Thursday, October 21, 2010

A Stouthearted Stone

Charles Stone, Jr. was born May 6, 1757 in Stockbridge, MA.  He served as waggoner in the Revolutionary War carrying supplies to the Army.  In 1782 he married Polly Springs (1764-1838) and sometime after his marriage he went into the Mohawk Valley to establish a home.  Because of his wife's ill health at the time, he left that region and in 1791 moved his family to Broome Co., New York.  He settled on the bank of the Chenango River about 5 miles north of Binghamton.  Part of this time and until around 1800 he carried the mail on horseback through the woods from Owego to Catskill and related experiences with man and beast on these journeys.  His daughter Lura rode horseback to Catskill to attend school about a 50 mile round trip.

Leaving this location that was clear of debt he moved west. But "in an evil hour" trying to do a good deed for a reported reliable friend, he signed a security bond for $5,000.  The friend did not turn out to be so reliable and Charles was required to pay out this amount.  He was just recovering from this when not long after this as he was deciding where to build a mill, he was persuaded to purchase a certain site.  On this site there was not water sufficient to run a mill and this event left him absolutely penniless. It was said that his wife, Polly, had more practical wisdom and opposed many of his unfortunate undertakings.

Later, Charles and Polly were forced to live with their children.  At one time living with daughter Harriet and her daughter in Port Crane among the wild basket makers of that region.  It is reported that he was so lame with sciatica that he had been seen hoeing corn on his knees, being too lame to bend over.  His remarkable conscientiousness was noted by the fact that in spite of these infirmities he picked huckleberries to pay a second time a note for a yoke of cattle, rather than run the risk of making the mistake by swearing he had paid for them.

In the spring of 1837, after selling his personal effects at auction, Charles now in his 80s was so crippled he could barely walk with two canes. With his wife, daughter Harriet and Granddaughter Frances he traveled on a raft down the river, took the canal as far as they could, over the mountains by emigrant wagons and then by steamboat to Cincinnati, Ohio to live with Charles' brother Ethan.

Polly Springs Stone died there in the fall of 1838.  Charles died in the summer of 1848.  I have nine children listed for Charles and Polly, however, I believe the last child Aaron, to be either a grandson or nephew they had taken in to live with them.  The birthdate for Aaron is 18 years after the 8th child on the family tree.  Clarification of this mystery still eludes me.

A paper found among family histories and photos recounts the above story.  It was dated 1909 but no author is listed.  This account was also found reprinted in the bicentennial publication by The Chenango Bridge Civic Association in 1976, titled, Chenango Bridge, Our Heritage.

2 comments:

Fred and JoAnn said...

nice

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.