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Thomas Stone was a prominent lawyer and plantation owner, who signed the Declaration of Independence as a delegate for Maryland. He later worked on the committee that formed the Articles of Confederation.
On May 15, 1776 he voted in favor of drafting a declaration of independence, in spite of restrictions from the Maryland convention that prevented their delegates from supporting it. Previously, Stone had been in favor of opening diplomatic relations with Great Britain, as he was not only a pacifist but a conservative, reluctant to start a gruesome war.
In 1776, his wife Margaret became very ill, due to an adverse reaction to the smallpox vaccine. After Stone signed the Declaration of Independence, he returned home and declined a future appointment to the Congress. As her health continued to decline, he gradually withdrew from public life. After her death in 1787, he died less than four months later of a “broken heart”,
Stone was buried at his plantation home “Habre de Venture”, which still stands in Port Tobacco Village, Maryland. The property has been restored by the National Park Service as part of the Thomas Stone National Historic Site.
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