We are predominantly of English stock from the villages of South Pool, Holberton, Mothecombe and Plymouth Devonshire England. Devonshire men and women is our predominant ancestry. As to where the STONEs came from before South Pool is a matter of conjecture. By reason of their geographic location it is a matter of speculation whether they were of Saxon, Celt, remnant Viking stock from the eighth to the eleventh century incursions or direct descendants of the original Danmonii, Belgic or Cimbri peoples. We found persuasive evidence of the name being well established in South Pool and the surrounding areas during the 15th Century.
The Stone family in Australia English ancestry is through the direct patrilineal line of descent - 2nd great grandparents migrant workers John and Harriett Stone (nee Lowder) born Mothecombe Village near Plymouth and Honiton respectively in Devon. They arrived in Moreton Bay Queensland in 1865. John was a dockworker ‘plate layer’ and railway ‘ganger’. He was the son of Nicholas Goad Stone a master carpenter from Holbeton a widower (married Mary Ann Hutchins and on her death Jane Huxham). Nicholas fathered 15 children. A number dispersed around the world but the majority remained in the UK. Our verifiable Stone time line commences in Elizabethan times in the late 1500’s in a small village in the South Hams Devon called South Pool. The lineal line spans 400 years thereabouts over 14 generations, 6 in Australia and 8 in England. From current Stone issue to Nicholas Goad Stone - 7 generations - there is a direct line of eldest with male issue. The line was broken in 1806 with the birth of Nicholas’s older brother John (married Rebecca Leight and on her death Susannah Starling). John was the eldest son of Josias Stone and he in turn had male issue as did subsequent generations of his line. The lateral English connection through the matrilineal line commences with a maternal 6th great grandmother First Fleet Convict Ellen Wainwright born Corner of Preston, Lancashire and a 6th great grandfather and Third Fleet Convict and ‘highway man’ of ‘stand and deliver’ fame Thomas Guy (sometimes Gay) born Little Rissington Gloucestershire. Ellen arrived on board the Prince of Wales in Botany Bay 1788, one of the first white European women in the new colony of New South Wales. The lateral line of descent in Australia includes convicts from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th fleets as well as subsequent transportations. 5th and 4th great grandfathers on the maternal side were convicts as were a number of great uncles and aunts of that era. Thereafter successive family members of English origin came as free settlers and migrant workers from Plymouth; St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands; Droylsden, Lancashire; Birmingham; and Manchester.
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