*The Homes Of Barton W. Stone | |
(1772-1844) |
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Table Of Contents Barton W. Stone's Old Kentucky Home - Doran |
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Barton W. Stone's Old Kentucky Home | |
Barton Warren Stone, member of an Episcopal family from Maryland, first came to Kentucky during the winter of 1796, as a "supply pastor" for the Cane Ridge and Concord Presbyterian Churches in Bourbon County. He evidently lived and boarded with members of his congregations. However, in 1799, he bought a tract of farm land about midway between Cane Ridge and Concord. Stone married Elizabeth (Eliza) Campbell on July 2, 1801, and built a house on his farm where he took his bride to live. This house is still standing and is occupied by a descendant of "Raccoon" John Smith. Elizabeth Stone died on May 30, 1810, just ten months after the birth of her only son. On October 31, 1811, Stone married Celia Bowen, a cousin of his first wife, and they lived for one year on his Bourbon County farm. He sold his farm to Charles Wasson under a deed dated March 1, 1814, for twelve dollars per acre and moved to the farm of his mother-in-law, on Manser Creek(sic), northeast of Nashville, Tennessee, in what is now Goodlettsville. Because of a misunderstanding over his wife's inheritance, Stone left Tennessee and moved back to Kentucky. His family lived in a rented house in Lexington in which he conducted a high school. When Stone returned to Kentucky he endeavored to re-purchase the Bourbon County farm but the owner asked thirty dollars per acre and he was unable to "purchase it or any other at these prices." After living in Lexington for a few years Stone moved his family to Georgetown where he purchased a 123 acre farm, on November 2, 1819, from James Grant, son of Israel Grant, who was a son of Elizabeth Grant, one of the sisters of Daniel Boone. Stone lived in this house about a mile east of Georgetown until September 15, 1834, when he sold it to a Thompson family for $3,703.68 and moved to Jacksonville, Illinois, where he resided until he died on November 9, 1844. The last Kentucky home in which Barton Stone was thought to have lived was destroyed by fire while occupied by a Hall family. However, the mistaken identity of the house which burned was the result of the report written by Charles Crossfield Ware in a biography of Stone, titled PATHFINDER OF CHRISTIAN UNION, published in 1932. Ware wrote: "His home was near North Elkhom Creek. Subsequently during the ownership of Charles Hall, as orally reported by the community, it was burned. There remains to day but the foundation and some old cedars standing like sentinels which perchance were there in Stone's day." What Ware wrote about the site on which the house of Hall stood and burned is altogether true, but Ware wrote about the wrong house and the wrong location based on what had been "orally reported by the community." A few years ago, Ann B. Bevins, a reputable Scott County historian and a distinguished researcher of the Disciples of Christ in her own right, set out to determine whether or not the Ware report was valid. She found that the site of "the old cedars" was not the one on which Stone's house was located. Bevins discovered the old Israel Grant house, located east of Georgetown, and concluded that it was the one which was purchased by Stone. This discovery has proved to be a great contribution to the early history of the Restoration Movement in which Stone was a central figure. Recently the writer, Charles Moore, and George Rogers, spent a few hours in conversation with Mrs. Bevins, and in exploration of the Stone homestead. The present owners, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Drake, permitted us to explore the residence and the springhouse in great detail. The eighty-seven year old couple take great pride in the fact that they own and live in the house built by Israel Grant in 1787 and purchased by Barton Stone in 1819. Stone lived in this house longer than he resided in any other home. While living in his Kentucky home Barton Stone established the Church in Georgetown, edited the CHRISTIAN MESSENGER, published the CHRISTIAN HYMN BOOK, and served as principal of the Rittenhouse Academy, which was chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and incorporated on, December 22, 1798. The Academy was financed under a grant by Governor Garrard of public land located in Christian and Cumberland Counties. Among the students who "sat at the feet" of Stone in the Rittenhouse Academy were such young men as John Rogers, L. J. Fleming, Francis R. Palmer, Marcus P. Willis, and John Allen Gano, all of whom became forceful leaders and preachers of the Restoration Movement. This was a period of time during which the sun shone brightly on Stone's "Old Kentucky Home." Barton Stone did not attend the debate between Alexander Campbell and W. L. McCalla (Presbyterian) in Washington, Kentucky in 1823, but Campbell visited Stone in the "Grant House" in 1824. (Editor's note: C. Wayne Kilpatrick, teacher at International Bible College has taken church history students on tours which included seeing the Campbell-Bowen house in Moss-Wright Park in Goodlettsville, Tennessee where Barton Stone was married to Celia Bowen and where they lived. This means there are three houses still standing in which Barton W. Stone lived.) |
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-Adron Doran, World Evangelist, April, 1988, page 3 / Note: This is a dated article. International Bible College is now Heritage Christian University |
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*Barton W. Stone's Bourbon County, First Kentucky Home |
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Directions To The Bourbon County, Kentucky home of B.W. Stone. From Paris, Kentucky, head north on Hwy. 68. Just north of town turn right on Jackstown Road. Head about three or four miles and turn right on Little Rock-Jackstown Road. The old Stone place will be the second farm on the left. | |
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***The Campbell-Bowen Estate* Mansker's Station, Goodlettsville, Tennessee 1814-1815 |
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Directions To Mansker's Station: In Nashville, Tennessee take I-65 north to Goodlettesville, Exit 97. Turn right on Hwy. 174, Long Hollow Pike. Turn right on Caldwell Dr. The Mansker's Station location will be on the right just before passing the Moss Wright Park. |
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This is the grave of the parents of Celia Wilson Bowen Stone. |
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*Stone Home In Georgetown, Kentucky E. Main Street, Georgetown, Ky November 2, 1819 - September 15, 1834 |
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Directions To B.W. Stone's home in Georgetown, Kentucky. North of Lexington, Kentucky, take I-75 to Georgetown, Exit 126 and head west toward town. Turn left on Hwy. 62, Cherry Blossom Way. In less than a mile turn right on E. Main St. The first farm house you see on your right is the Georgetown home of Barton W. Stone. Only the front of the home is the original structure with two floors and a basement. The basement was where Stone's printing press was used to produce the pages of the Christian Messenger. | |
Imagine the old log structure before weatherboarding was added years after the Stones lived in this house.
