Freelove (Howland) Stone (abt. 1737 - 1805)

Born about 28 Feb 1737 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Wife of Ezra Stone — married 9 Apr 1758 in Scituate, Providence County, Rhode Island

Descendants

Died 29 Jun 1805 at about age 68 in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Anonymous Howland [send private message]

Biography

Birth

Freelove Howland was born on [8?] February 1730/31 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts Bay,^[1][2] and she died on 29 June 1805 in Rhode Island. She married Ezra Stone on 9 April 1758 in Scituate, Rhode Island.^[2][3]

However, the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting records from 1805 says she was born on 29 February 1737, but it seems that the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 added 11 days to her birth date from 18 February to 29 February, so she was born on 18 February in the Georgian Calender (Old Style). It is impossible for the month of February to have the 29th day in 1731 or 1737. The original birth record may have helped to answer the question of her birth date, but the day of her birth is indiscernible on the birth record. She may have been born on 18 February 1730/31 on the Old Style calendar, but she may have been born on 28 February 1731 in the New Style calendar when it does not occur on the leap year.

According to the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting record, the year of her birth seemed different because the six years were added to her birth date of 1731; whatever the reasons were unexplainable for the six years to be added to the year of her birth.

Also, her birth date is in conflict with her sister, Susana Howland’s birth date on 12 April 1731, so it is possible that the last digit of 1731 was indiscernible on the record because it could have meant for 1737 for Freelove Howland's birth date. Therefore, the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting record was almost correct about her birth date, but it should be that she was born on 28 February 1737 because 1737 was not a leap year to have on February 29.

Children

Children of Ezra Stone and Freelove Howland:

1. James Stone
2. John Stone
3. Asahel Stone
4. Mary Stone
5. Ezra Stone
6. Martha Stone
7. George Stone
8. Oziel Stone
9. William Stone

Death

The Uxbridge Monthly Meeting record had her death date next to her husband, Ezra Stone’s death date. It said she died on 29 June 1805 in Uxbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts.^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Massachusetts: Vital Records, 1620-1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016), https://www.americanancestors.org/DB190/rd/13932/72/251744425. Text: "Freelove Howlan the Daughter of John Howlan and Freelove his wif was Born february [8?]:1730/1."
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Howland, Franklyn, A Brief Genealogical and Biographical History of Arthur, Henry, and John Howland and Their Descendants, of the United States and Canada: Together with an Account of the Efforts Made in England to Learn of Their English Ancestry, Etc., New Bedford, Mass.: Howland, 1885, p. 86.
3. ↑ Vital Record of Rhode Island, 1650-1850. First Series. Births, Marriages, Deaths. A Family Register for the People, by James N. Arnold, Editor of the Narragansett Historical Register, Volume 3, Scituate, Part III. "Marriage." Providence, Rhode Island: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1892, p. 19.
4. ↑ Massachusetts, Uxbridge Monthly Meeting, Births & Deaths record, p. 155.

• Stone, Richard Cecil. Genealogy of the Stone Family Originating in Rhode Island. Providence: Knowles, Anthony and Co., Printers, 1866, pgs. 42-43 and 136-137.

• Scituate Births-Deaths-Marriages, Vol. 1, Page 177.