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John and Roberta Wearmouth, who live next to the Thomas Stone National Historic Site, have written a book about their illustrious neighbor.
Margaret Stone (above), was Thomas Stone's beloved wife, They shared the west room (left) at Haberdeventure before her death at age 36.
Stone is buried in the family graveyard at Haberdeventure. Haberdeventure, near La Plata, Md., was built by Thomas Stone in the early 1770s. The site is now owned by the National Park Service and is open for tours. |
THOMAS STONE--lawyer, politician and signer of the Declaration of Independence--rests beside his wife in a quiet clearing four miles west of La Plata, Md., and about an hour from Fredericksburg.
The small family cemetery is just a short walk from Haberdeventure, the country home built by Stone and his wife, Margaret, in the early 1770s and now owned by the National Park Service.
Only the the rustle of the trees and the occasional "bobwhite" call of a quail intrude on the serene setting.
It seems appropriate that Stone, who was characterized by a reserved manner and unassuming personality, should rest in a quiet place.
And while that is fine with Charles County historians John and Roberta Wearmouth, they insist that Stone's legacy as a patriot and Founding Father should not be relegated to a quiet corner of history.
So the couple, who live on the other side of Rose Hill Road just opposite the entrance to Haberdeventure, have collaborated on a book, "Thomas Stone--Elusive Maryland Signer," that they hope will enlighten readers about Stone's contributions to America's creation.
John Wearmouth says that Stone's place in history has suffered because he was a cautious and practical man.
"Stone was hard-working, very sure of himself, deliberate and had a great deal of depth in his thinking," says Wearmouth.
"He was not a particularly good orator or very inspiring, except when he wrote. When you read his arguments on paper, they always are very well-constructed."
Stone was the youngest of Maryland's four signers of the Declaration. He is not more well-known today because he died in 1787 at age 44, and few documents relating to his life have survived.
In addition to signing the Declaration, Stone was on the committee that crafted the Articles of Confederation, America's first attempt at creating a strong central government.
He was elected to attend the Constitutional Convention of 1787, but declined because of his wife's failing health.
Margaret Stone's health problems were the result of mercury poisoning after an inoculation for smallpox during a visit to Philadelphia in 1776.
According to the Wearmouths, Stone loved his wife very much and blamed himself for her illness.
"She was only 17 when they were married and he felt a strong sense of responsibility for her," says Wearmouth.
Margaret died at age 36 in June 1787, and Stone never got over his grief. He decided to go to Europe, but died in October--just four months after his wife--in Alexandria while waiting for a ship.
A letter of advice written to his 12-year-old son shortly before Stone's death reflects something of his character.
"Seek to do all the good you can, remembering that there is no happiness equal to that which good actions accord," Stone wrote. "Let your aim in life be to attain the goodness rather than greatness among men: The former is solid, the latter all vanity, and often leads to ruin This I speak from experience."
As a member of the Continental Congress, Stone was considered a moderate on the issue of independence. He hoped for a peaceful reconciliation with Great Britain.
"He got a reputation of not being very committed [to the cause for independence]," Wearmouth says. "And that carried on for many years and worked against his place in history.
"But eventually, Stone came to see that a total break was necessary. That came when the English were planning to send more troops to America. He then realized that war was the only recourse."
Wearmouth also points out that Stone was acting on orders from state officials in Annapolis, and that they tended to "put the breaks on the Maryland delegation in Philadelphia in 1776. Finally, they didn't want Maryland to get left behind, so they told the delegates to go with the flow [toward independence]."
Historian Jack Warren of La Plata has written extensively about the Founding Fathers and also has done research on Stone.
"In subtle, but important ways, social structure, law and custom in Maryland discouraged the development of revolutionary radicalism," Warren says.
"Maryland leaders were more accustomed to defending the rights of their colony than the rights of man. They were less inclined than Virginians like George Mason and Patrick Henry to appeal to principals of universal or natural right.
