James Armstrong Stone (1 Oct 1846 - 29 Nov 1905)

James Armstrong Stone was born on 1 Oct 1846 in Madison Parish, Louisiana. His parents were William Patrick Stone and Amanda Susan (Ragan) Stone. James Stone likely was born on Stonington Plantation on the Mississippi River, near Delta in Madison Parish. He was the fifth child born to William Stone and Amanda Stone. The William P. Stone family migrated from Hinds County, Mississippi to Madison Parish, Louisiana after Feb 1846 and before the birth of James A. Stone on 1 Oct 1846.

The 1850 federal census of Madison Parish, Louisiana enumerates the William P. Stone household including James Stone's mother, Amanda S. Stone, age 28 years and born in Mississippi, and his brothers William R. Stone age 11, Coleman P. Stone age 7, Fredrick W. Stone age 6. James A. Stone was age 4 years. William Patrick Stone was 36 years of age and a planter. Also living in the William P. Stone household was Thompson E. Stone, a student age 18 years and born in Tennessee. Presumably, Thompson E. Stone have been a relative of William P. Stone.

James Stone's father William P. Stone died on 6 Dec 1855 at about 41 years of age; James Stone was age nine. James Stone's mother, Amanda Stone, sold the Stonington Plantation, and for about four years, the Stone family resided in Warren County, Mississippi, near Amanda Stone’s father, Jesse Bohannon Ragan. On 16 May 1859, Amanda Susan Stone purchased 1,200 acres in Carroll Parish of Louisiana where she established the Brokenburn Plantation.

On 11 Jul 1860, the U.S. federal census recorded the Amanda Stone household at Brokenburn (308). In addition to Amanda Stone, then 36 years of age, and her children, Ashburn R. Ragan, age 16 and born in Mississippi; as well as a teacher, Albert B. Newton, age 24 and born in Mississippi were also living in the household. Ashburn R. Ragan was Amanda Stone's youngest brother, born in 1843 in Mississippi. The 1860 census enumerates the children of Amanda Stone as: Sarah K. Stone, age 18 years; Coleman P. Stone, age 16; Walter F. Stone, age 15; James A. Stone, age 13; John B. Stone, age 12; Amanda R. Stone, age 10 years. Sarah K., Coleman P., and Walter F. Stone were born in Mississippi. The younger children were born in Louisiana.

At the 1860 census, the Stone family received mail at both Omega and Pecan Grove Post Offices. The 1860 census recorded the Stone household as holding real estate valued at $130,000 and a personal estate of $83,000. Since in 1859, Amanda Stone purchased the Brokenburn Plantation property for $40,000, the census information may imply that she held significant real estate elsewhere; perhaps she had not yet sold the Stonington Plantation property. Regardless, at the beginning of the American Civil War, the Stone family held significant assets for the time.

James Stone's older brothers, William Ragan Stone, Coleman Stone, and Frederick Walter Stone, entered service in the Confederate Army. Through most of the war, Kate's mother, Amanda Susan Stone (Ragan), her two brothers, James Armstrong Stone and John Beverly Stone, and her sister, Amanda Rebecca Stone, remained together. The arrival of Grant's Army in Madison Parish forced the family to flee Louisiana, and they remained refugees in Texas until the end of the war.

On 1 Sep 1875, James Armstrong Stone married Margaret Briscoe (Scott) at Monroe in Madison Parish, Louisiana. Robert Price, Minister, presided over the ceremony. Margaret Scott was a daughter of Robert Moore Scott and Gincy Ann Scott (Phillips). Robert Scott was among the first to patent land in Madison Parish and one of its largest landholders. Margaret Briscoe (Scott) was a widow of Thomas Warren Briscoe, Sr. who died on 30 Nov 1871. The James A. Stone family resided at Omega Plantation where a son William Ragan Stone was born on 14 Oct 1877, a son James Scott Stone was born on 2 Dec 1879, and a daughter Anna Margaret Stone was born in Feb 1880.

The 1880 Federal census of Madison Parish, Louisiana enumerates the household of James A. Stone, age 34 years and born in Louisiana with Margaret Stone, age 31, W. R. Stone, age 4, J. S. Stone, age 2, and A. W. Stone, a: 4 months, all born in Louisiana. The census recorded James A. Stone as a country merchant, his father born in Tennessee and his mother in Mississippi.

Anna Margaret Stone died in about 1881. Kate Holmes Stone was born in Madison Parish on 19 Jan 1882.