Attic in the Original Structure
Two photos taken by C. Wayne Kilpatrick in the winter of 2002 |
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*Stone's Diamond Grove Prairie Farm McKean Rd., Jacksonville, Illinois |
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Directions To B.W. Stone's Diamond Grove Prairie Farm: In western Illinois take I-72 to exit 68, Old Route 36. Go to second street on left and turn on Woods Lane. Cross the Railroad Tracks and also Hwy. 104. Continue straight. Just as you cross over the I-72 interstate the road will change to McKean Road. Just past the bridge less than 1/10th of a mile you will see the Historical Marker on your right. This is the farm location. Note: The house is presently a private residence. Please seek permission before walking about the property. Tom McKean lives nearby and is very willing to answer questions if contacted in advance. Local directory information can make contact easy. According to the Mr. McKean, the cemetery where B.W. Stone was buried lies about
100 yard west and slightly south of the present house. This is their best guess. GPS Location The Diamond Grove Prairie Farm was one among other tracts of land that B.W. Stone owned in Jacksonville, Illinois. As the historical marker expresses, when he died he was buried on this farm. In January, 1846, his widow Celia Stone, selling the property, had the body of B.W. Stone moved to the graveyard at Antioch church, just seven miles east of Jacksonville. Then in the spring of 1847, the body was again moved and re-interred at Cane Ridge church, near Paris, Kentucky.
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**Photos Taken in 1993, 2000, 2002, 2009 & 2013 *NOTE OF CAUTION: These homes are on private property. While owners have been very kind to allow photos to be taken, photos presented here is not an invitation for any to trapse around on private property. Get permission! Of the three above, the only home that is open to the public is the Bowen home at Mansker's Station, Goodlettesville, Tennessee. **In 1993 my family and I took a family vacation to Kentucky. On this trip we visited the home of Barton Stone in Georgetown, Kentucky. The very nice lady who lives there was so very kind to show us through the home. The photos we took then were scanned an place above. Also in this section are two photos taken by C. Wayne Kilpatrick during snowy days of 2002. In 2000, it was the pleasure of your webeditor to travel through Kentucky with a longtime friend from Fayetteville, Georgia, Charles Nash. On this trip we visited the the Bourbon County home of B.W. Stone, the photos of which appear on this site. Then in 2009, another trip involving myself, C. Wayne Kilpatrick and Tom L. Childers over a week in May, traveling through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee, made it possible to take the photos you see here of the Diamond Grove property near Jacksonville, Illinois. Finally, a special thanks to C. Wayne Kilpatrick for providing the photos you see on this page from the Bowen Home at Mansker's Station, Goodlettsville, Tennessee, June, 2013. The Bowen Home is the oldest brick home on record in the state of Tennessee and childhood home of Celia Bowen Stone, the second wife of Barton W. Stone. With all these photos, it seems right to produce this page in memory of B.W. Stone's homes that still stand in these locations. ***The Campbell-Bowen Home is sometimes confused as being connected to Alexander Campbell. The Campbells at Mansker's Station were not related in any known way to the Campbells of Bethany, West Virginia. B.W. Stone's first wife, Elizabeth Campbell was from Greenville, Kentucky, and a cousin to Celia Bowen, his second wife. Elizabeth and their first child were buried on the Bourbon County property when she passed away in 1810. When B.W. Stone's remains were removed from Illinois to its present location at Cane Ridge, the remains of Elizabeth were also removed to be buried by his side at Cane Ridge. The remains of B.W. Stone, Jr., not to be confused with older step-brother also named B.W. Stone, Jr., still lie somewhere upon the Bourbon county home property. |
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