Monday Is for Mothers: Verlinda Stone (1692 - About 1740)

William Stone named his second daughter Verlinda after his paternal grandmother, Verlinda Graves Stone, whose husband (also named William) had served as governor of Maryland in the 17th Century.

Verlinda married Joseph Harrison in about 1715 in Charles County, Maryland, and when he died late in 1727 he named three children in his will, Richard, Joseph* and Tabitha.** Verlinda and her father William were two of the named executors, along with Thomas Matthews, the husband of her sister Mary.

["Maryland, Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999," images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-24310-12965-6?cc=1803986&wc=M15K-SPJ:146535701,148432001 : accessed 07 Apr 2014), Charles > Wills 1704-1733 vol 3 > image 127-28 of 166; citing Hall of Records, Annapolis.]

Only four year later Verlinda's father died, leaving a will providing for his widow and children, including Verlinda, who was to receive some property and have the debt she owes to her father forgiven, except for "twenty five pounds Sterling to purchase a neagro [sic] which is to be in her mothers possession and to her use during her natural life and at her Death is to return to my Son Richard Stone and his heirs[.]"***

["Maryland, Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999," images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-24310-13010-0?cc=1803986&wc=SNYZ-DPK:146535701,148432001 : accessed 30 June 2015), Charles - Wills 1704-1733 vol 3 - image 151-52 of 166; Hall of Records, Annapolis.]

Verlinda not marry again and we have her own will, dated December 4, 1739, and proved the following February. In her bequests to her children, she disposed of slaves and personal possessions like a number of pieces of walnut furniture, looking glasses, items of silver like a snuffbox and spoons, and a gold ring, all of which testify to the fact that she was a woman of substance.

["Maryland, Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999," images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-24310-13010-0?cc=1803986&wc=SNYZ-DPK:146535701,148432001 : accessed 30 June 2015), Charles - Wills 1704-1733 vol 3 - image 151-52 of 166; Hall of Records, Annapolis.]

Verlinda and Joseph both died relatively young. In contrast, her mother Theodosia Wade Stone died in 1749 in her 82nd year.

*Joseph Hansen Harrison, whose daughter Nancy is my paternal fifth great grandmother.
**A second daughter named Elizabeth (who is still a minor) appears in her mother's will and I assume that she was born after her father's death. It was Verlinda's expressed hope that Elizabeth would choose to live with "my well beloved sister Theodosia Stone" until she came of age.
***William's wife and other children, including other married daughters were bequeathed enslaved persons but not Verlinda. Perhaps this is because as a widow, he was concerned that she would re-marry and her property would be controlled by her new husband. William expressed definite concern in his will and a codicil that Thomas Matthews did not have any claim on the bequest to his daughter Mary.

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