In 1885, James A. Stone was taxed for land in Ward 2 of Madison Parish, Louisiana known as the Little Daisy Plantation and for a mule.

On 29 Jul 1890, James A. Stone acquired land at Iowa Park in Wichita Falls, Texas described as Lots five and six in Block thirty-seven together with all the improvements thereon situated. James A. Stone paid $1,000 cash in hand for the property.

James Armstrong Stone died of Yellow Fever on 29 Nov 1905 at Tallulah, Madison Parish, Louisiana.

Notes and Comments

In her journal, published as Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone 1861-1868, Kate Stone refers to her brother, James Armstrong Stone, as “Jimmy.”

The 1860 federal census of Carroll Parish, Louisiana enumerates Frederick Walter Stone as Walter F. Stone.

Sources

1850 U.S. Federal Census. Western District, Madison Parish, Louisiana. Roll: M432_233; Page: 382; Image: 95. Images, Ancestry.com.

308. Amanda Stone Household, 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Madison Parish, Louisiana. Ward 1, Roll: M653_409, Page: 347, Image: 350, Family History Library Film: 803409. (Images: Ancestry.com, Image on file)

1870 U.S. Federal Census. Currys Ward 1, Carroll, Louisiana; Roll M593_509; Page: 200B; Image:404; Family History Library Film: 552008. Images, Ancestry.com.

1880 U.S. Federal Census. Images, Ancestry.com.

1900 U.S. Federal Census. Madison, Louisiana. Images, Ancestry.com.

Madison Parish, Louisiana Tax Rolls.

Appointments of U.S. Postmasters, 1832-1971, Post Office Department, Record Group Number 28, Washington, D.C.

Find-A-Grave. Images, Tombstones. http://www.findagrave.com/. Memorial: 13762791.

Thomas B. Scott Family Bible.

Raunikar, Patsy Emanuel. “Stone-Emanuel.” Centennial Issue. 20 Oct 1988.

Stone, Sarah Katerine. Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone 1861-1868. John Q. Anderson (Ed.). Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1972.

W. R. Emanuel and Peggy Carter Price

1850 U.S. Federal Census
William P. Stone Household
Western District, Madison Parish, Louisiana
19 Aug 1850
William P. Stone, a: 36, b: Tennessee (Planting)
+Amanda S. Stone, a: 28, b: Mississippi
William R. Stone, a: 11, b: Mississippi
Sarah K. Stone, a 9, b: Mississippi
Coleman P. Stone, a: 7, b: Mississippi
Fredrick W. Stone, a: 6, b: Mississippi
James A. Stone, a: 4, b: Louisiana
Thompson E Stone, a: 18, b: Tennessee, Student

1860 U.S. Federal Census
Amanda Stone Household
Ward 1, Carroll Parish, Louisiana
11 Jul 1860
Amanda Stone, a: 36, b: Mississippi (Plantation Owner)
William R. Stone, a: 20, b: Mississippi (Planter)
Sarah K. Stone, a: 18, b: Mississippi
Coleman P. Stone, a: 16, b: Mississippi
Walter F. Stone, a: 15, b: Mississippi
James A. Stone, a: 13, b: Louisiana
John B. Stone, a: 12, b: Louisiana
Amanda R. Stone, a: 10, b: Louisiana
Ashburn R. Ragan, a: 16, b: Mississippi
Albert B. Newton, a: 24, b: Mississippi (Teacher)
Post Office: Omega and Pecan Grove
Real Estate Value: $130,000
Personal Estate: $83,000

1870 U.S. Federal Census
Mrs. A. Stone Household
Currys Ward 1, Carroll Parish, Louisiana
8 Jul 1870
Mrs. A. Stone, a: 45, b: Mississippi (Keeping House)
James Stone, a: 25, b: Louisiana (Planter)
John Stone, a: 20, b: Louisiana
Rebecca Stone, a: 18, b: Louisiana
Post Office: Illawarra

1880 U.S. Federal Census
James A. Stone Household
Ward 5, Madison Parish, Louisiana
2 Jun 1880
James A. Stone, a: 34, b: Louisiana (Country Merchant)
Father b: Tennessee, Mother b: Mississippi
+Margaret Stone, a: 31, b: Louisiana
W. R. Stone, a: 4, b: Louisiana
J. S. Stone, a: 2, b: Louisiana
A. W. Stone, a: 4 months, b: Louisiana

1900 U.S. Federal Census
Madison Parish, Louisiana
Township 17 N; Range 12 E
1 Jun 1900
James A Stone, a: 53, b: Oct 1846 Louisiana (Druggist)
Married 26 years.
Father b: Tennessee Mother b: Mississippi

Obituary, James Armstrong Stone

James Armstrong Stone died at his residence in Tallulah, November 29, 1905. He was the son of the late Wm. P. Stone and Amanda Ragan, and was born Oct. 1st, 1847.

