Frank Singleton Stone, Sr.
STONE, FRANK SINGLETON, sr., steamboat owner, was born October 3, 1839, at Bladen Springs, Choctaw County, and died at Montrose, Baldwin County; son of Capt. Sardine Graham Stone, and brother of S. G. Stone, treasurer of Mobile County. His parents removed to Mobile in 1847, and he received his early education in that city. At the age of twelve he entered the shipyard of J. and D. Howard, Jeffersonville, Ind., for the purpose of learning the business, a year later he went to Mississippi where he completed his literary studies under Alexander Demitry. In 1854, he returned to Mobile and worked as shipping clerk, and the next year he began his career as a river man. His first position was that of second clerk on the "Ben Lee," running in the Tombigbee River trade. In 1858, he was on the "Eliza Battle" as clerk and when that boat burned during a passage he saved several lives for which act he was commended by rescued persons and the Masons of the state, the latter giving him a gold medal for his daring. In 1864, he became captain of the steamer "The Admiral," plying the Tombigbee River, and later had command of a company of boats. Later in life he retired from the river man's life to his home "Montrose" in Baldwin County, and became widely known as a scientific horticulturist. Married: September 4, 1862, to Mary, daughter of Dr. Augustus C. Hawkins, the latter a native of Georgia, who practiced medicine in Union Springs before finally locating in Waverly, Miss., where he died in 1856. Children: 1. Frank S. jr., student University of Alabama, 1880-83; LL. B., University of Georgia, 1886; clerk, supreme court of Georgia, 1887-88; solicitor, Baldwin County, 1894- 99; tax commissioner, Baldwin County, 1899- 1900; m. Mary Alice Staats, of Daphne; 2. Mary, deceased; 3. Robert O. Last residence: Baldwin County.
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Transcribed by Dawn Conway, April 2009