General Notes

 WILLIAM STONE, I & ELIZABETH BRADLEY "STONE" has become a popular name in America and was often found belonging to several earlier settlers.  The original use of "Stone as a surname often referred to the locale or place of the residence of the bearer. Great boulders or masses of stone often marked boundaries in the English countryside. Sometimes it originated from the word "stan" meaning stone or boundary marker. It could also be someone living in a stone house. It might have been an occupational name such as, "stone cutter" or a character name the person with a stony behavior. In many English towns, the name "Stone" from the name of the great historic stones, such as the "Stonehenge". In any case, "Stone" is one of the oldest patronymics.  Persons from the "Stone" family have been knighted 28 times from the late 1400s to the early 1700s. The "Stone Coat of Armour" is the lion interchanged with the shield in gold and blue. Some of the notable "Stones" were "John Stone" who was the original proprietor in Hartford, Conn. John Stone who lived in Guilford, Conn. signed the "Plantation Contract" in 1639. A "Samuel Stone" came to the New England colonies in 1633 from Hertsford, England, settling in Cambridge, Mass. He was a chaplain to the troops during the Pequot War. Another "John Stone" a ferryman was granted land in Salem, Mass. He was the founder of Beverly, Mass. Most of the "Stones" came to the colonies from England. WILLIAM STONE,I was born ca. 1520 in the Parrish of Twiston, in Lancashire County, England.  Lancashire, England is a county in England lying on the Irish Sea and bounded by Cumberland, Westmoreland, Yorkshire and Cheshire counties. It comprises of lowlands along the Irish Sea with extensive bogs or mosses which yield only turf for fuel and are very dangerous. The interior upland areas rises as high as 2000 feet. The county yields iron, coal slate, salt and building stones More grazing is more attended to than agriculture. It has valuable fisheries, both in the rivers and in the sea.  William Stone was born during the reign of King Henry VIII. Henry had formed an alliance with France by arranging the marriage of his sister, Mary to Louis XII of France. In the year that William Stone was born, King Henry VIII staged a meeting on the Field of Cloth of Gold, but no significant political decisions resulted from this meeting. When William was 5 years old, the English people protested against Henry's attempt to levy taxes for military purposes. So, Henry withdrew from major war activity in Europe. William was 7 when Henry VIII divorced Catherine of Aragon because she failed to give him a male heir. She had 6 daughters, but only Mary I survived. Then he married Anne Boleyn after breaking from the Roman Catholic Church and the ties of papacy. Henry gained control of the clergy compelling the religious leaders to acknowledged him as him as head of the English Church in 1532. Henry then made himself the supreme ecclesiastical authority in England. The English people were required under oath to affirm Henry's supremacy. Henry and Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth was born on September 7, 1533 in London.  William Stone and Elizabeth Bradley were young adults when Anne Boleyn was charged with adultery and was executed in the tower of London. Henry immediately married Jane Seymour who died in 1537 after giving birth to Henry's only legitimate son, Edward VI. In 1536, England and Wales were united with England. William Stone married ELIZABETH BRADLEY, daughter of John Bradley in 1538 in Lancashire, England. The year )1540) that William and Elizabeth Stone's son, Richard was born, Thomas Cromwell was arrested and executed for treason. Also, that year, Henry married Anne of Cleaves in order to form a tie between the Protestant Princess of Germany. Henry soon grew dissatisfied with the unattractive Anne, divorced her also. After several months, Henry married Catherine Howard who was executed summarily in 1542 allegedly having been unchaste before her marriage. Finally, Henry's 6th wife was was Catherine Parr who survived him. Henry died in 1447. Meanwhile, William Stone had become a prominent man in the Parrish of Twiston. He and Elizabeth had 6 known sons. Their son, RICHARD Stone who married ISABEL GIRDIER is my 12th great grandfather. (written by Mildred Rhodus Jenkins, Williamstown, KY on March 3, 2000)