Descriptive Summary
Administration Information
Biographical Note
Arrangement
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Stone family papers
Dates: 1817-1965
Collection Number: mssHM 74646-74695
Creator OR Collector:
Stone (Family)
Extent:
50 pieces
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: Correspondence of Martha D. Stone and her extended family.
Language of Material: The records are in English.
Administration Information
Access
Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the
Reader Services Department. For more information, please go to following
web
site
.
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material,
nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and
obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Stone family papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Acquisition Information
Gift of William Welch Stone, Jr., and Molly Nealson Welch, May 26, 2010.
Biographical Note
Martha ("Mattie") Dandridge Welch Stone (1844-1943), a long time resident of Los Angeles, was born in Talladega County, Ala.
Her father was J. Mallory (John Mallory) Welch (d. 1847), a Talladega county lawyer and son of Rev. Oliver Welch (1791-1874),
the founder of the Alpine Baptist Church. Mattie's mother, Frances Ann Gibson Welch (1818-1901) hailed from an old Virginia
family. She was daughter of Jonathan Catlett Gibson (1793-1849), a Culpeper County, Va. lawyer and legislator, and his first
wife Martha Dandridge Ball (1799-1822), daughter of Col. Burgess Ball and Frances Ann Washington, George Washington's niece.
In 1849, Mattie's widowed mother married James Creth Burt (1809-1896), an affluent tanner of Mardisville, Talladega County,
Ala. In 1860, Burt legally adopted Mattie. On June 1873, she married Isaac Jordan Stone (1846-1891), son of a Talladega County
farmer. The Stones soon moved to North Carolina where Jordan Stone worked as a newspaper publisher; he was the proprietor
and editor of The Raleigh Standard and The Asheville Citizen. Their children - Frances Jordan (1874-1943), Jordan Mallory
(1883-1918), and William Welch (1886-1978) were born in North Carolina. In 1888, Stone sold his interest in The Asheville
Citizen, and the family moved to Los Angeles. Stone became an importer and dealer in lime and cement. Mattie's mother came
to live with them; she died in 1901 at her daughter's Los Angeles home. Jordan Mallory Stone came to Pasadena in April 1917
to take the position of assistant cashier of the Security National Bank. In July 1917, he married Evelyn H. Williams, but
two months later succumbed to pneumonia. Frances Jordan (Fannie) Stone worked as a stenographer; she died in 1943. William
Welch Stone, a bank executive, married Rebecca McMillan (1891-1981); the Stones lived in San Diego. In 1908, Martha D. Stone
was involved in an attempt to receive reimbursement for the estate of George Washington lost by conflicting grants of the
United States government. The effort was spearheaded by Robert E. Lee, Jr., the administrator of the Washington estates, and
Grenlee Davidson Letcher (1867-1954) of Lexington, Va., the legal counsel. In 1909, the respective bills were introduced in
the House (No. 5489) and Senate (No. 1238).
Arrangement
The collection is arranged chronologically. It is housed in one box.
Scope and Content
Correspondence of Martha D. Stone and her extended family. Martha D. Stone's correspondence contains letters and documents
on family history, including those collected in 1908-1909. Besides the family members, the correspondents include Greenlee
D. Letcher, Lawrence Washington (1836-1926); and Frank P; Flint. Also included are four letters (1916-1918) from Jordan M.
Stone describing his life in Banning and Pasadena, Calif. and photographs of Jordan M. and William Welch Stone at Hollister
Ranch, Calif.
Jonathan C. Gibson's correspondence includes two letters to his wife written while away from home; the letter of Oct. 18,
1817, contains a vivid description of the flood of emigrants headed to "Mizura;" the letters to his daughter written between
1840 and 1846 discuss family and local news of Culpeper county and details of some cases that he argued. Also included is
the letter (1821, Jan.) from his kinsman and a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, Fayette Ball (1791-1836), describing
bills under consideration.
Letters that Frances Ann Gibson Welch Burt and J. Mallory Welch exchanged in the summer 1844, during her visit to Virginia.
In the letter of Aug. 10, 1844, written on pro-Clay pictorical stationery, she described a "Whig festival" in Dandridge, attended
by some "thousand persons;" and on Aug. 26, 1844, she gives an account of a Methodist camp meeting in "Prince William Springs."
Also included are the letters from her friends and relatives. The letter (Jan. 1, 1847) of her friend Mary V. Moore describes
her stay at the Olympian Springs, Ky., her wedding to a young man she met there, and the busy social life of a newlywed in
Mount Sterling, Ky.
There are also the journal and letters of Mary Emma (Mamie) Cathell Grace (1861-1937), a native of Philadelphia who attended
New Orleans High School. The first portion of the diary covers the school year of 1878, the entries describe school studies,
including lessons taught by Susan Blanchard Elder (1835-1923) and Mary Humphrey Stamps (b. 1835); the Mardi Gras festivies,
particularly the parade staged by the Knights of Momus, the outbreak of yellow fever, etc. The second portion of the diary
gives an account of her trip to Philadelphia to meet her father and siblings. 1885, Mamie married Dr. Jesse Edward Grace (1852-1895)
and moved to Weimar, Tex.
Indexing Terms
Personal Names
Ball, Fayette, 1791-1836
Burt, Frances Ann Gibson Welch, 1818-1901
Elder, Susan Blanchard, 1835-1923
Flint, Frank P. (Frank Putnam), 1862-1929
Gibson, Jonathan Catlett, 1793-1849
Grace, Mary Emma Cathell, 1861-1937
Letcher, Greenlee D. (Greenlee Davidson), 1867- -- Correspondence
Stamps, Mary Humphreys, -1835
Stone (Family) -- Archives
Stone, Jordan M. (Jordan Mallory), 1883-1918
Stone, Martha Dandridge Welch, 1843-1944
Washington, George, 1732-1799 -- Estate
Washington, Lawrence, 1836-1926
Welch, J. Mallory (John Mallory), -1847
Welch, Oliver, 1791-1874 -- Family -- Archives
Corporate Names
United States.President -- Elections, 1844
Whig Party (Va.)
Subjects
Camp meetings -- Virginia -- Personal narratives
Girls' schools -- Louisiana -- New Orleans
Lawyers -- Virginia -- Correspondence
Methodism -- Virginia -- History -- Sources
Migration, Internal -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Revivals -- Virginia -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Women -- California -- Los Angeles -- Correspondence
Women -- Southern States -- Correspondence
Geographic Areas
Alabama -- History -- 1819-1950 -- Sources
Culpeper County (Va.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Hollister Ranch (Calif.) -- Photographs
Kentucky -- History -- 1792-1865 -- Sources
Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- Sources
Mount Sterling (Ky.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
New Orleans (La.) -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Rockingham County (Va.) -- History -- Sources
Talladega County (Ala.) -- History -- Sources
United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Virginia -- History -- 1775-1865 -- Sources
Virginia -- Politics and government -- 1775-1865 -- Sources
Genre
Family papers -- Southern States -- 19th century
Family papers -- California -- 20th century
Letters (correspondence) -- Southern States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- California -- 20th century
Photographs -- California