Person:William Stone (12)

William and Lydia settled on a farm in Coventry, in 1770, where he was town clerk for many years and an active Baptist.

BIOGRAPHY: Genealogy of the Stone Family Originating in Rhode Island By Richard Stones Providence: Knowles, Anthony and Company, Printers 1866 Page 146 Note 148

 William Stone (1048) married Lydia Westcott, removed from Cranston to Coventry, some time about the year 1770, and spent the rest of his life on a farm near Coventry Centre. On his farm was a corn mill, which, during his life, and years after, was the principal manufactory of corn or Indian meal, for a large circle of surrounding farmers and mechanics. The estate has recently been purchased by Pardon S. Peckham, an enterprising manufacturer, and the prospect now is, that a large manufactory will occupy nearly the site of the "Old Mill," and a village of mechanics and artisans take the place of the four or five houses, which, for the last hundred years, has overlooked that valley. William Stone (1048) was a man of correct business habits, and his education above the ordinary young men of his day. He was a Justice of the Peace before leaving the town of Cranston, and the strictly moral principle and correct judgment by which he acted, gave him influence in all the relations which he sustained. Soon after he removed to Coventry, he was elected Town Clerk, which office he held for many years; held until his age and infirmities led him to resign, and retire from those public duties which he had so long and so satisfactorily performed. He died about the year 1819. He was an active Christian, of the Baptist denomination, and among the first to establish the church in his neighborhood.