Horatio G. Stone was born November 25, 1811, in Essex County, New York, and he was a son of Abram and Eunice (Haskins) Stone. He was a direct descendant of the old Puritan stock of Vermont, though he was a native of Wales. He was a civil engineer prior to coming west. He resided in York State forty years, and during that time he participated in the hardships and inconveniences attending the early settlement of that State. Governed through long life by principle and strict integrity, he held many places of trust and the highest esteem of his fellow-men.
Mr. Stone cast his first vote for George Washington and his last for Abraham Lincoln. He emigrated to Scott County in 1850, where he made his home with his son Horatio until his death, which occurred January 28, 1860.
The subject of this sketch was born and raised on a farm , and the education he obtained was at the common schools of his native County during the winter months. He remained on the farm until he was twenty-two years of age, when he was employed in an iron ore mine for two years. In 1836 Mr. Stone decided to come west and secure a home, and he settled on a forty-acre tract where his present residence now stands. His first residence was a small frame house and is still standing. He added a great deal more land to this forty in future years, and paid from one dollar and twenty-five cents to fifty dollars an acre, paying for it by working at a fraction more than sixteen dollars a month. For two years he worked at the cooper's trade, and by close economy he managed to buy a team and his first crop was cultivated on ten acres, which was in 1842. The first hogs owned in the family were earned by Mrs. Stone, who did some sewing for a neighbor in payment for them.
In October, 1841, Mr. Stone was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Van Boskirk, whose parents were Andrew and Passa (Inman) Van Boskirk, natives of Union County, Pennsylvania. They moved to Licking County, Ohio, in 1832, where they lived until 1839, when they moved to Wisconsin and resided about a year, when they removed to Le Claire Township, Scott County.
BIOGRAPHIES