The 1781 Henrico County Will of William Stone; Widow, Lucy Stone
In the previous blog entry, we explored the 1790 Henrico County deed where John and Lucy White sold the 100 acres of land that she was entitled to per the will of William Stone. And, I'd been fruitless in trying to locate William Stone's will. But since then, guess what happened? My fellow researcher, Welford Jones, came through once again. On his next trip to the Library of Virginia, he was able to obtain William Stone's will which provided a fresh new look at understanding who Lucy Stone was. The will was obtained from the library's microfilm collection on Henrico County, Virginia Wills 1774 - 1783, reel 10. Below are the four pages to the will.
In his wishes, William Stone mentioned:
"my loving wife" but no name
sons William, Daniel, and Osborne Stone
daughters Elizabeth, Martha, and Nancy Stone
"the child that my wife is now pregnant with"
None of the daughters listed were named Lucy! In fact, Lucy Stone wasn't mentioned at all in William Stone's will! And it was impossible for Lucy Stone to have been the child that Stone's wife was carrying in 1781. A three year old child couldn't have married John White in 1784! And what was even more eye opening from Stone's will was that the language mentioned in the 1790 deed (where John and Lucy White sold the 100 acres of Henrico County property that Stone had purchased from Thomas Stone) was closely repeated on the first page of of Stone's will:
"Item. It is my will and desire that the one hundred acres of land I purchased of my brother Thomas Stone be the same more or less, lying in Henrico County be sold by my executors and the money or tobacco arising from the sale be made use of to help pay for a piece of land that my executors is to purchase for the use of my loving wife."
Wow! Thomas Stone in 1781 was mentioned in Stone's will as having sold 100 acres of land to his brother, William Stone. Then, nine years later, Thomas Stone was mentioned again in the 1790 deed where John and Lucy Stone White sold the same 100 acres of Henrico County land that William Stone had purchased from Thomas Stone! Lucy Luckett Stone White was William Stones' "loving wife"!
In his wishes, William Stone mentioned:
"my loving wife" but no name
sons William, Daniel, and Osborne Stone
daughters Elizabeth, Martha, and Nancy Stone
"the child that my wife is now pregnant with"
None of the daughters listed were named Lucy! In fact, Lucy Stone wasn't mentioned at all in William Stone's will! And it was impossible for Lucy Stone to have been the child that Stone's wife was carrying in 1781. A three year old child couldn't have married John White in 1784! And what was even more eye opening from Stone's will was that the language mentioned in the 1790 deed (where John and Lucy White sold the 100 acres of Henrico County property that Stone had purchased from Thomas Stone) was closely repeated on the first page of of Stone's will:
"Item. It is my will and desire that the one hundred acres of land I purchased of my brother Thomas Stone be the same more or less, lying in Henrico County be sold by my executors and the money or tobacco arising from the sale be made use of to help pay for a piece of land that my executors is to purchase for the use of my loving wife."
Wow! Thomas Stone in 1781 was mentioned in Stone's will as having sold 100 acres of land to his brother, William Stone. Then, nine years later, Thomas Stone was mentioned again in the 1790 deed where John and Lucy Stone White sold the same 100 acres of Henrico County land that William Stone had purchased from Thomas Stone! Lucy Luckett Stone White was William Stones' "loving wife"!
copyright©2019 Deborah Thurman Parks
