1892 Biography - John H. Stone

Hon. John H. Stone, a lawyer of the state of Louisiana, the present state's attorney of the Sixteenth Judicial district, was born in East Feliciana parish, in 1842, a son of Dr. John Wilmer and Ophelia E. (Collins) Stone, natives respectively of Maryland and East Feliciana parish La. John Wilmer Stone was a son of William Murray Stone, Episcopal bishop of Maryland, who was a son of William Stone, who married Bettie Handy, widow of Thomas Handy, of Somerset county, Md. William Stone was a nephew of Thomas Stone, who was a member of the continental congress from the state of Maryland. To the union of John W. and Ophelia E. Stone were born three children, of whom two are still living: Hon. John H., the subject proper of this sketch, and Jeannie, who became the wife of Gen. Charles Pomeroy Stone, of Massachusetts, and a graduate of West Point, but now deceased. General Stone was born in Greenfield, Mass., September 30, 1824, was appointed cadet at West Point in 1841, and was commissioned second lieutenant July 1, 1845. He took part in the war with Mexico, and reached the rank of captain before he was twenty-three years of age. May 14, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the Fourteenth United States infantry, and May 17, of the same year, brigadier-general of volunteers. In December, 1869, he was invited by the khedive of Egypt to enter his army and was made chief of his staff, and awarded many decorations, leaving Egypt in May, 1883, with the rank of ferick pasha. On his return to the United States he was appointed engineer-in-chief for the construction of the pedestal in New York harbor for Bartholdi's great statue of "Liberty enlightening the world." Soon after the completion of this great work he was called away by death, and his remains he interred at West Point, N. Y. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. General Stone has been making her home with her children, Todas Santas and John Stone. After five years of wedded life Dr. John W. Stone died. His widow was next married to Franklin Hardesty, a native of Winchester, Va., who came to Louisiana when a young man. He was a lawyer by profession, and was soon made clerk of court and held the office nearly thirty years, or until near the breaking out of the late Civil war, at which time he was engaged in planting. He died in 1873, at the age of sixty-seven years. To this union were born two children, Frank and Ophelia, the son being now a prosperous farmer, and the daughter a young lady of fine musical attainments, being musical director of Silliman college, at Clinton, La. Hon. John H. Stone was educated at Oakland college, Miss., which institution of learning his sense of patriotism caused him to leave in May, 1861, to aid in the cause of the South on the field of battle. He joined a company in the Washington artillery, under the command of B. F. Esehelman, of New Orleans, and participated in the sanguinary engagements at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Second Manasaas, Malvern Hill, the fight around Richmond, siege of Petersburg, Drury's Bluff, Va., and James river, as well as many battles of lesser note, in all of which he did his duty with courage, serving as a private soldier through the whole war. On his return home after the war he engaged in planting for some eight years, when he took up the practice of law and actively entered into politics. He became prominent in the establishment of the Nicholls government, and was also elected from East Feliciana parish a member of the constitutional convention in 1879 and in this capacity he strenuously opposed the addition of the clause in the state's constitution recognizing or establishing the Louisiana Lottery company. It was also in his motion that the interest on the public debt of Louisiana was reduced from seven to two, three and four per cent, and on this basis the question was finally settled and the clause adopted. From 1879 to 1888 Mr. Stone practiced his profession, when he was elected district attorney for the district comprising East Feliciana and St. Helena parishes. He also served as presidential elector on the democratic ticket for the Sixth congressional district of Louisiana, and cast his vote for Grover Cleveland. Later he addressed an open letter to President Cleveland, which was widely published, in which he urged Mr. Cleveland to make some mention in his message to congress of the evils resulting to the people of the nation from the Louisiana lottery, and suggested that a recommendation be made for the exclusion of lottery matter from the United States mails, in his first message to congress, as was afterward done by President Harrison. In 1880 he published an article in the "Watchman" entitled "The Citizen is Lost in the Preacher," in which he clearly outlined the future of the lottery question in most forcible and incisive language. In this article he remarked: "The political power of the country has been sufficiently aroused to the magnitude of the lottery crime, and I make this appeal to ministers of religion and the mothers and fathers of our youth: Let them band together and commit every candidate to speak for and vote for its destruction." Mr. Stone was also for six years editor of the "Patriot Democrat" newspaper, and in this journal, with a trenchant yet facile pen, he literally denounced what he considered a blot upon the escutcheon of his native state--the lottery. As a district attorney Mr. Stone has been a vigorous prosecutor of evil doers, and as counselor of law he is wise and safe and thoroughly trusted by a large clientele. He has a powerful delivery as an orator, a superb command of language and is subsequently eloquent in the extreme. His acumen and erudition are excelled by those of no other man in the profession, and his industry and attention to the duties of his office ham won for him the approbation and confidence of the entire community. Hon. John H. Stone was married in April, 1869, to Imogene, daughter of Judge John McVea, a native of East Feliciana parish, La. She is a lady of rare attainments, culture and refinement, and great strength of character, and was a graduate of St. Mary's college, of Raleigh, N. C. Of the nine children born to this felicitous union two died while yet young. The surviving ones are Charles P., a graduate of Chamberlain-Hunt academy, Port Gibson, Miss., and now the trusted receiving teller of the treasurer's office of Louisiana; Imogene, graduate of the Silliman college, having taken the degree of A. M., and being the only person who has taken a full course and received the degree from that institution, she also was the valedictorian of her class, 1890; Amanda is now a student at Silliman college; Ophelia, John, Jeannie and Helen Wilmer are the names of the younger living children. Mr. Stone and his wife are members of the Episcopal church, while Mr. Stone is also a Mason and an Odd Fellow. The family have one of the most pleasant homes in Clinton, beautifully located on rising ground and surrounded with a superb grove of grand, old live-oaks, beeches and magnolia trees, and here hospitality is freely and graciously dispensed. The family naturally stand very high in social circles, and with all classes are held in most respectful esteem. Intelligence in this refined home reigns supreme, and here the elite of the neighborhood pass many happy hours away.

Contributed 2021 Nov 04 by Mike Miller, from Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Louisiana, published in 1892, volume 2, pages 409-411.