"The Maryland Revolutionaries, in short, were less radical than their neighbors across the Potomac.
"They nonetheless made important contributions to American independence. And the Maryland political leadership, if it lagged behind Virginia's in its political radicalism, was no less committed to the success of the American Union."
That commitment is reflected by a letter from Stone to the Maryland Council of Safety dated July 12, 1776, from Philadelphia. It stated: "May God send Victory to the Arm lifted in Support of righteousness, Virtue and freedom, and crush even to destruction the power which wantonly would trample the rights of mankind."
Thomas Stone was born in 1743 at Poynton Manor in Charles County. Although his ancestors were Southern Maryland aristocrats, Stone was not wealthy.
"He did not inherit a great deal because he was the son of his father's second marriage," says Wearmouth. "But he raised money to go to school and went on to get a fine education."
Stone became a lawyer and married Margaret Brown in 1768. The couple had three children.
Both of Stone's daughters--Margaret and Mildred--married brothers from the Daniel family, the prominent Stafford County clan that owned the Crow's Nest plantation on the neck of land in the southeastern part of the county between Accokeek and Potomac creeks.
"A great many families and prominent people in Stafford County history can trace a connection back to Thomas Stone," says Stafford historian Barbara Kirby. She includes family names like Moncure, Ashby, Tolson, Conway, Nelson and Wallace.
"These are all names of note in Stafford history," Kirby says. "They are all people of money and property."
Another descendant of the Stone family who lived in Stafford County was Dr. Hawkins Stone.
He was a physician and businessman who owned considerable property along Garrisonville Road during the 1800s. It is on his former property that the Silver Cos. recently developed Doc Stone Commons shopping center.
Katherine Conway Haymes is a Stone descendant in her 80s who lives in Ferry Farms subdivision in Stafford and has helped the Wearmouths contact other family members around the country.
"This book helps put Thomas Stone back on the map as far as history is concerned," she says. "I think it's long overdue."
Both John and Roberta Wearmouth are Midwesterners who studied history at Michigan State University.
John Wearmouth says the couple became interested in Thomas Stone after moving from Northern Virginia to their present home across from Haberdeventure in 1958.
"When we told local people where we lived, the response was 'Where is that?'" says Wearmouth. "The apathy of the natives really surprised me. They should have been proud of Thomas Stone.
"In the Midwest, if there was any connection from that area with the Declaration of Independence, people would certainly know about it."
The Wearmouths wrote a series of articles in 1983 on prominent people and events in Charles County history. Stone was the subject of one of the stories.
"That's when we realized that he was worthy of a more serious work," Wearmouth says. "We began to realize the total worth of the man--his contributions to the county, the state and the nation."
The couple's 218-page, self-published book came out in May. It portrays Stone as a quiet and humble man, whose writings reflect a profound understanding of many issues of the day.
Wearmouth says Stone should be remembered for a long list of contributions to his state and nation:
He helped reorganize the executive arm of the Maryland state government, had a role in creating Maryland's first constitution and was a member of the state's first senate.
In addition to his role in drafting the Articles of Confederation, Stone was instrumental in seeing that Maryland approved the document.
Wearmouth says Stone helped persuade the large states to relinquish their claims to western lands, which was a sticking point in Maryland's approval of the Articles.
The Maryland vote, Wearmouth says, also helped ensure France's support of the war effort.
Stone played a key role in working with George Washington and other Virginia statesmen at the Mount Vernon Conference in 1785. The meeting produced the Potomac River Compact and showed that the states could work together for their mutual benefit.
Just two years later, representatives from all the states came together in Philadelphia to consider the framework for a new constitution. The resulting document remains alive and well today.
Stone's life "is a story worthy of being told, and it was very gratifying to work on," says Wearmouth. "I think we both learned a great deal more about the birth of our nation than we knew before."
LEE WOOLF, a longtime reporter and editor with The Free Lance-Star, is bureau manager at the newspaper's North Stafford office.
