Allen was a widow of Boston Mass. She went on to marry George Gardner. Rev. Samuel Stone came to New England with Rev. Thomas Hooker and others on the ship Griffin arriving in Boston on September 4, 1633. He removed to Hartford, Conn. with Hooker in 1636. He succeeded Hooker at the Hartford church. He was Chaplain of the troops under John Mason in the Pequot War in 1637 She references Genealogical Notes (Goodwin) p. 211-212
www.findagrave.com

Rev Samuel Stone
BIRTH 18 Jul 1602
Hertford, East Hertfordshire District, Hertfordshire, England
DEATH 20 Jul 1663 (aged 61)
Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA
BURIAL
Ancient Burying Ground
Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA Show MapGPS-Latitude: 41.7648922, Longitude: -72.6745963
MEMORIAL ID 8719191

Family Members
Spouses

Hope Fletcher Stone
1602–1640 (m. 1624)
Elizabeth Allen Stone Gardner
(m. 1641)

Children
Elizabeth Stone Wadsworth
unknown–1682
John Stone
1618–1687
Rebekah Stone Nash
1625–1709
Sarah Stone Butler
1628–1688
Mary Stone Fitch
1638 – unknown

Misidentified daughter

They Rev. Richard Rogers also seem to have had a daughter (born about 1580) who married John Stone. “It is known, from the will of Rev. Ezekiel Rogers of Rowley, Mass., that the Rev. Samuel Stone of Hartford, Connecticut was his nephew.[1] From this it is inferred that the mother of Samuel Stone was a sister of Rev. Ezekiel Rogers. From other evidence it is inferred that the father of Rev. Samuel Stone was John Stone of Hertford - see the work of Robert Charles Anderson.[2]. Note on first name of ____ (Rogers) Stone: There are family trees on the internet claiming that the given name of the mother of Rev. Samuel Stone was Sarah.”

Our knowledge of Roger’s daughters allow us to form a firm conclusion with regard to the identification of Samuel Stone’s mother. Since Samuel Stone was born in 1601, and since his father was still having children after Richard Roger’s death, it is impossible for any of these four daughters to have been Samuel Stone’s mother.

The parish register of Cranham, Essex recorded the marriage on 5 June 1629 between “Samuel Stone and Rebecca Wright.”

She was the daughter of Rebecca (Rogers) Wright and the granddaughter of Rev. Richard Rogers.

He was the son of (perhaps) John Stone and his unknown wife.

Children of Rev. Richard Rogers and his wife Barbara:

1. Rebecca Rogers, “daughter Hasselder” and “daughter Hasseler” in her father’s will. She m. 1) probably in 1603, Samuel Wright, Bachelor of Divinity and founding president of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. 2 daughters, Rebecca (m. Samuel Stone) and Martha; m. 2) Maldon, Essex, 16 April 1610: Edward Hastler, merchant and alderman. They had six children: Richard, Joseph, Nathaniel, Hester, Mary, and John.

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References

1. The Sedgwick Collection at the New Haven Colony Historical Society. < link >
2. Tarbert, Jesse. “The Identity and English Ancestry of Rev. Samuel Stone's First Wife: Rebecca Wright, Granddaughter of Rev. Richard Rogers,” NEHGR (NEHGS, Boston, 2022) Vol. 176, WN. 704, Page 389-405 < AmericanAncestors >; Page 404-405. (document attached).
3. WikiTree contributors, "Samuel Stone Sr. (abt.1602-1663)," WikiTree: The Free Family Tree, (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Stone-351 : accessed 15 February 2024).
   1. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III by Robert Charles Anderson, pages 1768-1773
   2. Samuel Stone by Edward Irving Carlyle at WikiSource.org. Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.259
   3. Samuel Stone (Wikipedia)
   4. Register of All Saints, Cranham, Essex, Essex Record Office, D/P 118/1/1, image 25, cited by Tarbert
   5. Tarbert, Jesse, "The Identity and English Ancestor of Rev. Samuel Stone's First Wife: Rebecca Wright, Granddaughter of Rev. Richard Rogers" in the New England Historical Genealogical Register, Vol. 176, Fall 2022, pp. 388-404, citing many parish registers and wills,
   6. Register of Towcester, Northamptonshire Record Office 329P/255, image 172, viewable on ancestry.com: "ye sone of Mr Samuell Stone & Mrs Rebecca his wife"
   7. [https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/connecticut-vital-recor... the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records, Hartford, p. 311-2 in transcription, citing Vol. D, pp. 3,4,6,7 and FFS, pp. 2,3,5 in the original viewed on americanancestors.org, as to all but Elizabeth and the last child
   8. Center Church, p. 3
   9. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995). Profile for Samuel Stone pages 1768-1773
   10. Barber, John Warner. Connecticut Historical Collections (Durrie & Peck and J.W. Barber, 1849) Page 60
   11. Barbour, Lucius Barnes, 1982, Families of Early Hartford, Connecticut, Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, Maryland and Connecticut Society of Genealogists, Inc., Glastonbury, Connecticut pp. 587
   12. First Church of Christ (Hartford, Conn.), Center Church, Historical Catalogue of the First Church in Hartford. 1633-1885 (Publisher: Church, 1885). page 3
   13. Walker, George. History of the First Church in Hartford, 1633-1883 (Brown & Gross, Hartford, 1884) Page 46-
   14. Samuel Stone (1602-1663), by Edward Irving Carlyle at WikiSource.org. Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.259
   15. Dwight, Theodore. The History of Connecticut, From the First Settlement to the Present Time (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1845) Page 45-6
   16. Samuel Stone. (2015, February 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:54, March 30, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samuel_Stone&oldid=646793465
   17. "Rev. Samuel Stone." The Founders of Hartford. Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford.
   18. Find A Grave Memorial no. 8719191, Rev Samuel Stone, Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 29 April 2018), memorial page for Rev Samuel Stone (18 Jul 1602–20 Jul 1663), , citing Ancient Burying Ground, Hartford, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA ; Maintained by Anonymous (contributor 46615495) .
   19. American Genealogist, Vol. 36, Pg. 34
   20. American Genealogist, Vol. 30, Pg. 159
   21. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part I (1922-1927) Vol. 4, Pg. 168
   22. Morison, The Founding of Harvard College (1935) Pg. 401
   23. Winthrop, The History of New England from 1630-1649 (1853), Vol. 1, Pg. 128-30, 137
   24. Shurtleff, Records … of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, Vol. 1, Pg. 369
   25. The Records of the Town of Cambridge (1901) Pg. 6, 8, 12, 13
   26. The Register Book of the Lands and Houses in “New Towne” & ... Cambridge (1896) Pg. 4
   27. Original Distribution of the Lands in Hartford, Pg. 348-50
   28. Hartford Probate District, Case #5280
   29. Manwarning, A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records (1904) Vol. 1, Pg. 4, 18, 32, 41, 43, 65-66, 83, 116, 125, 137, 155, 242-43
   30. Stiles, The history and genealogies of ancient Windsor, Connecticut (1891) Pg. 663
   31. Historical catalogue of the First Church in Hartford. 1633-1885 (1885) Pg. v, ix, x, 3-4, 10
   32. Colonial history of Hartford, Connecticut (1914) Pg. 11-12, 23, 27, 80, 117, 124, 143, 147, 166, 258, 283-85
   33. Sprague, William Buell. Annals of the American Pulpit (Robert Carter & Brothers, New York, 1857) Vol. 1, Page 37-8