Captain Stone came of a family which has been for many years residents of the parish and which has been closely connected with the history of North Louisiana.

He enlisted in the Confederate Army in 1864 in Co. B, Colonel Matt Johnson’s 3rd Louisiana Cavalry, General Isaac Harrison’s Brigade.

He performed gallant services in the field, and after the war returned to Madison where the greater part of his life was spent. He leaves a wife and several sons and daughters.

Captain Stone’s death resulted indirectly from the attack of yellow fever which he had this summer, which produced a state of weakness from which he never rallied.

His remains were interred at the Tallulah cemetery Thanksgiving morning, to which last resting plase he wes followed by a large concoure of friends and relatives.

The 1880 U.S. Federal Census of Madison Parish, Louisiana records the birth place of the mother of the three children in the household as born in Mississippi. Margaret Stone (Scott) is enumerated as born in Louisiana.

The 1850 U.S. Federal Census of Madison Parish, Louisiana, enumeratesJ ames A. Stone, age 4 years, with the William P. Stone and Amanda R.Stone (Ragan) household. The family were likely operating the Stonington Plantation near Delta, Madison Parish, Louisiana.

At the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, James A. Stone was living with his mother Amanda Susan Stone (Ragan) and family on Brokenburn Plantation.

James A. Stone opened the first drug store in Iowa Park, Texas.

24 Mar 1888, Plat of 1,340 acres of land in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana sold to James A. Stone. (Price serach inventory)

On 22 May 1863, Kate Stone described the successful effort by James A. (Jimmy) Stone and five Confederate soldiers led by a Captain Smith to retrieve slaves remaining at the Brokenburn Plantation:

Jimmy went in with a Capt. Smith and five other men, but it was owing entirely to Jimmy’s exertions that the Negroes were secured at last. They had captured the Negroes and were pushing on for the Bayou when they were pursued by a body of forty Yankees. They came within hailing distance of Capt. Smith and his men and fired volley after volley at them, but fortunately none were struck. Capt. Smith ran as fast as possible to escape and to tell Jimmy to let the Negroes go and escape for his life, but when he came up with Jimmy at the Tensas Bayou, he found Jimmy swimming the stream and the Negroes and mules already across. Jimmy had heard the firing and rushed the Negroes over in dugouts, he swimming over with the mules. He swam over two or three times.

The Yankees, having no boats, did not attempt to follow any farther, and so Jimmy saved all of the Negroes at last. They are now on their way to Texas in Jimmy’s care, trying to overtake Mr. Smith’s train.

Jimmy and the men with him hid all day in the canebrake just back of the fence and in the fodder loft at Brokenburn and stole out at night to reconnoiter. They found what cabins the Negroes were in, and while hiding under Lucy’s house they saw her sitting there with Maria before a most comfortable fire drinking the most fragrant coffee. They were abusing Mamma, calling her “that Woman” and talking exultantly of capering around in her clothes and taking her place as mistress and heaping scorn on her. Capt. Smith says that he never heard a lady get such a tongue-lashing and that Lucy abused the whole family in round terms. At daylight they surrounded the cabins, calling the Negroes out and telling them it was useless to resist. They were captured. William made an effort to escape by jumping from a window, but at sight of a bowie knife he gave up. They gathered up all the mules and horses and set off at once, not waiting to get anything to eat. As they passed Capt. Allen’s on Bear Lake, Capt. Smith and his men stopped to cook something to eat, and it was there that he came so near being caught. The penalty would have been hanging, and I suppose there would have been no mercy shown as this is his fourth trip into the swamp to bring out property left there. He is a marked man by the Federals.

Mamma heard only after Jimmy left that the penalty for removing anything from the property confiscated by the government was hanging, and she was utterly wretched until she welcomed Jimmy back, sunburnt and tired but triumphant.

Sarah Katharine "Kate" Stone
Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana
22 May 1863