HON. WILLIAM J. STONE

From the 1887 History of Vernon County, Missouri, p. 693-694:

Hon. William J. Stone

(Nevada).

   The present efficient representative in Congress from this – the Twelfth – district of Missouri is Hon. William J. Stone, one of Vernon county’s substantial citizens.  The family from which he is descended came originally from England to the ancient colony of Virginia, at Jamestown, in an early day.  Three generations of them have been born and reared in the old commonwealth.  The great-grandfather of William J. Stone was a soldier in the Revolutionary War from that State, and his son, John Stone, who was also born there, subsequently moved to Madison county, Ky., early in the present century, where he died at the age of 94, in 1863.  The father of the subject of this sketch, William Stone, was born in Culpeper county, Va., in 1813, and went with his father to Kentucky, where he married Miss Mildred Phelps.  In 1863 he went to Daviess county, Ind., and from there moved to Waco, Tex.  He was twice married; his second wife being Miss Dora Johnson.  His first wife (William J.’s, mother), died in 1852, the second wife dying in 1880.  After the death of the latter the father moved to Nevada, Mo., where he died in 1881.  William J. Stone was born May 7, 1848, in Madison county, Ky., and was the youngest of four children by his father’s first marriage.  He worked on his father’s farm and attended school until 1863, when, going to live with his sister at Columbia, Boone county, Mo., he enjoyed the privileges of a three years’ course at the State University, to which was added a thorough commercial education at Stewart’s Commercial College at St. Louis.  On his return to Columbia he entered the law office of his brother-in-law, Hon. Squire Turner, and two years later, or in 1867, was admitted to the bar.  A partnership was then established with Judge A. B. Carleton, at Bedford, Lawrence county, Ind., but only continued about two years, when Mr. Stone came to Nevada, Mo., and engaged in the practice of his profession.  In 1872-74 he served as prosecuting attorney of the county, and in the latter year became connected in practice with C. R. Scott, which firm was succeeded by Stratton & Stone.  In 1877 and for some time afterward he was one of the editors of the Vernon county Democrat.  The Democratic party elected him to the State conventions of 1872--74--76; he was their delegate to the congressional convention in 1872, and in 1876 he was elected presidential elector on the Democratic ticket.  In 1884 Mr. Stone received the nomination and secured the election as representative to the Forty-ninth Congress from the Twelfth District of Missouri, a position the duties of which he is now ably discharging.  During this session he has placed himself securely on the list of Missouri’s statesmen, and the brilliant record which he has made assures him future promotion by his fellow-citizens.  Still less than forty years of age he has achieved a prominence rarely found in one so young.  He has taken a lively interest in the discussion of those questions with which he has to do, and as a member of the Standing Committee on Public Lands and the Select Committee on Civil Service Reform he has displayed tact, energy and judgment that have proved him to be something more than the mere occupant of a seat assigned to his district.  In 1886 he was re-elected by a handsome majority.  It has well been said of him that as a lawyer he is studious, as a practitioner careful and prudent, as an advocate concise in statement, terse in argument, vehement in denunciation and at times almost eloquent.  April 2, 1874, Mr. Stone married Miss Louise Winston, of Cole county, mo., daughter of Col. W. K. Winston.  They have three children:  Kimbrough, Mabel and Mildred.  Mr. S. belongs to Masonic, Odd Fellows and Knights of Pythias Orders.

[Transcribed by Julia Brown ]

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