David Stone was the 15th governor of the U. S. state of North Carolina from 1808 to 1810.
Background
David was born on February 17, 1770 at "Hope, " the family home, near Windsor, North Carolina, United States.
He was the son of Elizabeth (Williamson) Hobson Stone and Zedekiah Stone, who is said to have been a native of Massachusetts and a descendant of Gregory Stone, an English emigrant to Watertown, Massachussets, about 1635. Zedekiah Stone was a prosperous planter in Bertie County, North Carolina, and won distinction for his political activity during and after the Revolution.
Education
The boy was educated at the College of New Jersey (Princeton), where he was graduated in 1788. He studied law in Halifax under William Richardson Davie.
Career
He was admitted to the bar in 1790 and at once elected to the House of Commons from Bertie County and served four terms. In 1794 he became a judge of the superior court but served only four years. Elected to the federal House of Representatives, he served from March 4, 1799, to March 3, 1801, and was a member of the first standing committee of ways and means.
In 1800 he supported Jefferson and voted for him in the House in 1801. Elected to the federal Senate in 1801, he continued to support Jeffersonian policies, and in the Chase impeachment he voted "guilty. " He was defeated for reelection by Jesse Franklin; but the same legislature made him again a judge, and he resigned to accept. Two years later he was elected governor and served two terms from 1808 to 1810.
In 1811 and 1812 he was again a member of the House of Commons and at the latter session defeated Jesse Franklin for the federal Senate. Taking his seat in 1813, he declined to vote for some of the important war measures of the administration, and thereby aroused so much feeling in North Carolina that he was censured by the legislature in December 1813. The newly elected legislature being also hostile, he resigned in 1814, filing with the governor an eloquent defense of his course, which met with the approval of the Federalists in the state.
After his retirement he removed to Wake County, where the rest of his life was spent cultivating his plantation.
Achievements
Politics
Generally he acted with the Republicans and voted to repeal the Sedition Act.
Personality
He was a brilliant man of great personal charm and magnetism, and of much independence of character.
He spoke seldom and, while regarded as able, was never a leader.
Connections
On March 13, 1793, he was married to Hannah Turner of Tennessee, who bore him five children. In June 1817 he was married to his second wife, Sarah Dashiell, who survived him.