The Stones of Poynton Manor – Governor William Stone

The Stones of Poynton Manor in Port Tobacco, Maryland, like their name are much like building stones that became part of the foundation and structure of America from its early colonization to its expansion in the west.

Maryland and Virginia 1670 (north is to the right)

Poynton Manor, located on the shore of the Potomac River in Maryland, is the ancestral home and birthplace of many members of the Stone family including Governor William Stone, the third provincial governor of Maryland. Other notable Stones are Thomas Stone who signed the Declaration of Independence, and Barton Warren Stone, a prominent preacher and evangelist who co-founded several present-day Christian denominations that were birthed out of the Second Great Awakening.

The Stone family in America had its beginning in 1619 when William Stone arrived with Puritan settlers in the Virginia colony on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. He came to Virginia in service to the owners of a plantation, called the Berkeley Hundred, for six years in exchange for thirty acres of land. This plantation was located on the western shore of the Chesapeake west of the original English colony of Jamestown that was settled twelve years before.

William Stone

He lived on the eastern shore of the bay in Virginia for almost thirty years and in only twenty years had patented 1800 acres on what is now the Delmarva Peninsula.

During that time, he served as sheriff and as a vestryman. He also married Verlinda Graves from neighboring Jamestown who was the daughter of Captain Thomas Graves, a founding member of Jamestown.

But also during that time the Puritan settlement in which he lived and prospered, was growing in conflict with his fellow Virginia settlers who worshipped in the established Church of England (Episcopal in America).

England had been suffering under religious turmoil between Catholics and Protestants for decades. King James I had been the King of England when William sailed to the colony, and like his predecessor Queen Elizabeth I, the state church under their rule was the Church of England. It is a Protestant religion that is still very Catholic in form. Catholics did not want to worship there because it did not recognize the Pope as head of the Church. Puritans would not worship in the state church because it was Protestant in name only and lacked many of the core teachings of the Protestant movement. But in 1625 King James’ successor, King Charles I, desired a higher church form of Anglican worship that was much too Catholic in form for Puritan Protestants.

This caused more internal strife and unrest in the motherland and prompted many English citizens, Catholics and Puritans, to seek ways to escape the discord. One popular option for many Englishmen was to sail to the New World and establish new settlements where they could worship without harassment. But even those religious groups in the colonies were beginning to have trouble living in close proximity to one another.

In 1648, William Stone and the Lord Proprietor of Maryland, Cecil Calvert came to an agreement to move the Puritan Virginia settlement to the Province of Maryland. This colony was founded as a refuge for English Catholics, but had been experiencing local conflicts that echoed the English Civil War. Calvert desired to bring in Protestants to give the appearance to England that his province did not only favor Catholics. So he made William Stone the New Proprietary Governor and encouraged them to settle the community of in what is now Annapolis, Maryland.

Cecil Calvert presenting the Maryland Toleration Act to Gov. William Stone

In January of 1649, with a Parliamentarian victory, the monarchy was abolished with the execution of King Charles I. So in order to ensure religious tolerance between the Catholic residents of Maryland and the new Puritan settlers, Calvert wrote the Maryland Toleration Act and asked the colonial assembly to pass it.

Maryland Toleration Act of 1649

This toleration act protected worship rights without persecution for Catholics, Protestants or any other Christian trinitarian group.

But the conflicts of the English Civil War continued to influence the New World colonies. Later that year the deputy to Governor Stone declared that the successor to the English throne, Charles II was the rightful ruler of England.

Two Commissioners who were appointed by the English Commonwealth under Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, to make sure that all of Virginia, which to them included Maryland, were to submit to the new Parliamentary authority. Although Governor Stone was faithful to the Commonwealth because he was a Puritan, all rulings from him would be in favor of Lord Baltimore. This declaration caused him to come in conflict with his fellow Puritans because it was like swearing fidelity to a Catholic. Therefore in 1654 due to pressure from both sides, Stone resigned as Governor.

The two Commissioners became rulers of the colony and immediately rescinded the religious toleration act and did not allow Catholics to practice their faith.

Six months later, Stone mustered troops from the predominantly Catholic town of St Mary’s and challenged the authority of the Commissioners. He sailed a small fleet up the Chesapeake to Providence and attacked. Stone’s force was defeated and he was taken prisoner. He was sentenced to be executed along with nine others. Four were executed, but Stone and the others were allowed to live, due to the pleas of the local Puritan women.

Stone was exiled to Virginia until 1660 because the monarchy had been restored in England. Because of William Stone’s loyalty to Lord Baltimore, he granted Stone “as much land as he could ride on horseback in a day.” This plantation became Poynton Manor. Although no original home is on the property, it it still a working farm in southern Maryland.

William Stone set the stage to grow a prosperous and prominent family that was an essential part of the foundation and building of America.

Governor William Stone is my ninth great grandfather.