Stone, William B., 1811-1890

William Bowman Stone, son of Hannah and Francis Stone and brother of activist Lucy Stone, was born in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, on January 24, 1811. He moved with his parents to West Brookfield at the age of six, and joined the church there on March 4, 1827. He pursued college preparatory studies, for the most part, at Hadley Academy, and graduated from Amherst College in 1839. He studied theology for a time at Andover Theological Seminary, and completed his theological studies with Rev. George Trask of Warren. In 1841 he was licensed to preach by the Brookfield Association. He served as pastor of the Evangelical Congregational Church in Gardiner, Massachusetts, from February 23, 1842 to August 1850, when he retired due to ill health. He moved back to West Brookfield to be near his parents, and lived as a farmer. He died in West Brookfield on February 4, 1890, at the age of 79.