Background
Samuel was born on July 1602 in Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. He was the son of John Stone, a freeholder of Hertford, England, was baptized in Hertford on July 30, 1602.
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Samuel Stone Sr.
Edit ProfileEducation
In 1620 he matriculated as a sizar from Emmanuel College in the University of Cambridge, where he received the B. A. degree in 1623. The year before, he took holy orders at Peterborough and resided in Aspen, Essex, at the home of Richard Blackerby. There he studied divinity, Bible exegesis, and Hebrew.
Career
Stone held curateship at Stisted, Essex from June 13, 1627, to September 13, 1630, when he was suspended for nonconformity.
Through the influence of Thomas Shepard he then obtained the Puritan lectureship at Towcester in Northamptonshire. Eminently practical, he selected the site of Hartford, Connecticut, negotiated its purchase from the Indians and removed there in 1636. The town was probably named in honor of his birthplace.
After Hooker's death, in 1647, he remained sole minister of the Hartford church until his own death. Although his godliness was especially revealed "in frequent Fastings, and exact Sabbaths, " he possessed "a certain Pleasancy" and a "most ready Wit".
He represented his church at the New England synods of 1637, 1643, and 1646-48. As chaplain under John Mason, he served through the Pequot War of 1637. On occasion he examined those accused and ministered to those convicted of witchcraft and even gave advisory opinions in civil cases. Apparently he was the "Rev. Mr. Stone" who accompanied Governor Winthrop of Connecticut to England in 1661.
The latter part of his life was embittered by a violent controversy with a party in his church led by William Goodwin, the ruling elder. Although its origin, as Cotton Mather tartly stated, "has been rendred almost as obscure as the Rise of Connecticut River", it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that personal friction between Stone and Goodwin both originated and prolonged the controversy.
He died at Hartford in 1663.
Achievements
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Samuel Stone Sr. established a new colony at House of Hope (a Dutch fort and trading post), making peace with the local Indians and renaming the town they called Saukiog as Hartford. He was also well-known as the author of a "Confutation of the Antinomians", "A Body of Divinity" and A Congregational Church Is a Catholike Visible Church.
Religion
Qualifications for baptism, church membership, and the rights of the brethren were the main points at issue. Stone believed that the essence of Congregationalism was "a speaking Aristocracy in the Face of a silent Democracy".
Although his ideas of church government approached Presbyterianism more than Independency, he was steadfastly supported by a majority. In this controversy, which deeply influenced religious life throughout New England, Stone's conduct was not above reproach; yet he consistently and conscientiously acted according to his own precepts.
Connections
His first wife died in 1640. His will mentioned his second wife Elizabeth Allen, to whom he was married in 1641, and five of his children. He had four surviving children - a son Samuel and four daughters, Elizabeth, Rebecca, Mary and Sarah.
