State

I “Hope,” home of Governor Slone, who in stormy petrel in North Carolina politics. his day and time was a David Stone Mr. Lawrence classifies him as the champion office-holder of North Carolina. He probably held more political jobs than any other prominent citizen in the history of the State. Bi/ R. C. LAWRENCE BERTIE County has produced big men besides Patrick Henry Winston, the elder, his four brilliant sons, who became every¬ thing from President of the Uni¬ versity, President of State College, Grand Master of Masons. Superior Court Judges, President of the State Bar Association, right on down the line. Authors too. There was Col. Thomas Pollock, President of the Council, who be¬ came Governor upon the death of Governor Hyde in 1711. Upon him fell the task of conducting the great war against the Tusca- roras. Strangely enough, upon the death of Governor Charles Eden in 1722, Col. Pollock as President of the Council became Governor again. Then there was George Outlaw, who was in the State Senate for many terms, and a mem¬ ber of Congress; there was William W. Cherry. Senator and Congress¬ man; and David Outlaw, legislator, Solicitor and Congressman. I thought I had known some consistent office-holders. There was Col. Л. H. McNeill of Moore, who was Clerk of the Superior Court for over forty years, and who, when denied renomination, ran independent and was elected; there was С. M. Pace, who was Clerk of the Superior Court of Henderson County for over fifty years; there was Federal Judge Henry Potter, who held office nearly sixty years, and who did not die until nearly ninety-three years old. But for plain and fancy office holding in all its branches, I think this palm must go to David Stone of Bertie. The Stones have been in Bertie a long, long time. Old man Zede- kiah Stone emigrated from Eng¬ land, entered the mercantile business and seated himself on a plantation which he called “Hope” five miles from Windsor. He was a prominent man in his own right, and was a member of both the Hillsboro and the Halifax Conven¬ tion. He was also the first State Senator from Bertie, serving three terms. His son. David Stone, was born at “Hope" February 17, 1770. He was graduated from Princeton Col¬ lege in 1788. taking first honors in this class. He was a law student under General William R. Davie of Halifax, and was admitted to the Bar in 1790. That was all he ever did, except hold office. We find him in the Commons in 1791, and he stayed there until they elevated him to the Supreme Court bench in 1794. He continued to serve as Judge until 1798. Then they sent him to Congress in 1799, and' he stayed there until 1801 when they made him United States Senator. He served in the Senate until 1807 when . they elected him for the second time a Judge of the Supreme Court. Here he served until 1808 when he was elected as Governor of North Caro¬ lina. He was back in the same old place in the House of Commons in 1811, and again in 1812. Then they sent him back to the United States Senate. It was the period of th war with England, and Senator Stone found himself out of har¬ mony with the war policy of Presi¬ dent Madison and on that account he resigned from the Senate in 1814. We had another United States Senator to resign later on when Senators Bedford Brown and Robert Strange tendered their resignations, and yet another when Senator William H. Haywood Jr offered his. So Thomas Jcffersor was not quite right after all wher he said, in speaking of office hold ers. that “few die and none resign.' Senator Stone left only one son David W. Stone, who was bori at “Hope” in 1800. He was grad uated from the University in 1820 He became cashier of the Raleigl branch of the Bank of Cape Fear He was a prominent Mason, serv ing as High Priest of the Raleigl Chapter of Royal Arch Masons and in 1837, he became Gram Master of Carolina Masons. И died, without issue, in 1848, am is buried in the old city cemeter; at Raleigh. His widow marrie< the first Alfred Williams of Ra leigh, who founded the Raleigl book store which was establish- in 1867. Now if Pete Murphy, Dr. Archi bald Henderson, Dr. С. C. Critter den. Judge Sumner Burgwyn, о Willis G. Briggs can bring on more consistent office holder c different offices than Senator Davi Stone — bring him on. Transferring over $51.000.00 from revenue surplus to its sin! ing fund, North Carolina in 194 for the first time cleared itself t general fund debt.