William Milo Stone
William Milo Stone was born on October 14, 1827, in Jefferson County, New York, to Truman Stone and Lavina North. His father was a farmer who owned $100 of real estate in 1850. The family lived in Watson, New York, until the 1830s, when they moved to Tuscarawas, Ohio. By 1850, he was working as a chair maker in Coshocton, Ohio.
He studied law and earned admission to the Ohio bar in 1851. He moved to Knoxville, Iowa, three years later and established a legal practice there. He joined the nascent Republican Party in 1856 and helped organize the state-level party in Iowa. In 1856, he served as a presidential elector for Republican candidate John C. Frémont.
He married Caroline Mathews on May 19, 1857, and their son William was born around 1862. Stone served as a state district court judge from 1857 until 1861, and by 1860, he owned $1,000 of real estate and $100 of personal property. He ardently supported Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1860.
He enlisted in the Union army on May 21, 1861, and mustered in as a captain in Company B of the 3rd Iowa Infantry on June 10. He was promoted to major on June 26, 1861. He was wounded in the head in the Battle of Liberty, but he eventually recovered and rejoined the regiment. Confederate forces captured him in the Battle of Shiloh in April 1862. He was exchanged later that summer, and he was promoted to colonel of the 22nd Iowa Infantry on August 1, 1862. He took part in the Vicksburg Campaign, and he was wounded again on May 22, 1863.
Iowa Republicans nominated Stone for governor in June 1863, and he resigned from the army soon afterward. He won the election, and he was reelected two years later. He returned to Knoxville, Iowa, after leaving office and resumed his work as a lawyer. By 1870, he owned $6,000 of real estate and $3,500 of personal property. He served one term in the Iowa House of Representatives in the 1870s. He eventually moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and he died there on July 18, 1898.
Image: William Milo Stone (courtesy Library of Congress)
DATABASE CONTENT
| (1798) | Stone, William Milo | 1827-10-14 | 1893-07-18 |
- Conflict Side: Union
- Role: Soldier
- Rank in: Captain
- Rank out: Colonel
- Rank highest: Colonel
- Gender: Male
- Race: White
Documents - Records: 4
Places - Records: 2
Regiments - Records: 2
Groups - Records: 2
SOURCES
1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880 United States Federal Censuses, available from Ancestry.com; Iowa Marriages, 1851-1900, available from Ancestry.com; Iowa Grand Army of the Republic Membership Records, ca. 1866-ca. 1950, available from Ancestry.com; “William M. Stone” Wikipedia Profile, available from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Stone.
