History of Stone & Finnell Families

History of Stone and Finnell Family

Originally Published in the ECHGS Newsletter and used here with their permission
This is typed exactly as it was told. No language has been changed.

History of Stone and Finnell Family as told by Ollie Stone Blackwell at the Stone Family Reunion on September 25, 1983 in Clark County, Kentucky at the Boon's Creek Baptist Camp.

"I have some history of our ancestors I would like to share with you. I have gone back to the 17th century in my research and included some of the things that were told to me by an aged ancestor, 'Aunt' Fannie Williams. (Actually she was my father, James Thomas Stone's, first cousin, but we were taught to call elderly people 'aunt' when I grew up). I was very young when she told me these stories.

First, I will start with out Grandmother Stone. We were all her descendants. Her maiden name was Sarah or Sally Finnell. She was born in 1807 in Orange County, Virginia and died in 1884 and is buried in the Sally Poer cemetery in Estill County near Cressy community. She is of French descent and had a very interesting background. the Finnells were a titled family living in Lyons, France in the mid-seventeenth century. Due to Religious persecution, the Finnells had to leave France. They were Huguenots and were persecuted by the French Roman Catholics. (Huguenots were a group of Protestants who became the center of political and religious quarrels in France in the 1500's and 1600's. The Huguenots believed in the teachings of John Calvin and were members of the Reformed Church. The French Roman Catholics gave them the name Huguenots. The name may have come from that of Besancon Hugues, a Swiss religious leader. They included members of the royal family, prominent noblemen, a large proportion of the middle classes and much of the peasantry of France. Henry IV restored peace in 1598, but when Louis XIV became king, he revoked his grandfather's toleration edict and hundreds of thousands of Huguenots fled to London, Amsterdam and to town in America. The foregoing explanation of Huguenots was inserted by Ina Blackwell Clark in 1984 when she typed her mother's speech.)

From France, the Finnells went to England and from England, some went to Wales and others came to America and settled in New York and Virginia. Sarah Finnell Stone's father, John finnell, was born in Orange County, Virginia in 1778 and died in Clark County, Kentucky in 1813. He married Catherine Surrey in 1797 in Orange County, Virginia. John was a veteran of the War of 1812. Catherine and John were parents of our Grandmother Sally (Sarah) Stone.

John and Catherine came to Kentucky from Virginia in the early 18th century. They lived at Fort Boonesborough. They were among the first settlers of Kentucky. John's name is on the Pioneer Monument that was erected and dedicated at Boonesborough in October 1982.

I was told by 'Aunt' Fannie Williams, who died in 1924, that Catherine and John came up Red River in a canoe and settled land in Clark and Estill Counties. Catherine almost smothered her baby to death, trying to keep it from crying, afraid the Indians would hear it. I was told that Sarah (Sally) Finnell Stone, our grandmother, was a very good industrious woman. She lived on Twin Creek in Estill County and when the school children passed her house going to school, she would have cookies baked to give them and when they creek was high, she would see that they got across safely. Often at midnight, she could be heard singing and spinning wheel going. She would spin yarn to knit warm clothing for her family.

I was told that in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring all Negro slaves free that Grandmother Sally Stone gave each of their slaves a big willow basket of clothes and money when they left. the names of the slaves were: Annie, Cynthia, Claiborne, Harrison, and Goe. Claiborne and Harrison did not leave Estill County.

Tempie and Alice, my two oldest sisters, remembered running to meet them when they were children when they would come to visit our father. They would bring Tempie and Alice homemade maple sugar cakes they made from sap of sugar maple trees.

This concludes what I have on Grandmother Stone's side of the family. She was the grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, and great-great-great-grandmother of all of us here today.

Now for the Stones. The Stones came from England to America. Stone was a popular and common name among the early settlers of America. A John Stone settled in Hartford, Conn. in 1836. Others settled in North Carolina and Virginia. Our ancestors came from Virginia. My father said we were not kin to the North Carolina Stones.

On 28 different occasions, the Stone family was ennobled during the period from the late 1400's to the early 1700's. Our Coat of Arms is the lion interchanged with the shield in gold and blue.

Thomas Stone was born 1770 in Virginia and died in 1848 in Estill County, Kentucky. He married Elizabeth Miller in Bourbon County, Kentucky in 1792. Thomas was a member of the Kentucky Militia and served with the 78th Regiment. He was a farmer and lived in Woodford County, Kentucky in 1800. I have a letter written to him by his brother that is dated November 16, 1800. I have a tax receipt dated 1808 showing that Thomas Stone paid levy to the Sheriff of Clark County on 5 slaves and 10 horses. Thomas died in Estill County in 1848 and his son, Berry Stone, our grandfather was the Administrator of his estate. I was told that the Stones had lots of money at one time -- I wonder where it went.

Berry Stone was born in 1804 and his date of death is unknown. He married Sarah (Sally) finnell in 1830. He was the son of Thomas and Elizabeth Miller Stone. He was a farmer, school teacher, a county clerk, an orator, and a state legislator. He served three terms as legislator in 1841, 1843, and 1845. I was told he liked to dance and when Grandmother Sally would knit him a new pair of socks he would put them on and jump out on the floor and dance.

Our grandfather Berry Stone left Kentucky in 1857 to take a herd of mules to New Orleans and never returned. It was thought that he was robbed and killed on his way back home.

Sally and Berry were the parents of twelve children. They were:

Catherine - Born 1831 - Married Augustine Weber

William - Born 05 Sep 1833 - Married Eliza King on 03 Mar 1855

Mary Jane - Born 10 Oct 1834 - Married Joab (Joe) Morton on 13 Aug 1855

George W. - Born Apr 1836 - Married Nancy Poer on 15 Jun 1858

America (Dee) - Born Apr. 6, 1838 - Married Irvine Berryman 14 Mar 1840

Francis M. (Lud) - Born 04 Dec 1839 - Married Sarah S. Williams 20 Jul 1865

Benjamin Franklin - Born 03 Sep 1841 - Married Nelly A. Williams 25 Jan 1876

John S. - Born 02 Oct 1843 - Married Kisie Ann Mansfield - 27 Jan 1867

Eliza - Born 08 May 1845 - Married Joab (Joe) Morton 24 Sep 1885

Berry, Jr. - Born 22 Feb 1855 - Married Diantha White 07 Nov 1872

James Thomas - Born 29 Sep 1853 - Married Amanda Poer 27 Aug 1883

Mary Jane died 18 Sep 1884 and Joab Morton married her younger sister, Eliza.

John W. Stone was the son of Berry Stone, Jr. and Diantha White Stone. He was born 15 Jun 1875 and married Frankie Crowe in January 1896. They were the parents of nine children who were:

Lena - Born 02 Dec 1896

Price - Born 1898 - Married Bessie Wells

Grant - Born 1900 - Married Minnie McCreary

Lillie - Born 1903 - Married Elbert Crowe

Allie - Born 1905 - Married Clarence Horn

Lewis - Born 1907 - Married Elizabeth Denny

Dewy Vernon - Born 1908

Pearl - Born 1910 - Married Lindsey Wiseman

All are now deceased except Allie, Lewis and Pearl.

I was told that Frankie was a school teacher and a fine lady. she died when her children were quite yong and John had to be both father and mother to them. I would say he did a very good job. They all turned out to be nice good people.

Researched and presented by Ollie Lee Stone Blackwell, daughter of James Thomas Stone and Amanda Poer Stone"