Undoubtedly I will have missed someone or information will be found inaccurate and no doubt there will be no shortage of people who will be able to ‘put me right’ as we would say in Australia.

Where further information is provided and those family members are living in future editions they will be simply described as ‘living’ omitting all births and marriage details to maintain their anonymity and protect identity.

The Living STONE 74.i (13th generation) resides in Birmingham England and is a 5th cousin to Jack and Madeleine STONE 68.i&ii (13th generation; 6th generation Australia) residing in Brisbane Queensland. Notwithstanding all are possibly direct descendants of Anthonye STONE at the very least those three trace their direct ancestry to Nicholas Goad STONE. The English line is Augustus Hugh STONE and in Australia his eldest brother John STONE – their parents were Nicholas Goad STONE and Mary Ann HUTCHINs (Nicholas’s first wife). The Living KOOPMANS 76.i&ii (14th generation; 7th generation Australia) is a 4th cousin one removed to Jack and Madeleine STONE (13th generation; 6th generation Australia). The Living MAYER 74.i&ii (14th generation; 7th generation Australia) is a 4th cousin to Jack and Madeleine STONE.

In the UK Census 1871 there is a reference to a Francis STONE who is described as a grandson of Nicholas (as head of household) born 1865.¹ There is also a John HUFAM who is described as a stepson to Nicholas (as head of household). We believe this has been transcribed inaccurately and should read HUXHAM (as this was Jane’s maiden name John is possibly born ‘out of wedlock’).²

Further there is a Mary Elizabeth PRICE born in Holbeton 1868 (2 years prior to Jane’s marriage to Nicholas in 1870).³ Mary is living with her mother Jane in Nethecombe by the time of the 1891 UK Census⁴ (Nicholas deceased February 1891 before the census that year). Elderly members of the above line of descent report folklore that William STONE went to South Africa returned briefly with a cache of diamonds to later return to South Africa. He was reportedly never heard of again.

There is one final mystery.

In the England Census 1881 there is a John STONE living at 14 Oldfield Terrace, Hammersmith, London; his birth is listed as abt 1835 at Holbiton, Devon. On an examination of the original handwritten Census return it is clearly Holbeton where the ‘e’ has been picked up as an ‘i’. There is no such place as Holbiton in the UK. He is described as head of the household and married to a lady named Mary Ann. His employment is listed as a plasterer.⁵ He reappears in the 1891 England Census living at Fulham, London. He and his wife Mary Ann are living at 49 Gowan Road, Fulham, London; his birth is listed as abt 1833 at Hulberta, Devon. There is no such place as Hulberta in the UK. On an examination of the handwritten original Census return it is clearly Holbeton. He is still described as a plasterer.⁶

Thereafter this John STONE and his wife Mary Ann are not accounted for in the Census of 1901. The next Census was 1911 and they are not in that Census. I have located death certificates for a number of John STONEs but not the John STONE referred to above.

In our extensive research and examination I have undertaken of the Parish Records for the Deanery of Plympton baptisms 1813 – 1839 (Holbeton) there is only one John STONE recorded in the Register.

The question remains – who was this John STONE born in Holbeton 1835?